By Gunther Estrada.
Two weeks ago I found myself packing for a trip back to my homeland, Peru. It was very weird to decide what to put inside my bags so I opted for the “Skateboarder” way, Shoes, Tshirts, boxers and a pair of pants. The decision was kind of difficult because I was a little nervous of flying back to my country, a place I physically left years ago; All my friends anticipated this trip for so long and I postponed it so many times for many reasons since 2004.
Being really anxious to meet my past, I left “Califas” and after 8 hours of flying I was back in Lima,Peru.
Soon after hugs and kisses with my Mom and Dad I started to drive down the streets in my old Car , a 1994 Daewoo unrecognizable now as a result of many nights of partying in hands of my sister “la Rata”; it amazed me that the poor little Daewoo was still able to move.
The organized Chaos of Lima started right away and right before I got to my house I almost hit 3 pedestrians that were crossing the street with their faces looking down.
I have to admit that my country is way more interesting and fun than any of those so called “ADVANCED” Metropolis of the world; After reminiscing, admitting and accepting my Peruvian self, I proudly started walking into my element “The Street” not before giving a call to Saito who was celebrating his birthday that same day, I ended up at his place drinking some beers and hanging out with a few of my very close friends and soon after (with the “NETWORK” help of Riki and Delianne) we went out at 3 o’clock in the morning to a bar in Miraflores called “The Bear Bar”. I never got to see the Bear…but the music , the “borrowed” snacks and the company of my friends made me feel that I was finally in a place I can call HOME.
Ivan Osorio, Rainer Binek, Peter Chlebowski, Freddy Wong, Gunther Estrada, Bruno Vega y Luchito con las Rubias.
The night of partying ended early in the morning, like it used to be before I moved to the land of Jason Lee. We took a Taxi and stopped at a little store to buy the Juice for the Vodka we were going to have as Breakfast ( A little step for mankind but a huge step for global medicine, “how the hell Peruvians get to do this and don’t die??”)
The objective of my trip was business, but in Lima-Peru Business and pleasure are the same thing ( But “look” and be careful, don’t get “CONFUSED” hahahaha)
The next day Camera on hand I went out to find my old friends to get information about the Old School Street Skateboarding in Lima, ( back when we had only that; “the Street”) , all the interviews and footage I filmed for this Documentary (The beginning and the history of The Street Skateboarding in Peru) were of course accompanied with our foamy and delicious “Rubia” (Everybody made fun of my 80’s slang that stuck by my side my whole trip). I had the opportunity to interview Rainer Binek, Giovanni Bermudez, Jorge Rebolledo, Riki Noriega, Julio “Chuyo” Hernandez, Bruno Vega, “Luchito”, Ivan Osorio and Peter Chlebowski (All of them helped me in every way possible) adding way more interviews and footage to the already taken by Guillermo “Pajarito” Rendon. I hope to get together in March with my friends Cayo Navarro, Rafael Pereyra, Cheese, Alberto Montes, Juan carlos “ñaño” Vidal and many others that I couldn’t interview due to the shortness of my staying. I have all your info and I will call you guys right after touching the streets of Lima on my next visit this coming March.
Im not authorized by my intuition of telling everything we are planning with this documentary, but if there’s something I have to say about the conversations I had with the pioneers of the Street Skateboarding in Peru it’s that if there is ever a time in history that we should stick together, that time has come.
Skateboarding is and it will always be an authentic form of art and culture that should belong only to the people heartily involved in it.
Special Thanks to:
Erik Gilabert “Radical Producciones”
www.radicalproducciones.com
Ivan Osorio “El Rey de las Metaleadas”
www.bettafootwear.com
Riki Noriega “Mi Maestro”
www.mundanorecords.com
El Saito “La ciencia de la paciencia”
www.mundanorecords.com
Delianne Harster “No Malees”
www.circomagico.com
Peter Chlebowski “Nuestro primer Pro (CFL)”
www.faktoryskateshop.blogspot.com
-Here are some pics from the trip.
Giovanni Bermudez, "El Chuyo" Hernandez y Gunther Estrada durante la entrevista a Giovanni en los cuarteles de "Locotes".
Juan Carlos "ñaño" Vidal, Gunther Estrada, J.P Boucher y Ricky Noriega en el Skatepark de Miraflores.
Julai Cadenillas, Julio "El Chuyo" Hernandez, Gunther Estrada y Cayo Navarro en Miraflores.
El Maestro Jorge Rebolledo. No comply Pole Jam, Lima-Peru.
