Creole hippies: learn what the psychedelic parties were like in conservative Lima in 1968 [FOTOS]

“Our hippies were developing” sentenced the journalist from the dean newspaper who entered the ballroom of the Embassy, ​​located in Plaza San Martín. His report was published days later in El Dominical with a large display of images.

In the conservative society of the time, these young people added color. They had healthy fun and had no social differences. Little or nothing they knew about the fundamentals of the ‘hippy‘: love of nature, peace, spirituality, rejection of violence and free love.

On this last point they were very curious; as well as, for the nudist parties and other rumors that came from other latitudes where this countercultural movement was lived with great effervescence.

That April 21 of that year, about a thousand young people dressed in colorful outfits, some with wigs and false beards, necklaces, daring miniskirts and boots sweated and swayed to the rhythm of the music.

The hippies, both women and men, told our journalist that they came to have a good time. Their ages ranged from 15 to 20 years. Although there were also some children and several adults. On the dance floor there was no distinction of social classes or fights so common among the ‘rocanroleros’.

technicolor dance

For four hours they did not stop dancing to a noisy music from the modern Nueva Oleros ensembles. Thus a frenetic dance was put together, full of contortions and shouts. In the images that we share today, you can see how they threw themselves on the ground, jumped, made gestures, sang and laughed freely.

The music was provided by the Yaguas, the Michigans and other groups. At the party there was a real competition of costumes, dances and rhythms.

Thus the youth vibrated with enthusiasm in the spacious lounge of the Embassy where they only sold soft drinks and sandwiches. The entrance cost 30 soles and gave you the right to a soda. There was no alcohol or drugs. It was a gathering of conservative hippies who didn’t know about hallucinogens and other herbs.

Creole hippie words

The groupings of hippies They had very picturesque names such as: the Cuernos de Lince, the Scorpions of Callao, the Terribles, the Halcones, among others.

The Cuernos group had their zone of action in Lince. Every Saturday and Sunday they met to talk about their activities and distract themselves.

Two members of the Cuernos Jorge Salinas and Ricardo Vargas, dressed in typical hippie attire, answered some questions from our journalist.

Jorge Salinas, a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, said that he has his special pants made according to fashion magazines. He didn’t feel uncomfortable. They were called Cuernos de Lynx because their members carried a figure or small horn hanging from their necks.

Ricardo Vargas, 17, worked in a printing shop and studied the night shift at school. “We are not lazy or thugs. We study and work”said this young man.

To dress like this and meet with their group they had the authorization of their parents. She always kept her composure on the case. “We are not rare subjects, but the same as others from anywhere in the world,” she sentenced.

Although they dressed like hippies, these young people only copied foreign models. They had no intention of leaving their homes or living in community. The world climax of hippism would come the following year with Woodstock. In Peru the ‘hippy‘ did not transcend as in Argentina, Brazil and Chile.