Sebastian Castaneda was born in Lima in 1970. He graduated from law school at the University of Lima in 1999, and since 2002, is dedicated to photography. Working as a photojournalist in EPENSA between 2004 and 2005, and in El Comercio between 2005 and 2014. Sebastian has done assignments throughout Latin America as well as in Canada, USA In the Middle East it has covered Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Currently working with news agencies AFP, AP, Al Jazeera and Turkish Anadolu agency. The main stories are covering the war in Iraq in 2014, the Syrian armed conflict in 2013, violence in Sidon, Lebanon in 2013, the 2012 elections in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez's funeral in 2013, the Dakar Rally in their editions 2012 and 2013, the 2007 earthquake in Peru, the earthquake in Chile in 2010, Voodoo ceremonies in Haiti in 2010 and 2011, Occupy Wall Street in New York in 2011, terrorism in Peru in 2012, the social situation and Cuba policy in 2012.
REFUGE OF THE SOUL The pilgrimage to Lord Cautivo de Ayabaca is a religious custom practiced for more than 200 years. Fifty thousand people are mobilized each year to see the Cautivo up close, which goes out in procession every October in the small town of Ayabaca, in the Andes of northern Peru. The Captive is credited with many miracles, cripples who return to walk healthy terminally ill, cure addicted to drugs. In return, the penitents, as they call themselves their devotees, do not hesitate to tear their hands, elbows, knees and bleed on the rock and mud in exchange for a miracle. Thousands of pilgrims walk hundreds of kilometers to be in Ayabaca on the 13th of October, including pilgrims who walk through Peru from south to north for months traveling almost 2,000 km and carrying heavy crosses as a penance.
