City on the edge: Lima, Peru

"It hasn't rained in over 2,000 years," he told us. That couldn't be true, could it?

It might. Based on our small anecdotal sample, it hadn't rained at all in our five weeks in Peru or Bolivia. Heading down to the deserted oceanfront (where pollution problems discourage all but the most enthusiastic of surfers), you can see that it must be true. The edge of the city stands precariously atop cliffs that appear ready to melt into the Pacific Ocean at the even the slightest hint of rain.



Yes, those are just tiny stones held together with dirt.

Seemingly every aspect of Lima is either an exercise in extremes, or one of barely stable equilibriums.

While the weather is moderate (average highs in the low 60's year round) and continually overcast, heavy sustained rains would guarantee mudslides and housing collapses. The population has increased approximately 15-fold in the last 65 years. Services and development cannot seem to keep up with the influx of new residents.

(image courtesy of teague03)

And in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was almost completely destroyed by earthquakes. Three times.

After just two cab rides, the extremes became painfully clear.

On one trip from the airport, we denounced Lima as a sprawling slum. Barren, dusty, and often seemingly abandoned, there would be no reason to ever visit it again. This wasn't just a poor area of a modern city, these were mud and brick shanty towns woven together with crude dirt roads.

Returning to the tourist district of Miraflores several weeks later, we took a different route through town. Wide, tree lined boulevards. Green grass everywhere. Casinos. McDonalds. Sharply dressed white collar workers. The glimmering skyscrapers of the financial district, San Isidro. Had we arrived in the wrong city?

(photo courtesy of PromPeru, by way of Wikipedia)

Despite being a giant metropolis, the people are exceedingly friendly and helpful. The hosts throughout all of our accommodations bent over backwards to provide us with local insights and made us feel like part of their family. More than once I had to speed up the conversation after my eyes glazed over from well intentioned "help overload".

At one point, our taxi driver pulled over to ask a police officer on a motorcycle about the location of a particular street. He didn't know offhand, but quickly called a friend on his cell phone, and was able to give us an approximate location.

I guess you can't really fault our driver for not knowing one particular street, given that it was 15 miles from where our ride started. (It turned out to be only 1 block long!)

Still from the shanty towns surrounding the city, to tourist district of Miraflores, to the swanky towers of San Isidro, and the few remaining historic structures (like the Cathedral in Plaza Mayor):

(photo courtesy of mannover)

...you never quite know what you are going to get with Lima.

Sadly, this makes it a hard sell for the casual traveler. It is easy to feel like you have run out of things do to within the first 24 hours, but you'll miss the complete picture. If you understand and appreciate the nuances of it's history, culture, and extremes, this 'city on the edge' might just surprise and delight you.

Just pray that it doesn't rain first.