So I’ve reached the start of my 4th week here in Lima already…cannot believe time is going by so quickly! And I think it’s time to talk about what the housing situation is really like.
I have been fortunate enough to already have experienced a variety of different districts. And not just walking around, I got to stay in three different districts in Lima already, each with its own flavor and speed of life. A little introduction: In reality, Lima is a huuuge city with nearly 9 million residents in about 800 sq. km (310 sq. mi). The province of Lima is divided into 43 districts, with Lima itself the name of a district.
Here is the district of Breña and Lima near the center of Lima, by the Palacio de Justicia:
Lima is home to both the very rich and the very poor and with all walks in between. The more developed and urban areas (that attract the tourist $$$) include Miraflores, San Isidro, Magdalena del Mar and others. I currently live in between Miraflores and San Isidro, and hence pay a little bit more for everything including rent, groceries, and shopping.
Larcomar is a typical high-end Western style mall, but the cool thing is that it is built into the side of the cliff over the beach. So when you first walk to the plaza above, you don’t see the mall below until you walk down one level. Pretty cool, and wonderful views of the ocean.
Here is what Miraflores looks like (tourist district, Óvalo de Miraflores, Larcomar Mall, El Circuito de Las Playas (Circuits of the Beaches) and Parque Kennedy) :
LOS OLIVOS/SAN MARTIN DE PORRES
When I first arrived, I lived in a district near the border of Los Olivos and San Martin de Porres, which is north of the city center of Lima. And boy, let me tell you when I told people I was living there, I got reactions between “O, Los Olivos es muy tranquilo y seguro (Los Olivos is very peaceful and safe)” to “¿Por qué? ¡Es muy peligroso allá! (Why? It’s really dangerous there!)” I was fortunate enough to have secured housing with the Family Quino through my mentor at UW prior to arriving.
Los Olivos is really close to the airport, and I lived by a major street called Jiron Tomás Valle. While heterogenous, the area I stayed in had mostly older and more established people. You don’t see a lot of skyscrapers, and the biggest thing in my area was going to the Plaza Norte, which was the mall with the grocery store Metro there. Here is what the area looked like and the house I stayed in:
Tomás Valle at night
And here is Plaza Norte:
There were also small local markets and also a big shopping area called Mercado Central that is very similar to Women’s Street in Hong Kong. You can pretty much find anything and everything for a lot cheaper at all of these markets. Living with the family Quino, I got to learn how to shop and get to these markets, which in my opinion has much more Peruvian flavor and local culture. (Apologies for the lack of pictures, but safety is a concern and it wasn’t advised that I ever take a camera out and start taking photos in crowded areas).
One of the more interesting things was that Tomás Valle was a very busy street right next to the Pan American highway. The traffic there is incredible. There were no stoplights. You just have to pretty much run across the street when you get the chance. Rule #1 of crossing the street in areas like these: follow the crowds and be grateful if there is vehicular traffic. At least if the cars are stopped, you can walk in between them without worrying (as much) about them running you over. And the cars here do not stop or slow down for pedestrians…
Another interesting thing in living here in Los Olivos/San Martin de Porres was security. Every house was pretty much sealed behind a brick wall with a large multi-locked steel door with spiked fencing all around. There were locks and keys on every door. I lived on the 3rd floor, and to access it, you had to get through two separate doors with locks and keys. Getting locked out was common. Since I didn’t have a set of keys, any time I went from upstairs to my room to the kitchen downstairs, I had to make sure someone had left the key in the door so I could get back in. And I couldn’t come or go without someone being home, and had to coordinate every day with Mary, the sister of Dr. Quino, to get back in the house. I hate to say it, but I definitely felt a little claustrophobic at times. But I understand that burglary in that area was no joke.
Another thing you have to learn: no hot water unless you heated it for an hour beforehand. My floor was actually a part of the balcony of the house, which meant I actually lived outside of the building of the house. Which meant it was cold…very cold at night. At times if I didn’t wait long enough for the water to heat up, I would have to take cold showers and then shiver all night waiting for my hair to dry (didn’t get a hair dryer until right before I left this place…big mistake.)
Last thing were the cats at night and the roosters during the day…the neighbor behind our house had about 5 cats who liked to scream all night long and roosters and chickens that like to crow all morning. Then about 4:30 am every morning the roosters would start crowing and wouldn’t stop till about 9am. I was under the impression that I was living on a farm. It was definitely an interesting experience. But although I sound like I am complaining, I am really grateful I got to live with a family and experience another part of town.
Cats and roosters lived in this building behind my house:
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SAN JUAN DE LURIGANCHO
The first weekend I was in Lima, my friend from Seattle, Erin, who has been an incredible friend and has been looking out for me, invited me to her place in San Juan de Lurigancho, which is in the north part of Lima. She has been living there for 2 years, and originally was there living with Sisters in a Catholic covent and volunteering in the local community church. Really an amazing person, and am so proud of her.
Anywho, SJL is a bit more rustic and “movido” or choppy according to most people. Funnily enough, when I told my host family I was going there to visit, they kinda freaked out and warned me about how dangerous it was. But ironically, people said the same thing about me living in Los Olivos.
Well, with Erin’s help, we took the bus with her friends back to her place. SJL is a less developed part of town, even less developed than Los Olivos. No major malls or shopping centers. Smaller brick houses, unpaved roads, and local markets and restaurants dominate the area. According to Erin though, the community has really flourished and new parks and paved roads are popping up all over.
Here is what a typical house would look like and the surrounding neighborhoods:
Erin’s church was also beautiful and the community was fabulous. I got to sing with the music ministers while Erin led and played guitar:
This past weekend, I also got to visit an area north of San Juan de Lurigancho with Erin to her friend Marisola’s house (who was super sweet, more on Marisola later). The interesting thing is that the development goes up the hill. Basically the further up the hill you live, the less financial resources you likely have, because the prime real estate is always closer to the main roads and at the foot of the mountains. You can see here all the houses lined up. Most of these families build their own houses. Usually not much indoor plumbing and fixtures, but I have to say, their houses are pretty spacious and beautiful inside. Even a cute little furry welcome when we went to the house:
I understand that it is a little bit more rugged in these parts, and you have to be more careful. But I have to say, I found it quite safe as long as you keep your eyes open and walk with groups. Of course, I was accompanied by Erin and her friends the whole time. But even riding on the bus to and from these areas, I didn’t feel threatened or anything. Most people were very friendly and nice.
I felt there definitely was some sort of misunderstanding or area bias happening in different parts of Lima. People from the richer areas told me Los Olivos was not safe, and people who lived in Los Olivos told me SJL was not safe. Funny how that is…but in reality, if we are talking about theft, people get robbed all over. We know that’s true in the US…even in the good ol’ San Ramon where I’m from, there are robberies and crime and theft. So I think it pretty much boils down to keeping your eyes and ears open, not flashing your money or belongings about, and not putting yourself in risky situations.
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MIRAFLORES
So last week, I finally moved out of Los Olivos/San Martin de Porres after a very harrowing 1.5 weeks of searching, banking headaches and lots of waiting to a new apartment in Miraflores, close to San Isidro.
I live right by the Metropolitano bus line, and am smack in the middle of the University of San Marcos in Bellavista (north of me) and IMPACTA in Barranco (south of me). It would’ve been nice to continue living with the Quinos, but I definitely needed more of my own space and also to be closer to work. It took me over an hour one way on the Metropolitano to get to and from work to both sites. You can see how crowded it is on the buses every day:
I moved in last Friday, all excited to be in my own space. The area is much quieter: no chickens, no cats…the first night was wonderfully quiet. I slept in until 9am. And my apartment faces a little park called Parque Mercedes Caballero:
Thought I had found my dream apartment until Sunday night about 10pm…I noticed there was a puddle of water on my kitchen countertop. I thought it was condensation from the shower, and just wiped it up and went back to setting up the apartment…until a few minutes later, I felt a drop of water on my head. Followed by another. I climbed up to the top of the counter in my kitchen and saw a river of water leaking from the ceiling down to the counter.
O.M.G. As I inspected more closely, I saw more rivers and rivulets running down the walls. Then I noticed water was dripping all over the floor in the kitchen from the ceiling lamp. I walked outside my apartment (insulated apartment, no windows except the ceiling windows) and saw that it was misting…it wasn’t even raining! But as I looked up, there was water pouring in from everywhere.
There wasn’t much I could do except get pots and pans (I had exactly 4 in my apartment, and all of them went to good use) to catch the water, and throw the 3 towels I had in my possession on the floor. Panicking, called my best friend in New York and freaked out on the phone. He suggested I call the landlady, but I knew she was out of town on a work trip. Called her phone, but no response, so just left a frantic message and sent an email.
Just then, out of some sheer miracle, a gentleman entered the building. I asked him if he knew what to do to get in contact with my landlady. He politely asked to see my apartment, and when he saw the water coming from the ceiling lamp, told me to shut off the electricity and use lamps instead. Turns out he was the manager of a construction company. He told me to that he would bring his engineers back in the morning to inspect the apartment and find a solution.
This is what my kitchen looked like (after I had spent all weekend cleaning and organizing it):
Luckily I still had enough hot water to shower…
Next morning, the gentleman came back with his crew, but also the landlady had received my message and got her service men to come and inspect the apartment. The engineers were able to help me communicate what the problem was, and left the service men to fix the apartment.
I missed a day of work, but at least I got my apartment all cleaned up and back to looking lovely. Sigh…that was Monday, my 3rd day in the apartment…
Thursday comes and I had an appointment to get a phone line and internet connected with the local company called CLARO. They came at 4:30pm, and said they needed access to the roof, so we went to the third floor of the building and rang the door bells and knocked on the door. No answer…
So we went back downstairs and went to the building next door. A very nice couple let us go up to the roof through their apartment, and I went back inside with another worker to get things connected. I was really happy, had only been using a mobile router for the past 2 weeks, and ironically, the router didn’t work in my insulated little apartment. Oh well, nicer to have an actual internet line anyways.
A few minutes later, I get a knock at the door, and a heavy set gentleman is standing there. He very hurriedly tells me in rapid non-Latin American accented Spanish that there was some disturbance and asked if I was having workers on the roof. I said, “yes, I am getting my internet connected.” He tells me that the next time I have workers here, that he needs to be notified in advance.
Apparently what had happened was he was in the shower and the Claro worker on the roof saw him while he was bathing. And apparently he was so freaked out that he couldn’t finish. Me and the other worker were speechless…I mean, what do you say to that?
While the man was talking, I kept thinking, “he doesn’t sound Peruvian…maybe he is an American…”
I said in my broken spanish that we had knocked on the door but no one answered. He admitted that he may not have heard while he was in the shower…but then he said he wanted the names of the Claro workers and was going to file a complaint with the company. I apologized profusely, and he said he wasn’t mad at me, but rather at the workers for their insensitivity. Then he went back upstairs.
I was kind of shocked, as was the other worker. When the other guy came back from the roof, his colleague asked if he saw a man showering, and the other worker denied seeing anything.
Few minutes later, a uniformed man walks to my door. He asks to speak to me, and by this time, I am thinking “O f*ck, I am going to get arrested for getting my internet and phone line connected.” The officer said he just returned from a Sr. (we will call him Bob Thompson’s) apartment on the 3rd floor, who was my neighbor. He said apparently one of the workers had climbed to the roof and was watching Mr. Bob Thompson showering, which bothered him a lot. The officer then asked for my name. I was thinking, “why don’t you get the name of the Claro guys? It’s not my fault! I didn’t hire them!”
I told the officer that I just moved in and didn’t know what happened. I said that we had knocked on the door of the apartment, but no one answered. The officer mentioned that he understood, but that Mr. Thompson was very intimidated and didn’t feel comfortable. At this point, I am just half fed up with everything and almost said in English, “well, what do you want me to do about it? It is not my fault that the Claro guy was a peeping tom!”
I said to the officer, “Well, here are the two workers. You can talk to them.”
The younger guy who was in the apartment with me actually went up and apologized. The other guy, the accused peeping Tom, didn’t say anything. I think he was probably thinking he had been caught. I apologized profusely again, and mentioned that I was new to the area. The officer also mentioned that Mr. Thompson was from the US, and also did not feel comfortable with the situation.
I asked if the officer needed anything else from me, and he said no. I mentioned I was new to the neighborhood and asked if he was police. He said no, he was part of the “Serenazgo”, who are kind of like community surveillance officers. Well, I didn’t know the difference and was pretty freaked out nonetheless.
After all that, the internet and phone line were finally set up. I had exactly 15 minutes before a work call with my professor in Seattle, but felt really terrible (and kinda curious) about Mr. Thompson. So I dashed upstairs to his apartment and apologized again. Then I asked if he was American. Turns out he was from California and working for the consulate here in Peru. He actually turned out to be a really really nice person, and was super understanding. He said he was bothered that this guy actually was standing there laughing at him. He said if he had just mistakenly saw him, no big deal…but to be standing there LAUGHING…that was out of line.
I totally agreed, said that guy was an a**hole for staring and laughing, and that it was unacceptable what he did. But turned out Mr. Thompson knew a lot about the neighborhood and gave me some tips to stay out of trouble. So cool…think I made a new friend.
But yeah…what a wild ride. Definitely an interesting way to meet your neighbors. But glad things finally are settling down and I feel more comfortable in my space. But in just 3 short weeks, definitely have experienced some pretty diverse and intense parts of living in Lima…lol, probably more unique than other people’s experiences in Lima so far.
"Almost 1 year" in Peru 