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Lima, Peru, in 1998

Lima, Peru in 1998

Truk_mazzy
2003-12-04 01:23:40

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8 July 1998 LIMA! At long last, we are here. Planning, saving, dreaming, wishing, hoping, saving some more, doing all of the little things to get ready (such as a monster Yellow Fever vaccination), and months and months of waiting culminated this morning at 4:30 as Kath and I stepped off our 757 and into the 19th century. Well, actually, the airport wasn't so old, though we did get to walk down these movable stairs which roll up to the side of the plane and then walk across the tarmac (which I had never done before). The immigration line was long, the customs line confusing, but at last, we were free. The halogens of the airport emptied out into a sooty, humid blackness, much like as if a train had just steamed past. Thankfully, we met up with a guy (helpful travel agent person) who helped orient us and get us into a ride toward central Lima. Our driver was just another airport worker on his way home, trying to earn some extra money. At the current rate of 2.9 nuevo soles to the dollar, we got reamed with a s/ 42 fare. I justified it to myself that at least this was going to a private guy and not some creepy cab company.

The poverty we saw from the back of the car coming out of the airport area as truly shocking. I've seen much worse (Turkmenistan, China, parts of Philly), but something about its dirty stillness left me wondering, "Why flock to this?" I think this thought probably applied as much to us as the people living in the poorer parts of Lima, but I suddenly felt a strange resolve to understand this country and roots of poverty in the country. Right outside the airport, near the Rio Rimac that runs through town, there are rows of squatter communities, little cities of plywood and tin, modern "Hoovervilles," some with young men out front tending a small fire and staring out into the night. In the emerging light of morning, the men and women will flood out of these "pueblos jovenes" or "young towns" and hit the streets trying ...