There are many elegant, fashionable neighborhoods in Lima and other cities in Perú.  My present location, in the Jesús María District of Lima could hold its own with many of the neighborhoods on the west side of Los Angeles, especially Westwood.  There are other, even more fashionable districts nearby, with opulent mansions, fine townhouses and modern high-rise buildings.

However, the picture is not so rosy for most Peruvians.  Here in Lima there are many downscale districts that go beyond what Americans call ‘slums’.  They’re far worse than anything anyone would see in the US.  Walls of buildings are grimy and covered with graffiti.  People hanging around on street corners do not look very trustworthy.  Traffic is atrocious.  Added to this scenario are the almost interminably cloudy skies of the Pacific shores.

Out on the countryside, in many of the villages that I’ve passed through, there is also evidence of raw poverty.  However, in many cases, though penury is painfully obvious, it still seems in the realm of the possible to survive in such circumstances, if not very comfortably.  Here and here  for example, are some typical farmhouses, and an American who is not terribly accustomed to luxuries could imagine himself or herself making do in such a habitation, at least for a period of time.

If such conditions were the bottom line, I might say to myself that Peruvian life is difficult, but not unendurable.  Unfortunately it gets much worse.   Here, for example, are some wretched huts.  Try to imagine yourself with sick children trying to manage in such an environment, when the temperature is in the 40’s or 50’s Fahrenheit (under 10º Celsius). 

But it gets even worse.  In the suburbs of Lima, poverty reaches depths comparable with that of the worst spots on the planet.  Here, for example, are some shacks just outside of Lima, where such neighborhoods go on for miles, amid absolutely bleak sand dunes and perpetually cloudy skies.

In these slums, I hear, you can be robbed and left standing naked on the street corner, as the assailants take all your clothes to assure themselves that they have not missed any hidden money.  Cocaine also flows freely in these parts, and the addiction to it may be one of the factors that contribute to poverty.  Certainly however, the other factors include lack of natural resources, maladministration of those that do exist, poor human services on the part of the government and ethnic traits.

Businesses, where they exist at all, are limited to dilapidated grocery stores, wretched automobile repair shops and an occasional grim factory or refinery. 

Some Peruvians earn as little as $100 a month, and the conditions they live in are just as dire and desperate as those in western China and Egypt.  One can hardly find the likes of it in Europe or the US.

So even though some of the beauty spots in Perú are fascinating and enchanting, the whole picture of the country is to be regarded as very negative.  Most Peruvians, if given an opportunity to leave the country, would indeed leave, according to a survey that I read.  Those fortunate ones, who are educated and wealthy, or who live wholesome lives in scenic places, would stay no doubt, but such people make a small minority.

Perú’s Human Development Index is .767, placing it 82nd among the countries of the world, just below China and just ahead of Ecuador and the Philippines.

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