I’ve been in Lima, Perú for over two weeks, and I hope to get away to Machu Picchu and Cuzco, high in the Andes, perhaps later this week.  Unlike all the other South American cities I have visited, Lima has no single bus terminal.  Maybe today I’ll find the one that has buses that go to these cities of Tawantinsuyu, which is the Inca Empire, according to the Quechua language.  Machu Picchu and Cuzco lie at some distance from Lima, so it may take me a day on a bus just to get there.

In the meanwhile, I’ve been residing in a hotel in a district of Lima called Jesús María, which is one of the finer districts of the city.  Jesús María is adjacent to the even more impressive district called San Isidro.   My immediate neighborhood is very reminiscent of the Westwood District of Los Angeles, where UCLA is located.  Jesús María features gracefully curving streets, like Avenida Salaverry, which has a broad median strip bisected by a paved bicycle path.  Throughout my immediate neighborhood, there are hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, law offices and suchlike upscale places of business.  There is also some sort of reservation of the Peruvian Marines nearby.  Another fine street that runs by my place is named Avenida Gregorio Escobedo, which in addition to a number of clinics, has a fine mall, with two modern supermarkets comparable to Ralph’s in California or Publix in Florida.  These supermarkets tend to be relatively expensive by Peruvian standards.  You can do much better at corner grocers.  There are also a number of smaller businesses in the mall, like restaurants, branch banks, dry cleaners and apparel shop.  There’s even a laundromat, which is a real rarity in South America.  Farther down, where Avenida Gregorio Escobedo intersects Avenida Sánchez Carrión, there’s a large casino called Estados Unidos with a facsimile of the Statue of Liberty in the front.  Casinos are fairly common around Lima and usually have the word ‘Tragamonedas’ (slot machines) on illuminated signs.

At the intersection of Avenida Sánchez Carrión and Avenida Javier Prado, the main street of San Isidro, there’s a formation of about 50 flagpoles with flags of world countries flying.  I haven’t found out what that is all about.  As one walks down Javier Prado, he sees an endless succession of fastuous high-rise buildings, along with imposing mansions, academies, bureaus and offices.  However, there are no stores for a distance of about two miles.

Going east from where I live, there is a very mundane, utilitarian street called Avenida Brasil, which is a fenced, divided highway, making it impossible to cross.  Along Avenida Brasil one finds a variety of factories and secondary industrial and medical supply houses.  Towards downtown and the district called Breña, Avenida Brasil becomes somewhat slummy.

The main shopping street of downtown Lima is called El Jirón de la Unión, but after Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago, with their gorgeous downtown districts, the Jirón is a big disappointment, with a lot of cheap clothing stores, hot dog stands and the like.  If there is a better district, I haven’t discovered it so far.  I was hoping to find a garment district as well as a district where one might buy antiquities, philatelic stamps and numismatic coins, but it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Bookstores are few and far between, unlike Buenos Aires, which has scores.

Lima lies at latitude 12° south, in other words a little more than 800 miles from the equator, twice as close as Miami or Honolulu, and you’d think it would be warm all year round.  But no, we’re now on the threshold of the South American winter, and the daily high and low are running about 68° and 58° F (20° and 15° C).  It’s cloudy and foggy almost every day without fail at this time of the year.  We’re lucky if the sun breaks through for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  Even when the sun shows a little, the sky is not pellucid, but looks misty or hazy.  Shades of San Diego!

Internet is available all over the place in Lima.  In some areas, there are three, four or more cyber cafés per block, with the incredibly low rate of one sol (31 cents) an hour.  When I think of the $3 to $10 an hour that you pay in Los Angeles, I imagine myself dropping a $50 bill instead of a coin worth $1.55 for 5 hours of Internet, and I’m glad I’m in Perú.  Then too, there’s the big fat grilled sausage sandwich for 50 cents!  What more could I ask?

I haven’t decided whether to seek to renew my visa before its expiry on August 6, or just go on to warm, sunny Guayaquil, Ecuador, which will be my next port of call, if all goes as I plan.

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