On the second day in Lima, we headed south for a totally different view of Peruvian life. After a bit, we were going parallel with the coast line and came upon a wholesale fish market. This was a sight for 4 senses ….we didn’t taste anything, but the other senses got a real workout. Our guide knew some of the characters at the market and they gave us an interesting view of the different fish.
Most of these fish had been caught in the very early morning by small volume fishermen using their own small boats. It seems that after the fish were caught the women were in charge to display and sell them. There was a great variety of fish, most of which I had never seen….or at least didn’t recognize in their uncooked form.
I’m a great lover of seafood and what a variety there was: squid, octopus, clams, mussels, crab, scallops, lobsters, oysters, sea urchins and so many different kinds and sizes of shrimp that I lost count.
I could hardly resist buying some, but I had no way to cook it and I wasn’t about to eat it raw (chemically cooked with lime) as the locals were doing. I did enjoy seafood at other times in the restaurant.
There were lots of pelicans around and they looked well fed. We watched one fellow clean a bucket of fish by the edge of the water. When he was through he washed the entrails into the water and there was total chaos as the pelicans fought with each other for these tidbits.
Leaving the fish market behind, we headed out to the edge of Lima. As in all cities, there are areas where there is less economic growth, in fact poverty. This was the case for the “shanty town” that we visited. The Lima officials have developed a plan for the people who come to Lima to start a new life. These people arrive from all over Peru because of local economies gone bad, or floods, earthquakes, etc. etc.
There is a lot of acreage around Lima that is undeveloped. The officials plot off an area where about 500 or so people can be placed together. At first the people stay in tents or very simple shelters of found materials. Gradually as the people get work …. and this seems not to be a big problem…they build a better “box” to live in. Gradually water, electricity, schools and public transportation arrives. At some point, after several years, the people are given ownership of the land where they are living which enables them to sell or stay. The people seemed proud of their homes with attractive, colorful paint everywhere and a picked up, well swept area around the home.
As you can imagine, there are lots of children in these areas. In the area that we visited the children looked clean, well kept and healthy. We saw no toys, but the children that were out and about (they were the younger ones, not yet in school) were making up games with found objects: sticks, stones, a bottle lid, etc. etc. And, they certainly seem to enjoy their friends. Later in the day we did see teenagers involved in a volley ball game in another part of the settlement.
We visited one take out “kitchen” where a lady cooks simple lunches for about 40 people each day. Most people are able to pay her something, but she doesn’t turn away people who are temporarily without money. One example of a need for her hot lunch is to feed school children whose mother and father are away at their jobs during the day. She relies somewhat on donations to keep the price low and our group had purchased several sacks of vegetables for her to use on another day.
This home site area certainly had a sobering effect on all of us. But it does seem that the Lima/Peruvian government has a handle on the problem to help the people become a productive part of the city.
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