Lima, What can I get you?

Hola, buenos dias. ¿Quieras algo?

Driving around Peru's capital Lima is not without its advantages nor it's disadvantages. The smog soaked streets are difficult to navigate. You have to be pretty damn good to avoid suicidal pedestrians, old carts laden with fruit driven by the older folk of the neighbourhood, men moving a whole lounge set on a little trolley along the main avenue and the colectivos. The colectivos are mini-buses driven by mini-men with an inflamed tendency to leave their sanity at home before work. Shooting in and out of traffic like a hungry mouse in a maze, driven by the smell of the cheese, these buses hustle for their passengers. Normally so full, people are hanging out the doors for dear life, these buses are hard to miss for both the eye and for the slightly to heavily battered cars that cram Lima's streets.

Coughing your way though this traffic in a hot car can easily scare off the weary or easily spooked tourist. Do not fear though, the people of Lima have the answer, an excuse to hop in the car rather than walk or take a colectivo. Touts, vendors and jack of all trades.

Sitting in your car at a traffic jam or long red light will, without any doubt, give you the chance to buy, be entertained or at a minimum have a good chat with one of the many trying to make their money off motorists. Jugglers and mimes seem to be the main form of entertainment which weaves it's way between the traffic, although sometimes you see men playing the tin can and singing.

If you are short of anything, these people will either have it for sale or know someone very close by who does. A water bottle, water purification tablets, torches, gum, glue, chocolate, stationery, cookies and even, in some case, icecream.

Unfortunately due to the high levels of poverty in this overcrowded city, these people are desperate. Buying something may in some cases feel slightly more like charity with a perk. It becomes difficult to have to say no to people all the time. How much help and money can you actually give before you yourself are caught in a hard place. A question which I'm sure plagues more tourist than just me.

Of Peru's 29 million(+) population nearly 45% of people live below the poverty line, a daily sight on the busy Lima streets. With unemployment slowly climbing the locals have little option but to do what it takes to surivive in this rapidly growing city. The gut wrenching sight of Peruvians lining the streets in one of Lima's richest suburbs, Miraflores, selling whatever they can lay their hands on, does nothing to revitalise your faith in humanity nor in easily corruptable power hungry democratic systems.

So the purchase of a piece of gum, a pair shoelaces or a few nuevo soles (Peruvian currency) will not go astray. Enjoy the show and the snack and feel, if only a little, better as you make your way through Lima's energetic, living and breathing streets.

Besos from Lima,
Mikey Fitz