This is a photo of a barrio outside of Lima, Peru. I was there a little more than a year ago. There is no running water here, elctricity or sewers. The air smelled so bad I did not want to breathe as we drove through this neighborhood on the one bumpy narrow paved street. The poor people in Lima live on the hillsides. The hills are devoid of any vegetation, just rocks and dirt. Not a single tree grew anywhere on the mountains above Lima where the gente pobre live. It was made the capitol of Peru by the Conquistadores because it had a natural harbor from which the conquerors could load and haul the treasure they stole back to Spain. Infant mortality is greater than 50% and tuberculosis is high in this place called San Juan de Lima. Respiratory infections are frequent and there is no Insta Care or IHC to take your kid to when he has a fever. Garbage was piled along the street and the sorriest junkyard dogs I have ever seen look for something to eat. They compete with the residents looking for scraps of paper or metal to recycle and sell.
I was told by my body guards this was not the worst neighborhood in Lima. We could not go to the worst because they would break the mirrors off the van or try to carjack us. I had to be content with experiencing the second worst neighborhood. When I retrurned home to Centerville I showed this and other photos to my son in law K. I said I could not believe there was an LDS Church there and missionarios, even gringos serve here... He laughed and said he was a Zone Leader in San Juan de Lima.
Mi vida es facil!
