¡Bienvenidos a Lima! Our late-night arrival at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima on Sunday, June 5, was just hours after the unofficial announcement of the victor of Peru´s presidential election.  Many questions are being asked about the future of Peru’s economic and social development under the leadership of the newly elected leftist, Ollanta Humala.

We began our quest to better understand the current conditions in Lima with a tour of the more affluent and developed of the forty-three districts – Miraflores, San Isidro, San Borja, La Molina.  These districts demonstrate the modern development of Lima as well as the formal sector of the city’s economy.  As we toured in the comfort of our chartered mini bus –comfortable in comparison to the jam-packed, mini-buses used for public transportation on the heavily congested, fast paced streets—we saw stores, restaurants and modern conveniences that are familiar to most U.S. citizens.  In these well established neighborhoods we were impressed by the beautifully landscaped, upscale homes and swanky stores which made it difficult to envision Peru as an underdeveloped country.  However with glimpses of shantytowns creeping up the sides of the surrounding mountains and hills we became more aware of the inequalities among the citizens of Peru.

These upscale districts reveal the unequal distribution of wealth not only in the obvious differences in housing and transportation conditions but also in subtle differences such as green space.  Most of the homes and apartment/condominium buildings in the affluent districts are surrounded by controlled-access privacy fences or walls.  Some neighborhoods even afford twenty-four hour security where guests and residents entering the zone are stopped by a guard and required to show papers or justify their entrance into the community.  Due to the high levels of security and privacy, these districts are the safest in the city.

As we admired the flourishing gardens and flowers along the walls and fences of the homes and in the neighborhood parks we were informed that such greenery is a sign of wealth.  Despite its humidity and location along the coast Lima has a desert climate, and the more plants you have the wealthier you probably are.  It takes money to supply sufficient amounts of water (and, in some cases, to hire a gardener) to maintain private gardens and community parks.  As we passed by some of the districts of mostly lower economic class residents we saw brown, dry, barren landscapes of dirt or concrete.

A majority of the residents in these affluent districts do not have to rely on the not-so-safe/reliable public transportation because they can buy private cars. Unfortunately the growing use of private transportation, not only among upper-class citizens but also many citizens of the middle class, has increased pollution in the city.

Another indicator of economic class that many U.S. citizens might not notice due to our high dependence on private cars as a means to get around is the frequency of sidewalks.  The wealthier the residential neighborhood the fewer sidewalks there are.  Well-off residents can get in their cars and come and go from their gated properties without the need to walk to a bus-stop or other destination.

The unequal distribution of wealth among Lima’s citizens is evident in the ratio of the wealthiest citizens compared to the overall population.  Approximately 850,000 reside in the most affluent districts, which is about 10 percent of Lima’s metro area population of more than 8 million.  Despite what seems like an unfair gap in economic classes we must not forget that modern Lima relies upon the affluent, well-established districts to boost the city’s economy through tourism and foreign investors. As Peru is on the eve of a new presidency the future and development of its mega-city is hopeful for improvements among the different economic classes.