Saw this really well put together video by limafotolibre.com.  The video shows footage of many Limeños celebrating day of the dead at Santa Rosa de Lima cemetery in Chorrillos.  The photos used in the video were taken November of 2010.

When my family first moved to Chorrillos in 2002, I found it be very beautiful and immediately fell in love with the city.  When I returned to Chorrillos last year I realized just how much the district had changed.  One of the most notable changes was the disappearance or should I say destruction of the Arco de La Villa which was located at the famous Curva towards the south end of Av. Huaylas (who's name has since been changed to Av. Defensores del Morro, as well as many others in the district).  The Arch was one of the few remaining patrimonies to the district and to discover that it had been torn down led many questions to be asked, most importantly why?  The Arch originally served as the entrance to the famous Hacienda Matellini which was later moved by the city to the Curva where it reside up until a few years ago when the Mayor Augusto Miyashiro Yamashiro had it destroyed.  What was his motive for having such an old relic of Chorrillos past destroyed?  What would come as a shock to many citizens and create mixed feelings towards the mayor was his decision to rebuild the arch out of METAL in a very crude representation of the original.  The new arch which can be seen by anyone who drives down Huaylas has been undergoing construction for almost two years now and has yet to be completed.  The plan of the reconstruction was to accompany the new arch with a system of small water fountains similar to the one's found in the Parque de la Reserva.

The city of Chorrillos has undergone what would appear to be a restructuring of it's image, a modernization if you will, at least on the surface that is what it appears to be.  Closer examination would show that all of the metal chain fences, light posts, and other metal structures in the city are fabricated by none other than the mayor's own brother.  In fact, since mayor Miyashiro's initial election in 1998 many allegations of illegal activities have been made, some with fairly substantial evidence.  Elevated taxation, constant construction projects, destruction of historical sites, are among some of the few problems that have fallen over the district of Chorrillos, which has many Chorrillanos upset and concerned.





As if things could not get any worse a historical site, a park with more than 100 years of existence was demolished by the Municipality of Chorrillos on April of 2010.  The pérgola and red marble columns of the Parque Cuadros were constructed overlooking the coast in the famous malecón of Chorrillos over 100 years ago and according to Peruvian law was protected under the status of National Patrimony which should have protected the structure from being destroyed.  In Lima, any structure or building that has more than 100 years of existence is protected under this status, many buildings are currently protected by this status (though they are in dire need of restoration).  The park was destroyed in order to make way for a new park which will feature several lit water fountains.  The outrage from the citizens and residences of the malecón is that they were never consulted about the parks remodeling, nor were they even advised about it.  In wake of the public outcry the mayor made a public statement that he had in fact addressed the residents and citizens, though in an interview with channel N he failed to mention exactly how he addressed the citizens.  His excuse for supposedly continuing with the construction despite the alleged disapproval by the citizens was that the park had become a site for "bad people" to consume illegal drugs and drink alcohol, a fact which is true but doesn't fully warrant the destruction of a historically protected site.  Aside from the destruction of the pergola and it's columns was the cutting down of 100 year old trees, as if Lima had enough trees to begin with.


What doesn't make sense is why the mayor would want to destroy a national landmark because a few bad apples smoke their weed and drink alcohol (I am also aware that the area was known for it's numerous incidences of theft).  If what Miyashiro stated is true then why didn't he just install more serenazgo security in the park?  Why was it necessary to build water fountains instead of preserving a NATIONAL LANDMARK?  Why would you remove century old trees and green grass for slabs of concrete?


What is concerning is the path which Chorrillos is going down and how it's cultural and historical identity is eroding at an alarming rate.  Granted Chorrillos is not the only district that is currently having problems with their mayors, look at San Juan de Miraflores for example. 

When I actually manage to find free time to watch TV during my busy week there is one particular show that I absolutely adore watching, it's called "A La Vuelta de La Esquina" (english: Just Around the Corner).  The popular series which airs weekly on the channel PlusTV and takes viewers on a historical and cultural adventure through the vast depths and nether regions of Peru's capital Lima.  The show is hosted by the joyful Gonzalo Torres, who scours the cities several districts and plazas in search of interesting tales from Lima's past. 

As most of you already know I live in the district of Chorrillos which is located in the Southern Cone of the city (Spanish = Cono Sur).  The show is in Spanish but it will give the viewer an amazing tour of the place I call home!  I will also be posting other episodes of other districts for those interested.


The video is located below FYI.

It's been 14 years since American Lori Berenson was arrested in Peru on charges of terrorism (1995).  She was convicted by the Peruvian Court in a closed military proceeding for collaborating with the MTRA (Tupac Amaru Revolution Movement) terrorist group.  She would then spend the next years in several prisons across the country before being transferred to the Santa Monica Women's Maximum Security Prison located in the district of Chorrillos (one of many districts that make up the capital city Lima).  Her transfer to Santa Monica was made just 5 years ago when she became pregnant (by her fellow terrorist buddy/husband/lawyer/ex-husband, now good friend) and needed to be transferred for the delivery and a back surgery. 



In the above video you will notice that she seems to be smiling and why wouldn't she be after being incarcerated for over 14 years she is finally going to breathe some fresh air be able to live outside the confines of a prison. 



Today the past came back for me as I was heading to teach an English class in the southern district of Lurin, while driving along the Av. Huaylas in Chorrillos (this is the quickest path which is taken to get from Miraflores to Lurin).  As my taxi drove past the Santa Monica prison my attention was diverted by the comment of my fellow co-worker who pointed out the large presence of news reporters quickly surrounding the prison perimeter.  That's when the driver mentioned that the American Lori Berenson was to be released on parole following a recent ruling, which would grant Berenson the opportunity of parole under the supervision of the Peruvian police (something similar to what is practiced in the US for regular convicts.  Good luck flying that option for convicted terrorists in the US). 

It's interesting to realize how quickly time goes by when your not serving a 20 year conviction for collaborating with terrorists.  While Berenson's release date is still set for 2015 I can already see a best-seller New York Times book in the works (How I Survived My Peruvian Imprisonment), which will later be followed by her Lifetime Channel made for TV movie: "The Lori Berenson Story".  For the meantime, she will apparently be able to rent her own apartment in Miraflores and will be expected to comply every 30 days with mandatory progress checks and will be prohibited from consuming alcohol and drugs and cannot leave the country until she has served her time.  Unfortunately for Berenson the residents of Miraflores aren't too thrilled with the idea of having a terrorist live in their district and have even staged candle light vigils to honor those who were killed in the terrorist attack which happened on the Av. Tarata in 1992 which killed several people.  The people of Miraflores have stated that they want Ms. Berenson to be extradited to the US to fulfill the remainder of her sentence and have asked the Peruvian government to take action.







As if things weren't bad enough for Berenson the media has already disclosed the location of her soon to be Miraflores residence, while interviewing her future residents as to their opinions towards living next to a convicted terrorist.  The general consensus is that they are not in favor of the idea and I wouldn't blame them either.



Of course with the controversy over the courts decision to give Berenson parole all the political candidates in the midst of elections have taken the opportunity to jump all over this topic like piranhas on a bleeding animal.  Nothing helps a politicians appearance more than getting behind the public and criticizing the government for their decisions as you can see from the below videos.



Here is a link to an article from MSNBC which goes into a little more detail about the ordeal 

El Anzuelo or "fishhook" in English is a word that best represents the quality of the seafood you will find at the cevicheria El Anzuelo in Chorrillos.  When it comes to good fresh seafood (with the exception of the HUGE fish market in Villa Maria del Triunfo) in Lima no other districts can compete with Callao and in this case Chorrillos.  Both districts are also recognized for the large amount of fishing that takes place in its waters of their coasts.


With great fresh seafood coupled with the love and admiration of cooking, Chef Teo creates wonderful and simple dishes that leave you wanting more.  Owner and well-known Chef Teo provides the citizens of Chorrillos with a large menu of various seafood dishes featuring everything from the Peruvian classic Ceviche Dos Tiempos to the appetizingly spicy calamari stuffed tequeños.   Chef Teo is well recognized for his culinary creations from his days back when he worked as a chef at La Choza Nautica, located in Breña a few years ago.  Deciding it was time for a change the Chef decided to open a cevicheria of his own and today El Anzuelo is a testament of his hardwork and dedication.

At first appearance El Anzuelo has the look of any other local cevicheria on Av. Huaylas, it's small and quaint size may be intimidating but upon being seated and taking in the nautical atmosphere of fishing nets and sea shells along with the aroma of seafood dishes being prepared and will find your appetite grow.  The service is quick and the food doesn't take more than 15 minutes from time of order (on a regular day) til it reaches your table.  Any true fan of seafood who hasn't already eaten at this restaurant will want to give El Anzuelo a try and for what you get, you will soon discover that it's well worth the modest price.


I personally recommend the restaurant and give it a 5 out of 5 in my book.

This is an approximate address:

Defensores Del Morro 271, Chorrillos

Lima 09, Peru

Get Directions

(0)1 291 3170

The restaurant is located on Av. Huaylas in between Av. Santa Teresa and Av. Olaya, across from the Garibaldi Fire Station.  

Price: $-$$

None of us our strangers when it comes to public transportation, there has been a moment in all of our lives where we have had to rely on others to get us from point A to point B.  Here in Lima, Peru just like in my hometown of Portland, Oregon the people of this city rely heavily on multiple forms of public transportation.  In Lima the most common forms of public transportation that one will encounter include: buses, Micros (small buses), Combi's (name was adopted from the original Volkswagon model), taxi's, mototaxi's (which is a motorcycle that has been converted to carry passengers), and Colectivos (which is a carpoolesque taxi).

All of these forms of transportation have their respective levels of risk and reward along with their varying range of transportation fares.  The mode of transportation that I most frequently use are the Colectivo's. Why?  There are a number of reasons why I prefer Colectivos the best three being: cheap price in comparison to taxi's, fast travel, and less passenger stops. 

The Colectivo as I mentioned earlier can be best described as a public carpool service which is similar to that of a taxi.  All Colectivos have their respective routes that they travel much like the buses, Micros, and Combis which, are fairly flexible to work with when trying to reach a destination in the city.  The downside of the Colectivo is that there are'nt many routes avialable in Lima, with the most common ones I can think of being: Via Expresa/Chorrillos, La Parada (La Victoria), Chosica, Comas/San Felipe, and Callao (there may be others that I am not familiar).  From these routes one may also have to rely on a secondary form of public transportation to reach their actual destination, fortunately for me this is not the case since the Colectivo that I take drops me off within walking distance of my home. 

The most you will pay for a Colectivo I believe is 5-10 soles (again, not 100% sure on this figure) to travel to Callao and 4 soles to travel to San Felipe/Comas.  I currently pay S/. 3.00 to travel from Chorrillos to Plaza Grau near the Sheraton Hotel and El Palacio de Justicia in Downtown Lima.  Another benefit is that they can often be found in the early morning hours which makes it a nice alternative to taking a cab for some (again, depends on whether or not the route is in towards your neck of the woods). 

Another downside is the fact that you have to carpool with complete strangers and depending on the time of day at which you decide to travel in one you may find yourself seated next to beligerently drunk guy (who apparently has lost all motor control of his body and collapses in your lap halfway through the trip).  Sitting between LARGE individuals is no way to travel and gives literal meaning to the phrase human sandwich. 

Lastly public transportation and recklessness are two words in Peru that are seen as synonymous with one another, so it should go as no surprise that by riding in a Colectivo you are putting your life in just as much danger if not more than riding in a taxi or combi.  This has more to do with the fact that most Peruvians (YES I AM GENERALIZING, especially since recklessness and total disregard for public safety rules seem to be commonplace in Peru) seem to drive with a feeling of self entitlement (as if they owned the damn road) and could frankly give a damn about their fellow drivers, FORGET about pedestrians they don't even exist, who are they?  Life Insurance is a valuable thing here, ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS? probably not. 

So if you ever find yourself with the task of deciding between taking that taxi to Callao or Chorrillos or the Colectivo, try mixing it up and saving a few soles by going with the Colectivo.  You might just discover a new found respect for a form of transportation you once denied. 

While searching the internet for information and photos on the old Tranvia train system I came across a website called SkyscrapperCity.com

This website has a forum that is dedicated to Lima where the users post old photos of the city. It's a great place to see the what the City of Kings used to look like before it became an over-populated megalopolis.

I have posted a few of my favorite photos from the forum so you can get an idea of what the people are posting there.

Here are some more photos
































all photos were taken from the SkyscrapperCity.com's website and I have no clue who the original photographer's are but I take no credit for the above work.

so the other day I was with my father and we were heading home when we came across Jesus (or at least his "Elvis" style impersonator). I have seen this guy before in the neighborhood he would walk around barefoot wear an outfit similar to the J-man. My dad had noticed that almost every day that we saw him his outfit was a different color so when we drove by him the other day my father just had to ask him why he wore different colors everyday.

Turns out that according to the bible (don't quote me on this I am pretty sure that I am going to misinterpret it anyways) Heysus would wear his gown attire in different colors according to the colors of the rainbow (example: Monday would be red gown, Tuesday orange gown, etc). Why exactly, I don't actually remember but that's not why you kept reading anyways. So here are a few shots of my dad with Jesus.

August is here and winter isn't going away any time soon. I think what makes it worse for me is that when I arrived in Lima in February I had just left the harsh winter weather of Portland, Oregon. Initially the summer weather was a warm welcome from what I had previously experiencing, then came the fall season which rather quickly transitioned over to winter. I feel as if I am living this year in perpetual cold, cloudy, depressing weather.

Thank God that in just one more month spring will be here and hopefully I will see the sun again.

Now my weekend started off with both my father and girlfriend suffering from fevers which was kinda scary since I was concerned that I would catch it myself. In a quick attempt to combat the threat of a biological attack defense measures were put into effect. This of course required lots of chicken noodle soup to be mass manufactured. To my fortune by the next day both my father and Zdenka were felling better.



Friday was rather mundane in retrospect so I won't go further into detail about it and only mention that I happened to witness a rather amazing feat of acrobatic talent. I was in the car with my father waiting at a stop light when these two young boys came running out in front of the cars with a stool, tin can, wooden plank, and three torches. While the main performer set up his stage the other was providing a rather impressive distraction by showing off his freestyle skills. Once the main attraction was all set up the kid sprung into action and while balancing atop the tin can, juggled three light torches. It all happened so quick (about 3 min.) but was so cool and impressive, especially given their age that it was hard to not reward them.

These kinds of traffic attractions (trademark pending) are fairly common in Lima and often range from impressive and elaborate to pathetic and unenthusiastic. In exchange for such acts these performers hope to collect a few tips from their audience (drivers/passengers).



Saturday was fast paced with lots of work involved. During the day I accompanied Shayla (a friend of the family) to a butcher store in San Luis. I have been to many of these places before, they are fairly common in markets. Shayla was purchasing 26 Kilos of beef for her parrillada (similar to a BBQ) that her family was preparing for the community in Puente Piedra. Surprisingly 26 kilos is quite a bit of beef, which took about 20 minutes for the butcher to cut up. While waiting I came across a few pig heads and for some reason was intrigued enough to capture the above photo.


Saturday night I was watching tv at home when my father who had travelled to Ica earlier called. Apparently while refueling his 4x4 outside of Ica, the attendent instead of asking had filling the vehicle up with gasoline instead of petroleo (diesel). My father had been oblivious of this until he tried driving and noticed the smell of smoke was coming from his vehicle. I recieved the call at 10:30 and with the help of Oswaldo (plant manager) drove from Lima to Ica in 3 hours.

We arrived at roughly 3:00 and left Lima at roughly midnight. The drive there was unsupportable because at night the desert gets extremely cold. My legs were totally numb and frozen but that was nothing compared to the 4 hour wait that my father and his friend had to do on the side of the highway. We towed the car to the gas station where we held up for the night. I slept with my father in the truck which was so damn uncomfortable not to mention cold. I likely slept only 2 hours that night. The next day the car was fixed and we returned to Lima at around 3pm. That night while heading back from my girlfriends house I happened to be looking out the window when I noticed the lamp posts in Chorrillos and liked the way they looked so I took a picture of one in black and white to capture the simplicity of it's design.

On the wee early morning hours the City of Lima under mayor Castañeda's command came tiptoeing into the district of Chorrillos to cut down some 80 trees, while the inhabitant's of the neighborhoods slept.


With the roar of multiple chainsaws the locals were awakened to the horrific scene of their beloved trees being cut down in what could be described as an execution by chopping (well, more like precision cutting). Many of the trees that were decapitated had coexisted within the community for 30 years according to many sources. Many citizens of the city are outraged at what has been carried out by the mayor of Lima. The grim deed was carried out on blocks 11 and 18 of la avenida Paseo de la República


View Larger Map

The project to cut down some 80 trees was put into effect in order to make way for the continuation and expansion of Lima's proposed Metropolitano transit lane that will allow city registered buses to travel from Chorrillos to downtown Lima. The Metropolitano is a proposed plan that aims at working around and alleviating Lima's traffic congestion. The mayor having anticipated the aftermath of his actions hastidly proposed to plant 3000 trees in the area to make up for deaths of the 80 trees currently converted into bark mulch and sawdust.



Here is a link to RPP news website where they have a video ,


Living in Chorrillos I happened to be in the neighborhood when I snapped these photos. At the time these were taken the city had sent out a request to the PNP to send riot cops to guard the on-going development from angry citizens.