Lou does Lima

Hola from Lima! As a brief introduction, the city has a population of approximately 8 million and is located on Peru's coast. The climate is mild for most of the year, but during the winter (now), there's a constant cloud cover. This is due to the convergence of two weather fronts over the Pacific that are stagnant for most of the season. The sun peeks out several times during the week, but rarely do I see a blue sky. Despite the bad timing weather-wise, the city has a lot of energy and character. During my first week here, I stumbled upon a poetry reading in a downtown park and an open-mic night at a pizzeria. And speaking of food, the seafood here is unbelievable. Most people may be surprised to learn that Lima is considered to be the culinary capital of South America. I plan on devoting an entire blog post to the food scene once I have some pics to accompany it.


I am living in the Miraflores district, which is where a lot of the action happens in Lima. It's probably most accurately compared to a borough in NYC, since it feels like a small city in itself. Unfortunately, the neighborhood has been in the news lately because of the Joran Van der Sloot story. On a more pleasant note, I was lucky to find a family who had a room for rent in a beautiful, colonial Spanish-style home located about a block from the water. It's a perfect location, since I am within walking distance from restaurants, bars, parks, etc. The picture to the left is from a bike tour of the city that I took my first weekend here.

I am doing my internship with AgroBanco, which is a state-sponsored bank that caters to the agricultural sector. The bank focuses on providing credit and educational programs to small and micro-level producers. For the first few weeks, I have been learning about the various functions of the bank and how they work together. Last week, I was able to travel to the jungle, about 8 hours from Lima, to attend several training sessions that the bank offers for citrus fruit and coffee producers. The landscapes were a welcome change from foggy Lima and the trip provided a more realistic perspective on everyday life for most Peruvians, which is a stark contrast to the modern comforts found in Lima. Our 8 hour trip would have taken about half that time if not for delays due to rock slides and issues with ill-timed or unfinished road construction. In addition, the lack of an extensive railroad network means that all products for export travel by truck, which is a common problem throughout South America and a significant competitive disadvantage for farmers. Hopefully I will get a chance to see another region of the country on my next trip. Pics below: (1) coffee plant (2) with a coworker on the way back from the jungle (3) view from the citrus farm we visited (4) cab driver wanted to stop to buy trout along the way