17 things I don't like about Lima

Hey everyone! I hope you're all very well. This is my first publication as part of the new contest competition season and I want to dedicate it to my hometown, my beloved Lima.

Lima is the city which watched me being born, and so I want to dedicate my first entry to this new stage to this city :) and all the love and hate that I have for her. Without a shadow of a doubt there is only one place in the world that makes me feel both these things: that place is my Lima.

The capital city of Peru with a population of nearly 9 million has been known as the "City of the Kings" since colonial times. However, Lima was already home to a civilisation with an age-old culture, The Caral settlement is an example of this. However, I can't bury my head in the sand and say that Lima is a paradise. Despite many beautiful aspects of this place, there are also things that I don't like about Lima and those who live there.

I've been thinking about the 17 things that I hate most about Lima and its residents. So, today I want to share a list of things that make me hate my unique Peruvian city.

So, in no particular order, let's begin! Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to grumble a little about the things that, personally, I can't stand:

1. Lima's rush hour traffic

   Who hasn't suffered through Lima's traffic between about seven and ten in the morning? Just when you think that things will improve again, between roughly 5pm and 10pm the traffic heavily descends upon the city once again. In Lima, traffic jams are run of the mill. Although it's true that some improvements have been made, such as the implementation of train and metro as well as the blue buses, these, unfortunately, do not run throughout the city of almost 9 million inhabitants. This needs to be solved if we are to tackle the root problem. Lima's traffic is something that pushes my buttons.

   As a consequence of this problem is that many people spend more time on buses and at work than in their own homes with their family. This problem has affected me daily, and it's not just because of the number of cars on the roads but because we still don't have a true road culture where traffic rules are respected.

   No place is safe from Lima's rush hour traffic. Believe me, even the most unexpected streets get overwhelmed by private and public transport.

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2. Drivers not waiting for you to cross the road at a Zebra crossing

   When I went to America for the first time, I was completely taken aback when a driver stopped and let me cross the zebra crossing. To be honest, this had never happened to me in Lima. I reiterate, this never happened. Just in case you don't believe me :S go try crossing the Avenida Javier Prado at rush hour. You'll see how hard it is to cross a road at a zebra crossing rather than at the traffic lights. Crossing the road in the city of my birth is a total adventure, since you have to be able to spot the drivers who are in a good enough mood to let you peacefully cross the road.

   Road education in Peru is still only taking baby steps and, actually, many things need to be done to change the situation we've got going on in my city. This issue generates problems for stressed-out drivers as well as the pedestrians who feel unsafe. It's something that saddens me and that's why I've written about it as one of the things I don't like about Lima. You have to keep your eyes on the road if you want to survive your adventure in the cement jungle they call the city of the Kings.

3. The way people beep their horns just for fun

   Here in Rimini, I might wake up every day to the peaceful sound of birds or sometimes to complete silence if I've slept with the window closed. In Lima, despite living about three streets back from the main road and my room being practically at the back of the building, It's not birdsong that wakes me up. Instead, I'm woken by the car horns of the city's rush hour traffic. If I'm lucky I'll also hear them when there's no traffic, just because the drivers feel like honking their horns.

   Interestingly, drivers use their horns for all sorts of things: for when they want to cross a junction, when they want to start a race, or when they want to yell at someone's bad driving (as if the first one if I was doing it). This transforms our concrete streets into a labyrinth. However, the most annoying thing of all is when the traffic light turns red so that pedestrians can cross the road. When they cross the road, they'll hear not just one driver, but pretty much all of them, start to mysteriously beep their horns. It's as if they're convinced that the traffic light is alive and is able to help them out a bit and let them keep speeding towards their destination an arrive on "on time", be that to their place of work or to their home at the end of the day. If only we could agree that horns should only be used in certain circumstances, then we wouldn't cause so much noise pollution in the capital city. However, this idea is something that many of Lima's resident drivers still haven't been able to get to grips with.

   For example, every time I get in a taxi and the taxi driver starts to honking the horn for no reason, I always try to tell them not to do so, because this kind of thing really gets on my nerves! I can't wait for the day this situation changes. They say that we must start with ourselves and then branch out and be an example to others. What's clear is the use of horns increases stress levels within this city of almost 9 million inhabitants, where the transport issue has become one of the most complicated things for any of us to solve, not to mention the difficulty it poses for the authorities, who have tried to fix the issue to no avail. It's as if the problem were a giant animal that they're afraid to face up to, and so they have chosen to turn a blind eye and learn to live with it. Well, I disagree! My city urgently ​​needs a road policy that changes this terrible situation. Lima doesn't deserve to put up with these issue when it has no need to, it is a city that is growing in leaps and bounds every day. If we start taking action, even on an individual basis, we'll be able to control Lima's transportation problems.

4. The crime that goes on at any time of the day

   This is one of the most difficult and complicated problems for my beloved capital to resolve. According to many surveys, many of Lima's residents consider crime to be the Capital's main problem over any other. You can be sure that it isn't easy knowing that someone could come up behind you and take your belongings at any moment.

   No area of Lima is safe from this issue. Everyday various thieves take advantage of passersby, regardless of whether they are in their car or walking along the street. The thieves don't care if it's daytime or night time due to the lack of police presence and the few security measures that have been taken up until now have resulted in the problem getting worse and worse. I don't want to scare you but imagine waking up every morning and reading in the newspaper that someone was assaulted just because someone else wanted to steal their phone. If you want to confirm this to be true, you only have to watch the morning news on the television to see just how often a person loses their life just because they tried to resist when someone attempted to steal their belongings.

   This isn't the only bad thing. If the thieves see that you don't have anything valuable, you still run the risk of being attacked or even losing your life. This is another one of the city's complex social problems, and it's another monster that no one has been able to solve. Right now, we've had a change in executive government with the Peruvian political party PPK. As a result, crime rates are somehow expected to lower to benefit Lima's residents, not just in Lima but throughout the whole of Peru.

   In terms of my own experience with falling prey to thieves, I can tell you a whole load. For example, I remember my aunt gave me my first mobile phone as a present. I had it for less than a week. I had to catch the bus to my university (San Marcos), and one day, I got onto the crowded bus and put my phone in my pocket. When I got off I realised that I didn't have a phone anymore. I remember this phone fondly, I called it "Tamal". It was such a simple phone, honestly nowadays it resembles an old landline phone because it's so big.

   I learnt my lesson and ever since then I've kept my phone in my bag. When I travel with it, I try not to use it. I remember once, when I had got another phone, I sat at the back of a minibus. I was travelling to meet up with a group of friends from work and I decided to get my phone out to read a message that they'd sent me. Guess what happened next? One of the passengers who was sitting to my side asked to get off at the next corner. When he eventually noticed that someone had a mobile phone, in a matter of seconds he swiped my phone, without hitting me, and ran out the door of the minibus. Even the bus conductor wasn't able to stop him, and to be honest, nobody helps you out in these situations. Sometimes someone will help, but these occasions are few and far between.

   Once, and again in broad daylight, I was heading back to work after having my lunch and just two blocks away from my house I felt a little touch from behind. I actually thought that someone I knew was saying hello but when I turned around I realised it was four teenagers who started to rifle through everything I had and then threw me onto the floor and took another one of my mobile phones in a matter of seconds.

   If you thought these are my only experiences, you would be wrong! There's still more! Another experience I can remember is once - and I have to say that this time it was my fault because I wasn't familiar with the area - I practically walked straight into the wolf's mouth. I got out of a Taxi in Caqueta with a friend in the early hours of the morning and then headed straight to my house. I honestly don't know why I didn't make the same taxi driver take me all the way to my house. But anyway, the fact of the matter is that the minute I stepped out of the taxi five people appeared out of nowhere and took yet another one of my phones, as well as my wallet. It didn't have much money in it but they were pretty chuffed with it all the same.

   I have witnessed thefts in minibuses countless times. This is a sensitive issue which you can't joke about. Lots of people have lost their lives in this way and we must do something that brings about change, and soon. I wouldn't want my younger brother to go through these things when he's my age and he starts going out on his own. It's easy to understand the worry that parents feel while they're waiting for their children to come back home safe and sound.

   Nowadays, there's a crime map which shows the areas of Lima with the highest crime rates. We really need the authorities to confront the core of this problem and start changing the situation little by little. This is a very complicated task but I know we'll change it. That day will come. Although crime can never disappear completely, what we can do is lower the crime rates. What I can't stand for is the fact that Lima's residents can die just for owning a phone. This can't keep happening. There's already been enough loss of life and we can't keep overlooking the amount of people who are still losing their lives, or the amount of movements that civil society has organised in a bid to change this situation and make Lima a safer city.

   The problem is so complex because, for example, prison has become a kind of school in which petty thieves learn from more seasoned criminals. They are let out of prison and instead of feeling vindicated or having a new purpose in life, they carry on committing crimes. This brings us to the topic of hitmen, something which Lima's residents are also fearful of. I remember on the news once they said that on the internet you can find the phone numbers of hitmen who claim that they can kill any person you like for less than a thousand Peruvian sols (about 220 pounds). Look how far we've come on the topic of crime in Lima: for less than the equivalent of 220 pounds, you can hire someone to kill whichever person you wish.

   This is, without a shadow of a doubt, a psychological problem. We will need educate people about this topic from the moment they start school if we are to make Lima a tolerant city. We will also need to give everyone equal opportunities, no matter their social class, so that these crimes can be prevented.

5. The phrases “Manyas” and “Que paja”

   I'm going to start writing about things that really get on my nerves again now. Generally, only people from Lima use these types of phrases in such as way that they sounds like they're struggling to say the words. The sound hurts my ears and really gets on my nerves. I've honestly never used these words! Some of my friends do use them if I'm honest, but I find it hard to put up with (I hope they don't hate me after reading that, I love them really! )

6. Lima's centralism

   This is a topic for Peru's provinces. Many Peruvians who don't hail from Lima can end up feeling excluded from the economic boom which the country has had in the last few years since large projects and large construction work has only taken place in Lima. But in this paragraph, my good friends, I want to tell you not to believe that the every part of Lima is like this. For example, in the neighbourhood of "Chuquitanta", where I've had to go twice to vote in the local elections, I can attest that the area I went to on these occasions didn't even have pavements of tarmacked roads. Lima is still part of Peru. Another thing that makes this problem of centralism delicate is perhaps because of the fact that there'll always be a better quality of life in the provinces as it isn't affected by the stress of the city. Although, of course, over the last years other cities such as Trujillo and Arequipa have been developed, none of them have even half the population that Lima does. Centralism creates a larger divide between Peruvians. I remember that since the time of President Alejandro Toledo and his attempt to devolve power to the provincial authorities through the creation of regions and, thus, regional governments, later years have unfortunately brought with them different instances of corruption. For example, Ancash Regional government's "switchboard" case.

7. The amount of discrimination in Lima, especially sexism.

   Recently there was a march in Lima called "ni una menos" (Not one less). This march called on various parts of Lima's society to gather together and it was very well received. But I think we need more than simply saying "no" to abuse against women, we need to teach people of all ages that men and women both have the equal rights and responsibilities. Imagine what Lima, and Peru, could look like in about 50 years time if we teach people to respect every gender.

   Gender isn't the only thing subjected to discrimination, social class is too. To illustrate this we have, for example, something known as the "wall of shame", a wall built by the wealthy that separates two social classes. On one side there are wooden houses made from basic materials, and on the other side lies the exclusive residential areas of Lima.

   Discrimination is a multifaceted issue, and it even in the 21st century it is still often forgotten that we are a plurinational nation filled with different faces and colours. It's true that Lima is a city of people from every corner of Per who have a variety of different backgrounds. Maybe this contradicts my previous point of centralism but accepting the plurinational reality of Peru is unavoidable. The capital city of Lima contains a little bit of every part of Peru. Today, Lima is a provincial city which fills me with pride and is something we should accept and, more than anything - value, since it is the efforts of the city's residents who have achieved their goals through blood, sweat and tears, which in turn has made Lima a thriving city.

   Minority groups also experience discrimination in Lima. For example, homosexuals don't currently have the right to a civil partnership. This is, perhaps, an issue that the people of Lima don't want to deal with but fortunately the young people of today, especially in Lima, have changed for the better, at least a little, and they're becoming more tolerant in this regard. What is wrong with giving rights to minorities?

   To conclude this point, we all have the same rights and as long as people treat others unfairly, discrimination will remain rife. Discrimination is stupid, and something that should not exist in the society of Lima.

8. How people from Lima are never on time

   This point takes me back to when I was studying at university in San Marcos. For example, when I met up with friends to do our group work, sometimes we would agree to meet at 9am but it would be 11:30am before we actually met each other. Can you believe it! We were always so late.

   On the other hand, here in Italy for example, if someone says they'll meet you at a certain time, they might arrive a few minutes late but no where near as late as people might arrive in Lima. This doesn't just concern meeting friends or social events, but also getting to work late.

   Meanwhile, I bet you can guess the excuse that everybody from Lima uses when they arrive late to their meetings... usually they blame it on the traffic :S Though it doesn't justify it, having a underdeveloped public transport system makes being late for a meeting in Lima so normal that many people don't even mind waiting so long. I also have to confess that I have often made people wait for me, and I have often had to wait for other people. Between the two options I think I prefer to be the one who has to wait since I die of embarrassment if I arrive late to my meetings :S

9. People throwing tickets and other rubbish out of bus windows

   There are many people who don't respect the city. By respecting the city, I mean loving it, taking care of it, appreciating every part of it. This means understanding that both public and private spaces should be cared for by everyone equally. However, if you travel through the city on the minibuses or buses throughout the day, it's not unusual to find a well-dressed man in a coat and tie, or a woman who is getting ready to go to work, looking into a small mirror looking at her reflection, when they start to crave a banana or a tasty tangerine that they bought at the market that weekend.

   While people are commuting to work, there are many people who are keen to grab a bite to eat. But instead of putting their pips or peels in a bag or even in their pockets until they can put it in a bin, people throw their rubbish out the window for no reason. As if they feel they have the right, the duty even, to keep making the city tremendously dirty. Of course, not all of us do this, it depends a lot on when and where you are.

   Unfortunately, this situation is a vicious cycle and is gradually becoming a subconscious action. For example, a parent who is sat next to their child on a bus might turn to their kid ans say "give me your pips" and then throw them through the window. What's worse, is that when they get off the bus, the first thing some residents do is throw the ticket onto the pavement without thinking.

   This problem is one of the things I hate about my city. I hate that people have no consideration for the city that is providing them with the opportunity to develop and move forward during their day. Imagine what the city would be like if we all started to take more responsibility and take care of the city, everything would change and the city would be completely different. We would have clean and tidy streets. As I said before, this is a cycle. For example, once, my younger brother was with me on the street and he threw his bus ticket on the floor. What could I do? The only thing I could do then was to talk to him and tell him that it was very bad thing to do. After that, he realised what he had done and he hasn't done it since. He learned from it. This shows that children have all the qualities that are needed to change the city, so it's important that residents teach by example so that public spaces in our beloved capital can begin to be neat and clean.

   Will it be difficult? Complicated? Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on our generation, whether we can help the next generation see the city in a new light and show it respect. This is something that will make our society more successful.

10. The killer minibuses

    

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    It's almost seven in the morning and many residents of Lima are leaving for work and looking a bus to take them to their destination. For example, they can head to the intersection between Peru Avenue and Nicolas Dueñas avenue, between the districts of San Martín de Porres and the Cercado de Lima, where there is a public transport company known as the "B" line which connects Lima with what is known as the "paradero las malvinas". Here, people catch their buses, and eventually they start to see there's not enough room for any more passengers. However, the bus driver works his magic and tells everyone "there's room at the back". So, these small minibuses which can seat a maximum of 13 people, begin to stop to pick up people, until about 20 passengers are on board in total. The collector looks ahead and double checks the bus route to see how far away the next passengers are. There's always room for one more.

    On line "B", there are lots of these types of gentlemen, the ones who want to have the largest number of passengers on board. They don't care that the minibus is practically full to brimming already, they don't care that there's no room for the bus driver himself, they just start driving at the speed of light.

    While they're driving fast and furiously, as if it were some US box office movie competition, they start overtaking one another. They'll look at each other and laugh and they'll get angry because they can't stand being overtaken. This creates one of the most sensitive problems that my city has. It's another sensitive issue regarding transport, and one that should be treated responsibly considering the number of police isn't even enough to control this outrage. This doesn't just increase the risk of harming one of the many passengers who need to get on the minibus to get to work, but also the risk of indiscriminately taking the life of a pedestrian.

    This situation is one of the reasons I can't stand Lima, since it is a problem that some people actually support as it allows them to arrive to their destination on time, seemingly unaware that they're more likely to arrive at one of life's alternate destinations.

11. Drunk driving at night

    It's almost seven o'clock at night and many Lima residents have begun to leave work or place of study. They're all feeling very happy because it's finally Friday. They arrive home after spending an hour or more in the thick traffic jams of Lima, and then take a shower and begin to get ready to go out and meet their friends to let their hair down after a week of hard work.

    And so, dear readers, the average person from Lima who has a car will have one drink, and then another and another and so on. They keep drinking until all of a sudden, night time has arrived and vast quantities of alcohol are racing through their veins. Then, Someone will say it's time to go home and get a good rest before the sun come up.

    In a drunken stuper, feeling more sensible than anyone around them, they begin to drive towards a destination that perhaps many don't realise could be their last. They drive from one place to another and then... boom! They hit a pole or get in the verge, or the worst thing happens and they run over and take the life of an innocent person who just happened to be on the street at that exact moment.

    As I have said throughout this extensive and detailed catharsis, transportation is a real problem. There's never a day where no accidents happen in Lima. Worst of all, the penalties are not severe, so people quickly feel free to do the same things again and make the same mistakes. Even television characters, who should be role models if anything, are made out to be gods of the steering wheel who suffer no pain or punishment.

12. People from Lima who cross the road when the cars have right of way

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    So far, we have only talked about the drivers as if they were the only ones guilty of making getting around in Lima so difficult, as if they're the bad guys. But to be honest I don't want to demonise them, and they aren't the only one's to blame. Let's take a look at the situation from another perspective.

    The level of stress and the lack of societal education in Lima can be high. So much so that many of Lima's residents challenge public order, whether it be a traffic light or traffic wardens. Let's make an imaginary trip to the hectic street known as Avenida Javier Prado. If there's a traffic warden at the intersection of the avenue, some drivers will shout at him to hurry up so they can cross the road faster. Others don't even shout, instead they wait for the right opportunity to sneak across the road. This is where the problems begin. Traffic accidentsare ten a penny in Lima.

    Now we travel to the centre of Lima, in our beloved union street. The centre of Lima, as we know, has narrow streets and this causes a lot of problems since many of the pedestrians cross the road like madmen, despite seeing the red light. The heavy traffic here makes it difficult to imagine a worse problem. For example, a taxi driver killing a pedestrian because of the pedestrian irresponsibly crossing the road when cars have right of way.

    I remember a coupe years ago, a type of fine was put in place for irresponsible pedestrians, if I'm not mistaken, the fine was about 70 Peruvian sols (about 15 pounds). But instead of people feeling pressured or worried about having to pay a fine, they made fun of the traffic laws. What do we have to do to change this situation? More severe punishments for pedestrians who make irresponsible decisions which endanger their lives, as well as education, is the key to changing this situation.

13. The city's lack of cycling culture

    Under the regional management of former mayor, Susana Villarán, they tried to organise cycle paths. At the time, different media outlets criticised this action instead of supporting it, saying it wouldn't solve the city's transport problem. To be honest, to a certain extent, they had a point. But pulling apart all the cycling advancements was a terrible move.

    Now that I'm in Rimini, I've realised how important it is to use a bike as a means of transportation to get from A to B. Through cycling more, we could live a life of quality and show respect towards the public areas within the city.

    Nobody respects cyclists, or rather, very few people do. I remember that when I lived in Surquillo I had as an Argentinian roommate who used a bike to get to his place of work in Miraflrores. It was then that I also encouraged myself to to buy a bicycle. I then started using the bike to get around and I honestly felt like it saved me a lot of time and money. For example, getting to my English class was a 40 minute bus journey, but it took me just 20 minutes on my bike if I used the cycle path.

    Bikes are beneficial for the city. They mean that there is one less passenger trying to get on the terrible public transport, and they reduce the contamination levels of the Peruvian capital.

14. Lima residents who drink beers from the front door of their house, causing ruckus with their loud music

    There's always a weekend at the end of a week, and it brings with it the desire to celebrate. Lots of people, normally those that live on the corner of the street, take their pack of beers (or chelas, as we say in Peru), and drink one, two, three, four or more beers in the doorway of their own home. They drink like a thirsty cactus and they make a mess of the neighbourhood. They won't care if you call the "serenazgo" (the Peruvian district guards) and they receive a fine. As they say, the weekend is a time to relax and have fun.

15. Drunk people who urinate in the street

    It's time to party and drink a lot of beer. Sooner or later, you reach the point where your stomach tells you that you need to go to the bathroom. The boys of Lima look for trees and poles to urinate as if these were a kind of restroom. Nobody says anything when older adults urinate in public whilst drunk. Almost everyone turns a blind eye now because it seems totally normal. Where will they urinate?

16. People who abandon their pets in the street

    Some people have no heart and don't care for their pets. These people abandon their animals on the street, leaving them to fend for themselves. Lots of cats and dogs wander the streets, vulnerable and without an owner, in need of some love and care. We have, for example, the beloved cats of Kennedy Park. They began to settle there in the heart of Miraflores after one Lima resident decided to leave his pet there. He left one there after the other, leaving a lot of helpless kittens in the enter of Miraflores.

    But this is not the only area where abandoned animals are found. They can also be seen in the centre of Lima in the university park and in front of the National Jury of Elections. It seems that nobody has respect for the animals that they once raised with love.

17. The River Rimac which is neglected by the residents of Lima

    "El río hablador", or "the talkative river", is the river that crosses through the centre of Lima. It is considered the river which Lima is named after. It is said that when the Spaniards arrived in Peru, they couldn't pronounce the word "rimac" and this word was eventually mispronounced as Lima.

    Today, the Rimac river is one of the most polluted rivers in Peru. This is due to many factors, such as drainage pipes and also because, at night, different men drive their dump lorries to strategically placed bridges within the city to launch the filthy stuff they've collected throughout the day into the river. This reminds me of a story featherless chicken written by Julio Ramón Ribeiro, a famous Peruvian writer. The lack of feathers was a problem that was also due to the lack of respect people had for the Rimac river. However, not everything is lost in the upper part of the Rimac River and there are still green areas where pollution has not yet arrived.

    It is said that in colonial times you could even find squid in the Rimac river! It would be crazy if we were still able to eat them today because it seems unlikely this would happen considering that the river water has become a murky brown colour and is so dirty that it would be difficult for life to be born in its waters again.

    

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Okay! Now that I have exerted myself so by writing about these things, I will move on to writing about the 17 things I love most about Lima. As the great Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo once said “There are brothers, so much to do”.. See you soon!

Bonus track: A YouTube video when was Peru screwed up?

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