SO WHERE IN PERU IS EVERYONE FROM? My wife is from CHEPEN, a town in LA LIBERTAD between TRUJILLO AND CHICLAYO and I am American-peruvian, Made in Peru, born in the USA :-) My mother is from PISCO, a town north of ICA

Hello!!!!

Well dear Athena I think that we had a bit missunderstanding when we talked about things that people buy and dont need here and in USA, some times I think my english is a mess!!!!!

Vi, I have been also on BCR club some times! My house is five minutes from there so yes of course I know where it is. And about knowing how to cook dont believe Im an expert but I have learned some good recipes, you know, my family is very traditional and even if Im a "professional woman" my mom always thinks that a "complete woman" needs to know everything about housekeeping (somethings I think they re like the most latin people, very "machistas lol) so I had to learn Of course I have also my recipes book eh!! Cause I would love to learn to prepare more dishes...

I can imagine how you felt when you came back to Peru the first time, cause the life styles are very different between here and there and yes, as you say, we love Lima cause but its very insecure in some places and we need to take care of our purses, bags, jewelery, etc. When my fiancee was here he stayed on an apartment in San Isidro, so that area is very safe, with lots of secutiry guards around. But of course we decided to visit another places, for instance the Main Square on Lima Center, so in that moment I had to warn him about his cam and glasses, and that stuff. Then he realized that I was right, it was very insecure there, something that for instance did not happen in Mancora, where we travelled. Its an small town but is safe, people walk along the main street without worries.

Oh, about soccer, its very nice that your hubbie now loves it! In my case, my baby is tipically american sports: american football (is that ok or its rugby?), basketball, bowling, but the most is the NASCAR races. He is a No. 01 fan of that races, and I want to learn about it cause here is not so common that sport and people not watch the races either on TV (peruvian people is fan of soccer!!!!!! ), so he promises to teach me about it. It was so funny when he was here on february was the Super Bowl final so we were watching that on latin TV and while he was enjoyin it, I was learning so much about it cause I had not idea! Now I can say i like that sport too


Well kisses to all of you, cause I have to continue working!!!!!

Angela

Only wanted to wish to Martin and his wife the best on their new life together in USA. Im from Lima but my mothers family is from an small coaster city close to Lima.

And yes FASA, Viva el Peru!!!

Mirko is from Lima ... from San Borja but he lived all around the city for a while (even in Rimac, EEK! that was for a few years because it was very close to his high school). His father was born in Lima to an American-Peruvian mother (hee, funny how that comes around), and his mom in Trujillo.

I'm cooking right, I'll be here late.
Martin, my family is from Chepen too!!!! how funny

SeeYa later guys

Vi

My husband lives in Lima-Surco, 2 min. walking distance to University Ricardo Palma, his dad from Cusco and mom born in Lima.

Hi everyone, I'm new here... looks like you guys are having a good time in this forum so I figured I'd jump in the convo. My fiancé is from Peru, he works in Lima (in Ate) but lives in San Bartolo. I love it in San Bartolo it's such a beautiful beach and the people there are so laid back and it's just such a calm environment with wonderful people.

I don't really feel the same way about Lima. It's a bit too crazy and unorganized for me (haha... and I'm from New York, born and raised). I don't mind cities but I have never ever seen anything like Lima. Some of the things I loved about Lima were the food, (the ceviche was out of this world (and I said I'd NEVER eat raw fish, I don't even like sushi), Miraflores Parque Kennedy is really cool too, I was able to get an iced coffee at Starbucks there (although Luis almost had a heart attack when he saw the price) and there were a LOT of interesting things to see.

A question for all of the Americans with Peruvian fiancés...
Did the poverty shock you in Lima? It really shocked me. My fiancé isn't wealthy, and neither am I for that matter, but the way some of these people (mainly children) were living really affected me. We passed by different areas that I couldn't even bare to look at. One time, I started crying on the combi because a little barefooted boy that's about my son's age (3 or 4) came on begging for money. He was filthy and not even dressed properly, and it looked like he hadn't been eating properly either. The combi driver just yelled at him to get off. I just couldn't cope with that. In Perú, you either live well, have a maid and a house, or you're dirt poor. I just don't find that fair.

We didn't spend a lot of time in poverty-ridden areas, and I didn't see anything like that even in el Rimac. When a little 8 year old boy came up to us at 4 am one morning selling candy, I got really upset, though. Mirko asked him where his mother was, and he said she was coming, and while as a rule we didn't give anything to the kids since they made it illegal for the children to beg (that's what Mirko told me, anyway?), he gave him 50 centimos and told him to keep his candy. That kind of stuff DID break my heart, but at the same time I do realize that not everyone has the same lease in life, and people do what they have to do to survive. I can't save the world, though I wish i could.

However, my husband's family does well for themselves, but they do not have a maid. None of his sisters do, and his other sister who only has an apartment and makes a modest living selling shoes and boots isn't dirt poor. I think the disparity between poor and even living modestly is a lot greater than it is in the US, but poverty levels have dropped. (54.3% in 2001 to 49.5% in 2006, and in 2006 the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement was signed, so I hope it would continue to drop.)

However, the poverty I saw in Lima was nothing like the poverty I saw up in the mountains over in Cusco.

I don't know the reasons why some people in Lima can live a good life and why others can't. It doesn't make sense to me completely either, but I didn't ask for explanations. Maybe I should when Mirko gets home tonight.

The poverty was definitely an eye-opener for me. Being back in the US after being to Peru several times, I have very little patience for people in our country full of opportunities who choose to do nothing and always blame their problems on someone else. When I retire, I would like to live in Peru at least part of the year (maybe year-round) and help out maybe some aspiring students who have the drive to succeed but not the money. Maybe donate money and help at a health clinic.

Yes, we have alot of poor people in Peru, Sil got a glance of it during his first trip, he went to visit some schools and give some donations from catholics schools from NYC,he got to visit the shanty towns and poor towns from Chimbote Trujillo and Chiclayo, so he got a clear understanding of the situation in Peru. He got robbed twice but he understands that because of the poverty people need to survive and feed their families.

He was a little surprised when he saw the nice areas of Lima, to be honest we spend alot of time in those areas, he felt safer there.

I was a little surprise too when I saw homeless people in NY, in Peru we have another idea of how life is in the States. I have to take the train to Grand Central everyday and I see people asking for money walking through the train, or sleeping in the train stations, I would never imagine in a million times that I will see something like that here but I guess that there are poor peole everywhere right?

Take care people.
Vi

Hi everybody,

I notice that there are extremes in Peru between high and low income groups. But poverty is not just material. In the US, we have a "poverty of time" (no time for family, for vacation, for taking the time to cook and eat, to relax, to enjoy things, to live our lives fully outside of work, to enjoy those small moments with each other, for "ocio"). Not having enough time to live and really enjoy life, this too is poverty, for we have decided as a society to dedicate ourselves to making money so that we can buy things. Why are things more important than people? Does having more $ and things make people of any income group in the US "richer?"

Having said that, there are also extremes between the bigger cities in Peru vs smaller ones. In the smaller ones, there is less rush and more time for social life.

Just my dos soles....

That's one of the things I loved about Perú... Life is more family-oriented and not so work-oriented. However, I feel I'll be able to create a good balance here with my hubby to be so that we can have the best of both worlds.

Agreed agreed agreed.

Hi! My fiance is from Peru too... needed a little break from preparations for the interview on Thursday in Lima. So here I am!

David is from Chimbote. I've spent a bunch of time there. It's amazing how one is able to get used to the poverty that is in that city when you live there a while. I was there all summer (almost 2 months, winter for them) and I've taken 3 other short trips there as well. I still enjoyed myself when I was there tho regardless of the poverty. Spent time with good people, his family and friends. That's what life revolved around, because money for other stuff like vacations, etc. isn't really there.

There is an American church just a few blocks away from where he lives that does a lot of relief work in the neighborhood. Lots of Americans come down and work for chunks of time, so weird to keep running into them down there! They were the only other Americans that I saw. Tourists don't go to Chimbote, ha ha! People asked me all the time if I worked with the church because they were so surprised to see una "gringa" (my name in the neighborhood, what a surprise) living there.

I really liked Trujillo and Huanchaco though. Maybe I didn't see enough of Trujillo to notice the kind of poverty that exists in Chimbote. Chan Chan was pretty amazing.

There is poverty in the US, but to me it seems different because there are social programs set up to take care of people in bad situations. The social system isn't set up like that down there, ya know?? Had a long talk with one of David's relatives when I was there about this. But how could the country start social programs like we have in the States when so many people don't pay taxes because they can't afford to??

OK, back to interview prep! Besos, Shannon

I agree that it's great we at least have social programs, but the people it takes care of when compared to the people who really need the help is grossly disproportionate, because the US government STILL thinks 2 people can live anywhere in the USA on what? A little under $17,000?

I've got a lot of issues with the US government lately, though. I may be biased.

Speaking of gringas...

My niece was asking me "los estados unidos tiene piscinas?" "si" "los estados unidos tiene playas?" "si" ad nauseum, and she starts asking me, "de donde estan sus padres?" and I'm like "...los estados unidos" and she's like "si pero que PAISES" so I tell her "mi mama esta britanica y [irish] y mi papa es polaco y griego" and she's like, "OOOOOO tu eres GRINGA"

Like you couldn't tell from my transparent skin. Haha.

LOL... yeah
What I found the most hysterical is that my future sister in law thinks I'm the laziest woman alive.
She basically told me that American women don't take care of thier kids or do housework because we have machines that do everything LOL (watching too many sitcoms!) and that we can't cook because all we do is eat fast food (love how she knows this, like she's been here). SOOO I respond,

I'm a single mom. I work 40+ hours a week and I go to college full-time as well. I pay for both of my kids to go to preschool. I'm surprised I'm still even alive. I study and clean my house all night, I don't sleep. Excuse me if I use a washing machine. And I'm too poor to own a dishwasher. But yes, I have a vacuum. Is that OK with you?

I still love her though. LOL, but she barked up the WRROONNG tree

LOL

I am lazy. I don't even want to run the vacuum. But that's a personal failing, and my dad making us scrub the bathroom until it was acceptable to him, nad he was the head of the housekeeping department for one of the largest nursing homes in the area. Hardly fair, so basically nothing was every good enough and I think I'm allergic to cleaning. Seriously, though, I am getting better. It's not so much that I'm American and have machines to do everything. I have a dishwasher in my apartment, but we never use it. It's easier for me to wash by hand (does that sound crazy?) If I was in a family of 4 or 5 and we filled up the dishwasher everyday like we did when both of us were at home at my parents', well, okay. But by the time the thing fills up, it smells like a garbage dump.

Seriously though, I think it's good to remember there are jerks everywhere. Peru...USA...wherever. (I work with a huge Peruvian jerk. I also work with a ton of American jerks.) FWIW, my sister in law in Peru uses a vacuum. The one who doesn't, doesn't have a carpet. She has a washer and a dryer in her house, too. Obviously luckier than some, but I'm luckier than I will be in 2 months when I'm hanging out at the laundromat.

Peru can be pretty poor, especially if we think of "wealth" as having air conditioning, cable, internet, etc. Sometimes people are not poor in the sense that they dont lack food, education, clothing or access to health services, but americans view them as poor because they lack modern-day amenities (this is particularly true in very rural areas). But most of these people dont view themselves as poor until someone tells them they are.

I am peruvian and I didnt realized how poor my country was until I went to college. I had attended a fancy private school all my life so I practically lived in a bubble. We would commute only between nice neighborhoods because that's were all our friends and relatives lived. The only time we would leave our comfort zone was when going to the airport (and it was usually very late at night so there was no one around). I didn't know there was another world "outside" until I started college. The best college in the country (yes, Universidad Catolica) was not even in one of those bad areas but it was a shock to me. And seeing the economic disparity among the students was an eye-opener (and this was a private college so there were not really poor poor people).

Yes, machines do help people do their chores faster. Try to hand wash the cloth of a family of five. Yes, americans spend less time cooking (if they cook). When you buy a carrot in Peru, it is not washed, cut and peeled. Almost everything is cooked from the scratch and that is very time consuming). Most mothers use cloth diapers and "gerber" is out of the question. Americans do have more free time but they use they time differently. It is just a matter of the things you prioritize. I work with low income immigrant families and a mother of 3 (2 in school) told me she didnt have time to do cook for children. I asked her: "how many children did you mother in Guatemala had?" She said 13. Did she cook for you? She said yes. Did she have a stove or a microwave like you? She said no. She said her mother had to walk to a river to get water. And I said "But you dont have time".

Chicos!

How's everybody??? well here I'm a little nervous because we are planning to go to Peru for Christmas and the tkts are extremely expensive.
In the beginning of April I found tkts via COPA for $838 RT an unbelievable price but didn't buy them (don't ask)a week later we checked again and the same tkts were $1650 and now $2070. Do you think the tkts will go down?? or I should start looking of tkts for January???

cuidense todos y manifiestense!!!
saludos
Vi

Tickets to Peru have become very very expensive........... We can thank GWB and the rising fuel prices for that........

It's a gamble that ticket prices will come down..... but Rossy and I have both found that tickets closer to the travel dates do come down some.

We were going for Christmas, but we waited too long to use our air-miles and now prices have shot up over $700.00 and thats from Miami so we are deciding if we're going..... Rossy is going with the baby in August and I may go down to be with them for a long weekend, but tickets are so expensive I may not go.

I remember the days of paying $320.00 Miami-Lima-Miami

Hi from Peru,
Hi to ALL peruvians from Dani,

I just arrived in Peru, I am finally with mi amor and very happy, we are going to have our interview tomorrow May 27th, wish us a luck guys.

Love from Dani and Enrique

Dani and Enrique, good luck on your interview!!

MandyR, I agree with you the prices are very expensive right now, I might have to wait and go in January by myself .

Enjoy the day Off EVERYBODY!

Good luck guys! Im sure everything will be ok in the interview and then you willl be together forever!

Angela (& James... one day closer)

everything will be fine, good luck

Haven't posted or been online for a while--working two jobs to support my family--never thought that would be the neccesity--what with food and gas prices rising--and now a second child due in August. Anyway we went to Lima for 12 days in the last week of March first week of April--and man the US dollar don't buy what is used to in Peru. And on top of that the prices of everything have gone up so it was really an unpleasant trip in that regard--we did get to see family which was nice--but it was really hot--a little uncomfortable--but still we had not been to Peru in two years so it was good that we went.

Plane tickets have been out of sight lately to Peru-but every now and then you can find a good deal at least out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

Other news--um oh there was an earth quake in peru when I we were down there--first one I have felt in my 16 trips to Lima.

SPIRIT AIR NOT RECOMMENDED.

Traveleres, whoever travel with SPIRIT AIR is allowed to take ONLY one bag, one carry on and personal/purse, also it will pay $20 for the laguage and no hot meal at all, whatever you would like to eat in a plain(not many choices) it cost a lot of money, bottle of water is $3, coffee the same, etc. Every second bag will be not allowed to take with you, you will be forced to consolidate 2 in 1 and also have on your mind that max. weight is 50 pound/23kg. On your way back Lima-USA is not going to be a problem to bring more then one bag.

For good prices on tickets, call my sister 973-742-4242 ext 4233 MAYRA :-)

Let her know her brother Martin reffered you. She usually has really good deals

Hi, I have a question about changing my wifes name in her passport.

She is Peruvian, But she has lived in Buenos Aires for the last 5 years. When she talked to the Consulate of Peru in Buenos Aires, they told her that it would take up to 8 months to change her name in her passport going through the consulate. So we decided to leave her name the same for the visa process and change it when she gets to the United States.

My question is, when we do change her name in her passport, do they issue her a new passport? Because when she renewed her passport last year through the Consulate of Peru in Buenos Aires, it looks like all they did was add a couple of pages with her new photo and her new expiration date.

So, do they do this again for changing her name, or do they issue her a new passport? And if they issue her a new passport, what about the visa in her old passport?

She already regestered our marriage in Peru, and got her DNI changed showing she is married. That was pretty easy.

Thanks for any information.

Hi everybody

Haven't been here for a while, as some of you know we were planning to go to Peru for Christamas but the tkts are extremely expensive and we don't think the prices will go down, so we just purchased our tkts to Peru for August, we are paying $808.30, not bad at all right?? we called a our travel agency, and we checked different websites but couldn't match the price that Lan.com was giving.
I'm so happy, I'll be there for my b-day!!

Saludos
Vi

Vi

I think you got a good deal from NY............

My wife and little one are going for 2 weeks at the end of August.

I just looked online to see if I could join them over Labor Day from Aug 28 to Sep 3 and the price is an amazing $359.00. I haven't seen those kind of prices in a few years. ..... I think alot of people are not traveling for Labor Day (can't afford it).

I have a feeling that prices for Chrismas will eventually come down when they see they are not filling seats.

When are you guys going to be there ?

We are arriving in Lima on August 20th and we are coming back on the 31st, just one weekd and a hald but is somenthing, we are already planning what to do during our visit.

Sil says the same thing, he thinks that the prices for Christmas will go down, right not the tkts we are looking for is @ $2090, and I"m checking everyday, we don think that the price will go down so much.

I'm planning to back by myself for my mom's b-day in January for 10 days!

Take care people

Vi

Hi,

The wife and I are also flying to Lima In aug, We got our flight from Newark, NJ for $700

They offered us a very good deal for a direct flight if we leave from Newark but is a little too far from our house. We are very happy with the price we got.

We are the pther peruvians??? manifiestense!!

Saludos
Vi

My wife and I are planning to be in Peru for Christmas, too. We are flying separate though. I have a free ticket through Continental (frequent flier miles), which my wife is going to use. The regular Continental prices are outrageous in December though, which I can't justify paying for. So I'm using a free Southwest ticket to fly into Ft. Lauderdale then take a shuttle to Miami International for a Lan flight to Peru (something like $600 or $700 round-trip). I guess if one good thing has come from having Southwest and Continental credit cards, this would be it.

Hi there!

Just check if you are going to be able to use that specific tkts for that date, Christmas time is very busy, I'm saying this because Sil got a free tkt but couldn't use it on those dates, he went to visit me during Thanks giving.

$600 OR $700 for Chritmas is an awesome price, go for it, ours is not going down ($2000). Today Sil told me that he is getting 2 full weeks off in December so we might go back to Peru for Christmas if the prices go down but I doubt it.

take care people
Vi

SKTEAMO

I would love to know what dates of travel you have on LAN from Miami for that price. We live in Ft. Lauderdale and have been trying to get flights to Lima for Christmas and can't find anything less than $1,100 on LAN, American, COPA or Spirit (yuk)

I also tried using my frequent flyer miles to get 2 free tickets on LAN or American for Christmas and there were none to be had. They told me there have been no seats for frequent flyers to Peru for Christmas time since February this year......

Vi

We've got to keep our hopes up that prices will come down for Christmas. If they came down from over $650.00 2 months ago for Labor Day weekend to $360.00 I think we may have a chance they will come down for Christmas.

Hi,

I hope this is not a dumb question..If my friend has just the religious cermony in Peru, can she apply for the k1 or k3 visa? Will they give her the marraige certificate? TYIA

i am going to Peru next week !! YEY!!!

$540 thru spirit leaving LGA but my concern is the luggage you have to pay $20 to check in a bag!!!!!!!

That's great martin.. Don't they give you one bag free?? Hey, do you know the answer to my question??

my friend got married in peru but applied for fiancee visa and once here married again!

I haven't booked yet, but the dates I looked at were MIA-LIMA: 12/17 and LIMA-MIA: 12/30. They're in the middle of the week, so I think that makes a big difference. I just went to www.lan.com, and the price as of five minutes ago was $650. Of course, at that price I can't make any changes or get a refund once it's booked. So if you're definite on your travel plans, it sounds like the way to go.

WOW

Shows you how things can change in a week.

I just re-checked our dates of travel for December and the prices have now dropped just about half. Now only $675.00

Come on LAN.... keep lowering those prices

I'll probably be booking my flight around next Tuesday...hope they don't go back to where you say they were hace una semana!

Oh My God guys book your flights as soon as you can don't make the mistake we made. We found the perfect tkts for Christmas Dec19-Jan03 via COPA we hate to flight with stops but this was a very short stop in Panama (less than hour) the price $838 and we said, LET'S WAIT ONE MORE WEEK, big mistake the next week the price went up to $1650 and the following week $2060, I'm sure the price went down a little bit but not under $1000.

Another tip, we booked our flights through LAN.COM but as if we were booking from Lima (NY-LIM-NY) and we got a very good price, much better than all the other websites.
Good luck amigos!

Martin be prepared, a friend of mine came to NY VIa Spirit an told us thta the service is horrible! and I herad the same thing from other people.

Vi

yea, i just found out only 1 checked baggage and that is $20 paid online and $40 if at the airport!

Martin

Actually 1 checked back paid online is $15.00 and $25.00 at the airport.

Also bring a credit card with you or you will get no food, water, soda or drinks. You have to pay for everything on Spirit
Soda and Juices $3.00. Coffee and Water $2.00. Snacks around $4.00. Beer and Wine $5.00

$3 for SODA!!!!, oh well i am still saving but wow! I will stick with the beer at $5 and fall asleep quicker!

Has anyone flown on Spirit before? I don't care about the food/ drink situation, I'm cool, I'll eat before & after, but the prices are really good from NY La Guardia. It's like 300 dollars cheaper. What you guys think? Should I go for it?

Hi Veroka...

I am from Trujillo - Peru, still living here..LOL...welcome to VJ...

Ely