A Halloween Fiesta

From Lima '06

I experienced my first taste of Peruvian life on the oddest of occassions: Halloween. Having long since given up trick or treating myself, I´ve never thought much about Halloween celebrations outside the US, much less had occassion to experience it elsewhere. But, it´s definitely well celebrated in Lima as I soon found out.

Limeons seem to make a rather substantial celebration of Halloween, as I assume they do of most holidays. Walking around Lima, there was an almost New Year´s Eve like energy. Perhaps not that frentic, but certainly more than the typical US trip around the neighborhood. Stores and restaurants were fully outfitted in Halloween decoration with employees fully costumed and kids trick or treated to stores as much as they did to homes. Halloween seemed to be a full community affair.

Where Peruvians take Halloween a step further was the festivities that take place after the trick or treating is done. The main park - Parque Kennedy - in the Miraflores neighborhood where I stayed was packed with families, music and children running off their sugar highs in their favorite superhero or princess costume. They all occupied the park until at least 11pm, many later, which is pretty late for a school night. Vendors selling popcorn, drinks and other Peruvian specialties were scattered throughout. In the middle of the park, a band played what I took as traditional Peruvian or South American music. There must have been a couple hundred people standing in a circle around the band with an impromptu ´dance floor´where couples were dancing the night away. All in all, Halloween had more of a festival like flavor than any typical Halloween celebrations stateside.

Halloween was indicitive of what I found during the rest of my brief stay in Lima and Peru. People taking a moment to enjoy time with friends and family whenever possible. For most of the people in Lima, it seems that is the top priority...family and community. Unfortunately, for most Limeons, that is often all they have to celebrate. Lima is a city that has certainly seen better days. While there are a few affluent areas like Miraflores, the suburb where I stayed, the majority of Limeons live in poverty and its highly visible. Cement block homes, with little else to adorn them, are the norm. Shanty towns, where ´homes´are made of any available scrap material, are not uncommon. But, after spending a few days there, I found that you have to look a little more than skin deep to see the real Lima. It´s about the people and not the city. They are often overly friendly, typically with a smile and a ¨Hola!¨even to a passerby. They take life with a grain of salt and enjoy it for what it is.


While I probably would not have made the trip to Lima if it wasn´t required to get to Machu Picchu, I´m glad I took a couple days to check it out. Unlike most cities, I won´t remember Lima for what I saw as much as for the people that inhabit it.