Move Back
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In this June 14, 2016 photo, children play soccer in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Villa Maria del Triunfo sprang up around Lima as people fled the countryside amid the brutal war with Shining Path and Tupac Amaru guerrillas during the 1980's.![peru_shanty_town_food]()
In this March 11, 2016 photo, a chicken vendor reads the newspaper at a street market, one of the stops along a "shanty town tour" organized by a tour agency, in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Edwin Rojas, founder of Haku Tours, says his firm is the only travel agency that offers “shantytown tours,” along with more traditional historical and culinary tours of Lima.![peru_eating]()
In this March 5, 2016 photo, Juliana Carvey, center left, and her husband Martin Carvey eat lunch in a local home, accompanied by two tour guides as part of their tour through a shanty town in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. The tour to the shanty town itself costs $45.![peru_westin]()
In this June 21, 2016 photo, a resident carries his son in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. While most tourists come to Peru to see the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu or sample its renowned cuisine, some also visit the impoverished shantytowns like Villa Maria del Triunfo.![peru_australian_tourists]()
In this June 21, 2016 photo, Australian tourists Ashok Arasu, left, and his wife Cherry Wu listen to their tour guide Edwin Rojas as they visit the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Arasu and Wu passed out notebooks, pencils and socks to warm the feet of the shantytown’s children amid the cool, damp weather of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.![peru_man_climbing_fence]()
In this March 5, 2016 photo, British tourist Martin Carvey looks out at the landscape during a "shanty town tour" in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Carvey is part of a tour that visits the sprawling shanty towns instead of the the more tourist friendly areas.![peru_medicine_woman]()
In this March 5, 2016 photo, medicine-woman Cecilia Siguas passes an egg along the face of Ukrainian tourist Juliana Carvey during a tour of the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. In this South American country, it's very common for healers to perform a ritual using an egg to ward off evil spirits.![peru_shantytown]()
This March 11, 2016 photo shows the view from a van carrying U.S. tourists on a tour of a shanty town, in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. While most tourists come to Peru to see the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu or sample its renowned cuisine, some also visit the impoverished shantytowns in its massive capital.![peru_girl_running]()
In this June 21, 2016 photo, a resident walks down the stairs amid the fog in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Unlike most tourists, a small group of them pay $45 to visit the Villa Maria del Triunfo district, bringing with them notebooks, pencils and socks to warm the feet of the shantytown’s children amid the cool, damp weather of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.![peru_tourguide]()
In this June 21, 2016 photo, tour guide Edwin Rojas leads Australian doctor Ashok Arasu, left, and his wife doctor Cherry Wu on a tour of a shanty town in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. “We didn’t know there were areas like this,” said Arasu, “I saw something comparable once in Cambodia,” Arasu added.![peru_painting]()
In this June 14, 2016 photo, U.S. tourists volunteer to paint a new community nursery and primary school, as part of their tour of a shanty town in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. The tour itself costs $45 per person.![peru_shantytown_tourists]()
In this March 5, 2016 photo, tourists Martin Carvey embraces his wife Juliana Carvey after they played a friendly soccer game with residents of a shanty town in the Villa Maria del Triunfo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Edwin Rojas, founder of Haku Tours says he takes about 400 tourists a year to the slums, in groups of two to six, at a cost of $45 a person.New shantytown excursions show tourists different side of Peru
The sights and tastes of Lima's huge shantytowns are not the standard fare of tourists, who are mostly drawn to Peru to see the majestic Incan citadel of Machu Picchu or sample the country's renowned cuisine. Yet for a few travelers, the slums are precisely why they come: to experience the other side of this diverse Andean nation.
Move Forward
- New shantytown excursions show tourists different side of Peru
