This is the kind of thing I don't get about Peru. Every now and then you'll walk by some piece of property that you can deduce, just from its very location, must be worth a fortune, and yet you can observe people living and working there in the most rudimentary way.
For example, take this shabby looking hotel that sits on the Costa Verde near the Miraflores Stadium. Honestly folks, why would you put a hotel there unless you were running some fancy hotel that catered to tourists and cost $300 a night? This hotel overlooks the ocean and is right next to a couple lovely parks. If you owned this hotel...why would you contiue to operate it as a hotel? Why not spend a couple grand on a coat of paint, and then refurbish the inside into appartments that you can sell for $2500 per square meter?
Ok, sure, there is probably a bunch of stuff going on here that I know nothing about, but the fact is you see people living utterly simple lives all over Peru in places that should be dynamite real estate locations. Today, in Cusco, we walked by a tiny little farm that was within a couple hundred yards of Sacsayhuaman. I can't believe that nobody has come up to the owners of that property and offered them cash for the land (so they could develop a hotel or something). Yet, there they were, chasing chickens around their yard, etc.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with chasing chickens, but if you want to do that, why not sell your quarter million dollar property and then by something for 5 grand where you can chase all the chickens you want.
I don't know...maybe the offers aren't coming in, in which case you should really head down to Peru and start knocking on doors. You tell me...do you think land in the Sacred valley is going to be worth more or less in the future?
It's always difficult to know what motivates people,Mr Peru, so who knows the answer to the question that you posed.But II'll take a stab. About a decade ago,the Costa Verde was no where near as developed and as up scale as it is today. Maybe whoever owns that property has just grown used to living there and has settled in nicely to his or her traditional mode of life and simply doesn't want to change. I know several people in Peru who have done very well financially, yet live in very modest neighborhoods surrounded by who we in the USA would consider poor people, but who wouldn't ever think of leaving because all their friends, their church, and a a lot of other things that they value are too close by.
ReplyDeleteThat's the main reason my folks are in the US to stay. I tried selling them on Honduras, and I sent them to Peru for 6 months (I have a sister that's a Misionera in Ayacucho). Their roots are firmly ensconced in the US, so I guess they'll play out the string here.
DeleteMan I run by that shit hole hotel every day and have wondered the same thing for the past 5 years. They have not painted it in the 5+ years I've been running on Malecon. It looks like a complete dump. Also, right around that area are a bunch of auto repair shops right there along the malecon. If you go down a couple of those blocks you'd think you're in Los Olivos.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that is very interesting about Peru are the sudden contrasts between beautiful, well maintained structures and complete dumps. I've seen, on many occasions, in Peru very nice mansions located directly next door to dilapidated shacks.The foto that you posted doesn't even come close to approximating the extreme contrasts that I an talking about. I've always wondered about that.Maybe, Peruvians have grown so used to the abject poverty that surrounds them that they're hardly phased by the contrast.Any opinions out there?
ReplyDeleteLand, being at a premium in areas like that, should be going up. I'm surprised a developer hasn't bit yet, or maybe some have but the owner just doesn't want to sell for whatever reason. People like to stick with a sure thing, change can be scary. But I have noticed the phenomenon you expressed here. Even in the more affluent residential areas further west, you'll sometimes see what appears to be an abandoned home, walls covered in graffiti, unkempt shrubbery, old broken-down cars parked out front, etc. Just a blighted spot amidst all the lovely, well-maintained homes. It's just bizarre to me. At least rent it out to a nice family, right? I would think neighbors would complain, because it could bring down the value of their own home, or signal to a less desirable buyer profile that, hey, this neighborhood's going down the tubes, move on in! But, I grew up in an environment where police would show up if your grass reached a certain height. As with many things, it's just different here. People will just build higher/thicker walls and install security measures rather than demand that the general community be safer and more pleasant overall.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've noticed in Peru in general, and this is a great example, a complete lack of ambition in business.
ReplyDeleteNobody here wants to be the next Bill Gates or the next WalMart or anything like that. Businesses here are content with breaking even and paying the bills. Even good businesses could do so much better if somebody actually cared about it.
You could argue it's a good thing, less greed or simply focusing on family or something else. But it drives me crazy to see things not live up to their full potential. It's like every institute I've worked in, they could all be better but nobody cares enough to make that happen.