[Day 9 - Sunday, and my last day in Lima]

Ah ... Sunday finally came, and I knew that I'd be on my flight back to New York by 10pm that night. Therefore, while my Peruvian friends were either sleeping or at la iglesia (church), I knew that I had to do something different - something to add to this site. There's been talk of a dangerous yet "Fellini-like" 3-story monger-house in La Victoria, and I needed to see it with my own eyes. Mind you: I speak Spanish rather fluently and, if you don't, this place is too dangerous to go to at any time in the day. Also, never-ever go to La Victoria after noon. That's right: La Victoria/La Parada chongo (located on the North side of Ave. San Pablo, practically inside La Gamarra Mercado's vegetable/open-air market, off of Ave. Aviacion) should only be visited from around 8am to 11am in the daytime hours and should be visited by someone who speaks relatively decent Spanish. Sorry for the editorial, BUT I don't want any of my fellow mongerers on this board getting hurt.

[the 3-story chongo (means whorehouse) in La Victoria]
So, at 8:30am, I grabbed a tico-taxi and asked him to take me to "La Victoria, La Gamarra Mercado, en Avenida Aviacion," and he knew where it was. I paid him 10 NS, and he told me to watch out in that neighborhood. I walked out of the taxi into this crowded 10-15 block market area and was the only gringo in the whole area. Thankfully, I knew to dress down (I dressed like crap actually) and walked around with my head tilted down and my hands firmly in my pockets. Unlike Miraflores, people were not as aggressive in asking me for change in La Victoria; the place had a true edge to it ... and eye contact was not a freely elicited nor wanted in this area. So, even with all these red flags, the fool that I am decided to walk through the market ... and there was nothing to be bought; the place had areas with nauseating odors and, on a number of occasions, older mamas would shove me from the back because I was in their way. Finally, after 20 minutes, I realized that I couldn't find this place ... so I went up to a man selling fly-swatters and simply asked him, "donde esta el chongo con tres pisos?" (where is the whorehouse with 3 levels) I offered him 1 NS (30 cents - which I already had ready in my side-pocket - don't ever take your full wallet out in public here), and he gladly walked me 2 blocks to the place. There were dozens of Peruvian men freely walking in and out of this building - which had an open entrance. Before walking in, the man selling fly-swatters told me to be very careful in that place, and I thanked him for his advice. I walked in, and found 3 levels of small rooms w/doors - about 20-30 rooms w/a women in each of them, per level. The first level seemed to have the youngest/fittest looking girls. Everything can be found here: old women, fat women, tall women, short women, and ... even a few relatively hot women. After touring around, I went up to this slim, 18yo chica from Ecuador's room and asked her the price for "sexo completo," to which she replied 16 NS (a little more than $4 US). She was another spinner with 7 1/2 looks. So I walked into her dingy room, she locked the door, I gave her 16 NS, she reopened the door and gave one of the roving guard-men his share of the payment, and then gave me rather uninspired CBJ and CFS ... she was incredibly tight. The sessions are supposed to be for only 10-15 minutes, and that's all I needed. This girl looked very solemn, and it wasn't my favorite experience, but - indeed - it was a true experience ... Fellini it was. I staggered back out of the chongo, walked 1 block back to the main street, and flagged down a taxi who took me back to Miraflores for 10 NS. Of interest, 2 other taxi drivers refused to take me to Miraflores because they felt it was too far ... which is surprising because it's only about 15 minutes. The thing is that La Victoria caters to a poorer crowd, and Miraflores caters to a richer/gringo crowd; the taxis in La Victoria are pretty run-down, and they know that they'll have trouble finding another customer after they drop me off in Miraflores.


Well ... it was about 11am, and I spent the rest of my day with a couple of my Peruvian chica friends. We did a little eye-shopping, had some ice-cream, and then had a fabulous dinner in San Isidro. Then ... of course, we had our sad good-byes and the airport, and I flew back to New York on the red-eye.


I miss Peru dearly, but the saving grace is that I know that I'll be back this summer ... in a combined Costa Rica and Lima trip! I will keep you all informed!

Nice report.

Have to say your set is bigger than mine. Not certain of the area you were in but from my experience if you even slightly resemble a gringo your a HUGE target!!!!! But am glad you came out safe. Big advice, another visit makes it Russian roulette be careful!!!

Thatīs very true, Eastcoast ... especially when I dressed up a bit more: I got glared at and propositioned on the streets rather incessantly.

However, being Asian-American and having gotten a major-league tan from my climb up Machu Picchu, I was hoping that a lot of locals in La Victoria felt that I was just another 'chino.'

As a matter of fact, after a couple days in Lima, I realized that if (1) I didn't make much eye contact with the locals and (2) I neither looked happy nor looked around the sites while walking down the streets, a lot of the locals left me alone - especially when I just wore a plain-colored v-neck t-shirt and jeans. While I was walking toward the end of the week, I even had 2 taxis (with Limeņo passengers) stop off and rapidly ask me (in Castellano) where to find a certain place ... I got a good laugh out of that! It was nice blending in a bit, but I'm sure that wouldn't be the same case for a lot of the other users on this board. (Mind you ... at times, I did want to get a little street attention from chicas and, at those times, I dress better ... ie. slacks and button-down).

Thanks for your concern, Eastcoast. The plain fact is that you make a great point about safety that cannot be stressed enough - especially on these boards.

(Message edited by play274 on April 27, 2003)

Hi, I'm peruvian, living in Lima and I wouldn't have go to the chongo you mention, no way!

My advice to you guys: never go to that kind of places, it is too dangerous and you will not find girls above a 7... but you will find any kind of diseases for sure.

I recommend to use the massage ads of El Comercio newspaper, on sundays it has the most ads published, it is in the 'Relax' section. Be careful, you can find ads that say 'kinesiologo(a)', these are travestites, or something about 'moderno', these are for gay action.

The best option is to use the massage services, that way you can check a group of girls to choose and usually it costs about 100-150 NS ($30 - $45).

Because of the economical situation in Argentina each week appear more ads of girls from that country, some are really good, try them if you can.


Good luck

Playa274; i have to be honest with you, you must have balls the size of a T-rex. like lev666 said, that place chongo in La victoria is mainly for the local working class and definetely not for foreigners, specially Americans. there are plenty of other places where you can get nice looking Peruvians chicks. no sense in risking your life for a cheap "ho". just glad you're ok and safe. anyways, enjoyed your report and will try some of those places next time i go down there.///