Lima air quality

[kuranaga]

Hi

arrived in Lima and I must admit I'm really unhappy about the air quality - is much worse than in any city I have seen so far. Is this level of pollution normal in Lima? Or just summer phenomenon?

[renodante]

it's all year round. the summer at least you get clear skies sometimes and not just grey though.

[Choripán]

The air quality is definitely the most unpleasant aspect of (expat) life in Lima. It's bad now, but in winter, when the air never moves, it's far worse. Most people literally cough and gag their way through the winter.

The only solution is to live near the coast. You can measure Lima's air quality by the number of major avenues that run between you and the Pacific ocean, where the fresh breezes originate. I live three avenues back - Ejercito, Javier Prado, and San Felipe - and all of them have a steady flow of gaseous combis and death-taxis. The air in my neighborhood is thus at the very limit of what can be tolerated, or maybe a little beyond. During the day it smells like smog here, even if there are no cars around, but at night you can actually smell the brine and rich kelp of the Pacific.

The black soot that covers Lima also follows the major avenue rule. It takes about four days for a visible layer of soot to form inside my house. When I lived in Magdalena, which is only one Avenue off the ocean, it took several weeks for the film to develop.

Bottom line: Get a place near the coast.

[Drake]

There is a one taxi driver in my neighbourhood who told me that once when he was driving he was wearing this disposable white construction mask. When he called the day the mask was completely black. And yes he was driving windows open.

[chi chi]

Bottom line: Get a place near the coast.

Or even beter : move to La Selva.

Blue skies, nice warm weather all year round and no smog at all.

[thisisluca]

Bottom line: Get a place near the coast.

Or even beter : move to La Selva.

Blue skies, nice warm weather all year round and no smog at all.

yeah move anywhere but lima ... !!!

unfortunately Lima is the capital city and the chances of making something in other cities is very difficult so for the ones that live here ...we pretty much have to suck it up.

[chi chi]

The only solution is to live near the coast. During the day it smells like smog here, even if there are no cars around, but at night you can actually smell the brine and rich kelp of the Pacific.

I lived in San Miguel at Avenida La Paz and during the day it smelled smog but a night it smelled like MARIHUANA.

Because the beach was full of ' fumones ' smoking marihuana at night and when the wind came from the direction of the beach then my whole flat smelled like marihuana.

[thisisluca]

The only solution is to live near the coast. During the day it smells like smog here, even if there are no cars around, but at night you can actually smell the brine and rich kelp of the Pacific.

I lived in San Miguel at Avenida La Paz and during the day it smelled smog but a night it smelled like MARIHUANA.

Because the beach was full of ' fumones ' smoking marihuana at night and when the wind came from the direction of the beach then my whole flat smelled like marihuana.

that must've been fun, right ? hehehe did you have the munchies after?

[chi chi]

The only solution is to live near the coast. During the day it smells like smog here, even if there are no cars around, but at night you can actually smell the brine and rich kelp of the Pacific.

I lived in San Miguel at Avenida La Paz and during the day it smelled smog but a night it smelled like MARIHUANA.

Because the beach was full of ' fumones ' smoking marihuana at night and when the wind came from the direction of the beach then my whole flat smelled like marihuana.

that must've been fun, right ? hehehe did you have the munchies after?

No, it gave me headache all the time. It was one of the reasons why I moved from that place.

[thisisluca]

The only solution is to live near the coast. During the day it smells like smog here, even if there are no cars around, but at night you can actually smell the brine and rich kelp of the Pacific.

I lived in San Miguel at Avenida La Paz and during the day it smelled smog but a night it smelled like MARIHUANA.

Because the beach was full of ' fumones ' smoking marihuana at night and when the wind came from the direction of the beach then my whole flat smelled like marihuana.

that must've been fun, right ? hehehe did you have the munchies after?

No, it gave me headache all the time. It was one of the reasons why I moved from that place.

bummer hehe and where is it you live now ?

[falconagain]

Yes the air quality is bad. But just count yourself lucky that
you do not have to live here for a really long term.
I graduated from high school in the nineties and out
of 100 graduates, today only 70 remain. Of which the
majority have different respiratory diseases.
30% mortality for a middle class high school.
One can just wonder what is the true degree
of pollution within the city.

It is not better in the provinces because there is other
diseases available in those areas.

Even my family was affected to some degree by the air
pollution and the other pollution available on the city.
My mother has some lung and liver problems. My
father has some form of chronic tuberculosis.
My sister has developed some strange liver problems
that require to have her a special diet.
During my teen years I had the particularity of
remaining extremely thin no matter how much
I exercised or how much I ate. Still I have certain
alergies to some peruvian foods which actually
disappear when I am back in the states.
And of course everybody knows that I had
Meningitis back in 2009 for eating a cheap
corner sandwich in Lima.

Now the weird thing is that my family has lived
and worked in San Isidro, San Borja and
San Miguel for most of their lives. I wonder
what is the mortality for the people that
live in the districts that have no water.

[leidulvstad]

Air in Lima is just nasty. Polluted, humid, mouldy, arghh...
About peruvian rainforest, well, it depends where in the rainforest you are. There is indeed almost no pollution in some, but others are not so much better than Lima. Also, having lived in the rainforest for the past 3 years, let me tell you, humidity issues are far worse than in Lima. You can not leave a bottom drawer unopened for a week, or you'll find your clothes green with mould. In the rainy season, clothes never dry unless you have an electric drier or hang them by a fireplace. Also, several places in the rainforest are used now for monoculture crops,hectars and hectars (dunno if it is correctly written), meaning lots of pesticides, artificial fertilizer, weedkillers, growth hormones, and all kind of poison travelling through the air and water directly to YOU.
Rant over, lol.

[thisisluca]

i think we all are pretty much screwed !!!

[oneMore]

Its because of the air quality that my family and I had to leave Peru. While in Lima, my children were plagued with upper respiratory problems. As for myself, I had to use an inhaler just to breath and I do not have any history of asthma.

Now that we are back in the states, everything is somewhat normal but unfortunately the kids have been sick more than usual (compared to before we moved to Peru). I sometimes wonder if they were permanently affected by the series of events while we were there.

I still remember moments in which we returned from a day trip and I would spend the night with a sore throat and a associated cough that wouldn't let me sleep.

[kuranaga]

in fact the air smells worse than the exhaust of an average European car (maybe besides Dacia, but well.... you won't buy a Dacia to breath from the exhaust). So, I would say, staying in Lima shortens your life pretty a lot... like 5 years of life for 1 year in Lima?

[chi chi]

in fact the air smells worse than the exhaust of an average European car (maybe besides Dacia, but well.... you won't buy a Dacia to breath from the exhaust). So, I would say, staying in Lima shortens your life pretty a lot... like 5 years of life for 1 year in Lima?

All big cities have a problem with pollution.
It's not only the air that shortens people their life in cities. Stress also kills a lot of people. Living in a city is stressfull. Stress can cause heartproblems, suicide and accidents.

People who live in the countryside are more relaxed and under less pressure.

[falconagain]

Actually Populous cities of developed countries have cleaner air than Lima.

Peru removes the main filter from the exhaust in all car. This is why the
pollution is the worst at worldwide level (admitted several times in newspapers
like EL Comercio, Gestion and Republica). Besides the fact that the car does
not filter the gasoline, there is also the problem that most gasoline sold for
the local market is not filtered either (to make more profit for the local oil
producers). The combination is a killer for everybody on the city, you do not
only have to deal with the stress of a life with a low income but also with
a pollution level that would not be tolerated in any other country.

[Choripán]

The WHO recently published a study of worldwide air quality by metropolitan area. I was shocked to see that Lima does not top the list, and in fact looks pretty good compared to Central Asia. You can see Lima's middling orange dot there on the belly of the Peru fish. As per Chi Chi's claim, the *Brazilian* selva indeed looks clean, the only green spot south of Texas, excluding Australia, of course. I suppose we can assume that Tarapoto is similar. Europe is disappointingly yellow. Must be the population density that accounts for the difference from North America?

I wonder if there is an expat forum in Central Asia, and whether they talk about this issue. They would probably laugh at all the complainers in Peru, including me. And then they would wipe up all the bloody phlegm they hacked onto the floor.

[NexLevel]

Depends on the district you live in also. La Molina has great air quality and sun year round but most expats never seem to venture out here to see how much better it is than miraflores

[adrian Thorne]

Depends on the district you live in also. La Molina has great air quality and sun year round but most expats never seem to venture out here to see how much better it is than miraflores

I think the majority live in Miraflores and honestly believe it is the only distict in Lima. The description given on air quality could not be further from the truth. La Molina is a great place and only a short hop to the hussle and bussle of other districts. people decide to live in Miraflores and is their choice, but I cannot understand why there is this constant complaining when there is far better around the corner.

[kenpo1st]

Lima is super polluted,
I was born in Lima and I lived there until I was 20, after one year of living is San Francisco I came back to visit and everybody could see my skin was so much better, cleaner, smoother and younger looking. Now I live in a province where the air is better, everytime I go to Lima for only one week my skin looks so rough, old, dry and dark. Even tough I take care of it.

That's how you can tell if a white person is a turist or lives in Lima, because a turist will have a rossy glow on their skin while a person that lives in Lima usually have a skin dull looking.

[Kelly]

Lima is super polluted,
That's how you can tell if a white person is a turist or lives in Lima, because a turist will have a rossy glow on their skin while a person that lives in Lima usually have a skin dull looking.

Haha.... we also get pasty white from living with no sun for 8 months.

[trevor33]

I wonder if there is an expat forum in Central Asia, and whether they talk about this issue. They would probably laugh at all the complainers in Peru, including me. And then they would wipe up all the bloody phlegm they hacked onto the floor.

I was in Mumbai for a few weeks last year, similar population to Lima, both beside the ocean, i think the air quality is worse in Lima though, overcast during winter with no real rain it seems to hold the smog in.

[TonyLeslie]

I agree with kenpo1st about the dull looking skin after living in lima for any length of time. But try as I might, I can't convince the wife to let me grow my beard of 35 years back. Doesn't matter how much I plead with her it will be for the protection against the harsh Australian sun or the harsh Lima pollution.

I'm beginning to think I should never have let her talk me into shaving it off within two days of meeting her.