"Lima!!" Lima by Ramonq

click: Peruvian music

Once the mighty capital city of Imperial Spain's South American realm, you'd think that the city would evoke a certain grandious majestical air about it, similar to Paris, Madrid or even Mexico City, but Lima's aristocratic aura has been sadly obscured by neglect and air pollution. All the trappings of the Viceroyalty are still there at the Plaza de Armas - The sumptuous Grand Palace, the imposing Cathedral and the stately civic buildings, but despite efforts of city mayors to clean up the Centro, the Third World realities of poverty and pollution keep rearing its ugly head and spoil things. Like the streets of Mumbai, the great colonial buildings around the Centro are fading, but if given a good scrub and polish, the Centro would be a wonderful place to visit. One day perhaps.

Lima's name was derived from the Pre-Columbian settlement near what they called Rimac river. There are still many visible signs of early Inca cultures in the Lima area, such as the sites of Pachacamac and Huallamarca which were inhabited until the Spanish conquest in the early sixteenth century.

The conquistador, Francisco Pizarro liked the Lima area so much that he established the city here in 1535. The Spanish colonists crowned Lima as the capital of the Viceroyalty where the viceroy who represented the king of Spain, set up residence. Lima was dubbed the City of Kings and its stature grew when it became the principal export centre for all the silver and gold mined in South America. A few of the fine colonial homes and buildings that survived the devastating earthquake in 1746 can still be seen around the city centre were the result of Lima's trading economic boom. Much of colonial Lima that still stand were the result of the reconstruction after that earthquake. Lima became the capital of the Republic of Peru in 1821, and at the time of independence the city was the most developed and wealthiest in South Amercia. Expansion of Lima happened around the turn of the century. Wide avenues, parks and plazas were added and the city exuded an air of sophistication. The onset of Lima's gradual decline came when its monopoly on trade was dashed by the rise of the cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bogota , Colombia.

In the later half of the 20th century, Lima, like many Third Wold cities, underwent a massive population boom. Migrants from all over Peru descended into the city and built squatter colonies called "pueblos jovenes" around the beleaguered city. The largest one is Villa El Salvador, southeast of Lima, but some of these squatters are self-sustaining communities.

The fashionable crowd however, has moved from the Centro to the pleasant suburbs of San Isidro and Miraflores. Here the lifestyle afforded by its residents are similar to the affluent middle classes of the First World. The migration of big business to these suburbs resulted in the sad decline of the Centro area. While Miraflores became the centre for the trendy and the urbane with spanking new glass skyscrapers, Centro's magnificent buildings have faded from its former glory. I stayed around Miraflores, and I found Lima very comfortable and civilised. My impression of Lima would have been entirely different if I stayed in Villa El Salvador, for sure.

Lima is now home to more than 9 million people and rising. Its smog is one of the worst in Latin America. Thick brown haze blanket the city all day and respiratory illneses are not uncommon. The beaches around Lima are also unswimmable but they still offer wonderful views for the choking city especially from Miraflores. Smoke-belching rusty buses spew more pollutants into the air while street vendors litter the streets with all sorts of merchandise. It's a typical scene in many Third World cities, but I'm sure the Limenos will face these challenges admirably.

• Pros:Fine example of Spanish Colonial architecture
• Cons:Air Pollution
• In a nutshell:Great city if you dig deeper