Passing stores on the Pan American Highway from Metropolitan Lima on a Shantyown tour. I was the only one on the tour, accompanied by a driver; my tour guide, Jordan; and his assistant, Valeria.

Farther along. The metal sticking up from the top of buildings are rebar left in case another story to the building will be added later. You see this all over Peru.

More modern buildings in a town. The green building housed an aerobic excerise studio. We are about 1/2 hour from Metropolitan Lima.

A sidewalk food cart. The dogs in the photo are left to roam free, which doesn't mean that they don't have owners. When their owners go off to work, instead of locking their dogs in their houses, they let them run free for the day. The dogs look well fed and cared for and they seem to find dog friends to hang out with.

Farther along.

Children getting ready to enter their school. The school children in Peru wear uniforms. Education is compulsory and free in Peru from ages 5 to 16.

A motorcycle taxi in another town.

Farther along. Campaign signs are in the photo. There will be an election in November. Voting is compulsory in Peru and people are fined if they do not vote unless they have a very good excuse.

A bicycle cart.

We are at our first destination: the mercado (market).

Inside the very large market.

My tour guide, Jordan, introduced me to the fish seller. Jordan said I needed to have a Spanish name on the tour so I chose Margarita. This fish seller has been selling fish in this very spot for about 25 years.

More of the fish. If the fish isn't sold by early afternoon, it is then sold to the restaurants at half-price.

This fish seller is holding up a sardine.

More fish.

This woman is selling mainly potatoes. The Inca Indians of Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes--around 8,000 to 5,000 B.C. Nowadays, the potatoes are grown in the Peruvian Andean highlands.

There are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes in Peru. Jordan is holding up an odd-shaped one. Could be a yellow potato.

This is one of the oddest-looking potatoes. It looks more like a sausage.

A whole bag of these potatoes.

The inside of the potato. Jordan said the potato has much water in it.

Next to the fruit. Peru has many fruits that are unlikely to be seen in Western markets. This is a granadilla, a sweet passion fruit.

Inside the granadilla. It was tasty.

I think this is a type of pricky pear, which you can find in some markets in the U.S.

It tasted much like watermelon.

Another fruit that I tried though I don't know the name of it.

The best of the fruit. It tastes like a peach.

You can tell this woman what ails you and she will make up a concoction that will help you.

I was told at another market that this odd-shaped green vegetable was a pepper not a squash.

Evelyn who sells chickens.

Another chicken vendor.

The heads are cut off the chicken and sold to use in both soups and to feed to dogs and cats.

Chicken feet, also used in soups.

Sauces. You can tell the vendor what you are making and he will put sauces and spices together for the dish.

Inca Cola, a very popular drink in Peru. It tastes like a sweet gingerale and is made by Coca Cola.

Black corn.

Rice. If the rice is being sold by the kilo, this is really a good price as 3.00 Peruvian soles is about $1.00 U.S.

More of the market--the section where household items, clothing, shoes, and everything else is sold.

The market also had places to eat at.

A food vendor.

Ceviche offered here. Ceviche, made up of raw fish that is cured in citrus juice with spices and seasonings added, is a national dish of Peru.

The Restaurant Flores is offering dishes such as arroz con pollo (chicken with rice).

This food vendor doesn't have any customers.

This vendor was selling coconut juices. He gave me a cup of juice--very good.

A fantastic bakery was also in the market. What little girl wouldn't love this cake of Elsa of "Frozen" fame.

Or this one of Minnie Mouse.

More fancy cakes.

The motorcycle taxis were lined up as far as the eye could see outside the market. People would walk to the market to do their shopping and then take a motorcycle taxi home as they would be laden with bags.

Onward from the market.

You can see a hill of shantytown houses in the background.

Passing an old church.

More shantytowns. Shantytowns started to appear in the 1940-50's in Lima when people who lived in the countryside came to Lima for economic opportunites. Even today, the rural poverty rate is at 54%.

More people came from the countryside and highlands to escape the brutality and terrorism of the 1980s brought about by the Maoist Shining Path insurgency. Two-thirds of Lima's active, working-age population live in shantytowns. There are not only a few shantytowns but miles upon miles of them along the highway and also some in Metropolitan Lima.

We are at our next stop: a school.

Jordan is on the right. He'll be asking the guard to allow our entrance. A mother carrying a baby is also asking for entrance.

The gate to the school. This school is for the children who live in one of the shantytowns.

Then it was hard to believe these children. They were the friendliest and happiest children you will every meet. They all wanted their photo taken when they saw my camera. The children were treating me as if I was a movie star.

I couldn't decide which photo I liked the best of the ones I took, so I included more than one.

Another photo. I love the expressions of the girl who took the middle.

Here she is again.

My tour guide, Jordan, was at the back of some of the photos.

As was his assistant, Valeria.

Next we walked to the upper classrooms. They younger children were in a recess break but the older children were still in their classrooms.

From the back of the school, the shantytown that the children came from. The colors of the buildings indicate when they were built. Jordan told me that if someone builds a house on a piece of land and lives in it for three years the property is then theirs. This shantytown has electricity though many do not.

More of the shantytown. It took awhile to be able to leave the school as we had to walk back through the lower-grades area. The children had so many questions. They take English classes one hour a week and wanted to know what their names would be in English (of course, all translated to me by Jordan). They asked Jordan and me to talk to each other in English so they could hear what English sounded like. And then there were so many hugs that the children gave us when we were leaving. Quite an experience.

On the way from the school to a shantytown.

Going up the road to the shantytown, not the shantytown that the school children lived in.

Farther along up the hill. Lima gets all of 0.3 inches of rain a year, so the land is very barren here.

Farther along.

A shantytown on the opposite hill.

Our driver parked here.

We had to walk up these steps.

Then we had to climb over big rocks to get to a wooden staircase--to the right of the photo.

Finally, at our destination of a shantytown house. This house had running water, so some vegetation here.

Looking downward.

At the bottom of the property was a small building. Inside people were working on sewing machines.

And also cutting material. There was a very old woman working there as well though I didn't get a photo of her. As the shantytown appeared very empty, I wonder how many people were in working in such shops.

To go up to the main house were more steps. I declined to go up more steps so I didn't see the inside of the main house, but as the shop was so colorful, I would imagine the inside of the main house would have been also.

We climbed back down on the wooden ladder, then over the rocks, and down the stone steps. I asked this woman if I could take a photo of her and her baby. Many Peruvian women carry their babies on their backs.

On the way back to Metropolitan Lima.

On the way back to Metropolitan Lima.