Thursday, November 5, 2009

Renting from Bevan

Floorplan as sketched in letter home
Upon our return to Lima we had to look for somewhere to live. The inner city of Lima in 1928 was bounded on the west by Avenida Alfonso Ugarte. A few streets had been laid out parallel with the avenue on the Callao side but only a few houses had yet been built. We were able to rent an upstairs flat on Calle Ancash facing Callao. Between us and the port was a clear view of the bare pampa. Our landlord was a Welshman named Bevan, who lived next door. We were quite conveniently situated as far as the school was concerned as we were only about six or eight blocks away. At first we had an abundant water supply but as other houses were built this diminished to a mere trickle and then ceased completely during the day. The only way to ensure supply of water was by filling the bath each evening. When the situation became desperate, the municipal authorities excavated the water main and found the contractor had laid 2 inch pipes instead of 6 inch mains. This is a typical example of what they call “viveza criolla” or, creole enterprise.

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