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We wondered, however, what Peru and Bolivia might offer in the way of bargains in real estate. We would need to find business opportunities in the service sector, like a hotel with a restaurant that we could own, operate, and live in. In doing our research before we left we found that Peru and Bolivia both have very young populations. There is an explosion of demand for goods and services (American and European), along with growing incomes, and a desire to do more business. These factors makes these two countries strong candidates for getting in early, which is always desirable, and then riding the wave of an increased economy for many years which might set us up for retirement there as well. Lima is a large, modern South American city that takes a realistic look back at the Conquistadors and the ancient pre-Columbian civilizations. Even within this city are ancient pyramids made of adobe bricks sitting within the confines of subdivisions made up of beautiful homes. This city could use a few more mid-priced, American style hotels to choose from. There are some very good high-end hotels here, mostly European or American chains, so that market seems to be sufficiently served. At first there seems to be many Peruvian hotels that are ranked three or four stars, for the more budget minded traveler, but it’s a Peruvian ranking style and the comparison to an American or European style ranking leaves a little to be desired. If you have significant funds to start a hotel here, versus smaller less costly towns, you would be full in no time. I saw many
places for sale, but I was unable to gather any information from the phone
numbers that were called, and just ended up leaving messages. There were
no real estate brochures to find anywhere, and our guides were of no help.
In fact, we got the feeling that sales of real estate are difficult, even
between Peruvians. In talking with an “abogado”, or lawyer, about
purchasing real estate, the answers to my questions were vague at best.
The lawyer talked about , “the difficulty of the people”, and other comments
that began to make me feel that buying real estate in Peru could be problematic.
Nobody ever made me feel uncomfortable, but I couldn’t help feel that although
a Peruvian would gladly take my money when he sold his house to me, the
act of selling to a non-Peruvian person would not be the most wanted of
events.
Okay, so what about real estate? Well, I saw very little for sale, and inquiries resulted in no returned calls and very little information. I found it odd, but I didn’t put much stock in it at the time. After all, we were going to have a whole month in Peru to find out if we liked it, or not. Later on I found this to be the normal outcome to my questions. From the North our trip took us down the coast to Paracas where we stayed at the Hotel Paracas resort on the Pacific Ocean. A beautiful place, with a day trip out to the Ballestas Islands to view marine animal life. The resort was very nice, reminding us of the hey-day of jet-set travel in the 60’s. Outside of the resort, though, the area offered little that interested us, so we didn’t look for real estate information here. The next stop was Nazca with it’s enigmatic Lines. Nazca is a very nice small town. The Nazca Lines didn’t fail to impress when we flew over them. They are really only visible from the air. This is a very dry place. Marks in the desert floor last for centuries and so do the mummified people! A nearby cemetery lends a certain eeriness to the trip as we visit the remains of the people who first built a civilization here over a thousand years ago! Nazca was very interesting, but too small and remote for our tastes as a place to live, even though another hotel could fit in here easily. Next up was
Bolivia, which was originally part of Peru before establishing itself as
a separate country. There are similiarities between the two countries,
but we were to find out that there are vast differences as well.
There had been problems reported with the “campesinos”, or village folk
as far as blocking the highway between Peru and Bolivia. We encountered
some of that as we left Lake Titicaca. The roads were blocked with
scattered huge stones like a mine field, totally impassable except for
where the military had cleared a path. La Paz is an interesting modern
city that is built in a large deep bowl in the ground which is actually
lower than the surrounding “altiplano” or high plain. Here we found
another type of problem that completely scratched Bolivia off our list
of places to ultimately live in South America.
There are two sets of laws in Bolivia, one for the Indians, and the other for non-Indians. Although, this is the way it has always been, if Bolivia is going to move forward, and become a more modern country, this form of segregation does more to harm the people than it does to empower them. Bolivia has some deep seated problems that aren’t going to be solved soon. Many of these problems revolve around the development of their natural gas reserves. A recent vote was affirmative for development, but Bolivia has fiddled around so long that their market, Chile and Argentina, have for the most part moved on without Bolivia. Although our money went very far here, eight bolivianos to the dollar, and they have a young and growing work force, the political climate is going to hamper real advances in business. Needless to say, we didn’t look for real estate in Bolivia, and breathed a sigh of relief when we left, and returned to Peru. ..
Cuzco’s built in tourist trade to Machu Picchu, makes it a slam dunk for a business location. People from all over the world come here, and the need for services like an American style hotel with a restaurant would fit in here. A small boutique hotel, with a nice lounge and restaurant seemed just the ticket in this city. Many of the hotels here are very nice, but since the tourists coming here are going to be short-timers in Peru as hiking the Inca Trail is at most a five day trek, then the comforts and style of an American bed and breakfast or boutique hotel would be greatly appreciated. Anyway, it could work in Cuzco, we would just have to crack the “foreigner factor” a little better. .
Peru offers opportunities at any of these areas we visited. We ranked Cuzco as the best place to have a good chance of success, with Trujillo/Huanchuco being a neat place to live and work although it has fewer tourists. Lima really needs some lodging in the middle range, and the large population and international airport could insure success. Peru doesn’t quite have the same business orientation as Argentina or Chile, but it does have strong tourism draws that could compensate for some of the short comings of doing business in Peru. I know that I would have to do some more significant, serious work on getting answers before proceeding with any venture. This is especially true since many people were rather curious as to why an American would want to own a business in Peru when it is the USA that they want to do business in themselves. All in all, though, Peru has many great attributes and although we didn’t find our place this time our trip was a complete success. We will certainly return! Ciao, Mark and Karen McInerney To contact
Mark Click Here
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