the best (and ugliest) schools in Lima through a freelance photographer’s smudged lens

lemme tell you about hunting for decent schools in Lima while dodging rogue ceviche carts and shooting weddings for cash. this city smells like salt and diesel exhaust with a whiff of desperation-currently sweating through 'garúa' season where the coastal fog sticks to your skin like cheap printer ink. anyway…

here’s the thing: *Miraflores privates look like colonial museums but cost more than my entire camera rig. shot a quinceañera at Newton College and overheard this gem:

> "yeah they teach in English but the rich kids just cheat using ChatGPT… heard they expelled a kid for outsourcing his homework to some kid in Arequipa"

check the insane rent prices though - dropping $1.2k/month for a 2-bed near Barranco ain’t rare. saw a job posting paying photographers 900 soles ($240) for 12-hour wedding gigs. bruh.

PUBLIC SCHOOL HOT TAKE: unless you’re in San Isidro (where security guards outnumber students), the vibe’s like a telenovela fight scene. met a teacher at Colegio Alfonso Ugarte who muttered while I snapped grad photos:

> "we haven’t had hot water in staff bathrooms since 2019. ministry says ‘maybe 2025’ but they also said Peru would win the World Cup"

resources i actually used:
- this wild expat thread comparing school bribes
- TripAdvisor meltdown about Markham College’s ‘British vibes but Peruvian corruption’
- Yelp chaos from parents arguing over cafeteria empanadas

final drunk advice from a bartender in La Victoria:

> "send your kids to Germany instead. or just teach them to haggle-better life skill than algebra here"*

oh and Huancayo’s just a terrifying mountain bus ride away if you need escape options.

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