Lima’s Bug Problem

 

Cities are remembered for their landmarks, their food, their people, and even their most visible automobiles. One vehicle can serve as the international symbol, the mechanical mascot, of a city. The Vespa scooter conjures images of Rome, in New York City we see the ever-present yellow cabs, in London the black cabs, and in Bangkok it’s the tuk-tuk. Lima, Perú can be represented by the Volkswagen Beetle, or Bug, found on nearly every street.

The Volkswagen Beetle (original, type 1) is one of the most popular, or at least most conspicuous, vehicles on the road in Lima. The most widely produced car in the world was last produced in 2003, but you wouldn’t know it living in Lima. Here the German-created car is ubiquitous.

The Beetle was originally deigned in the 1930s to be an affordable, reliable family vehicle to be driven on the early Autobahn. German engineers wanted an efficient vehicle and looked to nature for inspiration in finding aerodynamic shapes. The humble beetle, of which there are myriad variants, became their muse; curved and compact. Thus, a hardworking, popular, easily-customized car was born. Not only suitable for Bavarian countryside drives, the Beetle was perfectly at home amongst the crowded avenidas and calles of Lima. An adaptable little Bug, indeed.

Long lasting is perhaps the best adjective bestowed upon the Beetles of Lima. Though some Bugs show the typical signs of aging, rusted bumpers, foggy headlamps, and torn seat covers, others are as slick and peppy as the day they rolled off the the assembly line. Those industrious assembly lines cranking out now-Peruvian Bugs were most likely situated in Brazil, the largest Beetle-producing country of South America. Up until the mid nineteen nineties Brazil sent thousands of Beetles to Perú, giving a stylish, alternative crowd a capable vehicle for the Limeon traffic.

Traffic in Lima moves more like a competition than a cooperation. Each vehicle acts as an animal, aggressively fighting off larger predators (busses or trucks) or giving chase to smaller prey (pedestrians or motorbikes). Roads don’t guarantee consistency, fairness or punctuality. Getting on a bus, hiring a taxi, or even driving yourself is a roll of the fuzzy, rearview-mirror dice. However, what at first appears as chaos has its way of self-governing. No vehicle wishes to harm it’s own self by smacking into another. Though cars and busses play constant battle on the roads, collisions are rare. Like turbulent water rushing through rapids, the flow of vehicles spastically takes people from A to B, though there may be some detours to visit F and U along the ride. The law of the road in Lima is akin to the law of nature. No wonder that one of the most durable creatures in nature gave namesake to one of the most durable vehicles in Lima, the Beetle. A spunky insect of a car that can thrive almost anywhere.

On your next day out around, or trip to, Lima see how many Beetles you notice. Try to spot one in each of the primary colors, a task actually accomplishable in a single day. It won’t take long to catch the ‘Bug of Lima’.