Homelessness

 When we were coming back from Chango one night I noticed that several of the street venders were sleeping by their stands in the street. I have often seen these vendors at night, but this was the first time that I saw them actually sleeping on the streets. It made me think: do they come from villages far away? Is there no affordable place for them to go at night? What concerned me as well was that many of the vendors I passed were elderly women, and even one was swaddling a baby. I think that the city of Cusco should step in and create a shelter for these street venders.

In comparison, in Lima we were approached by many people who directly asked us for money. This made me realize that in our time in Cusco we were never approached by any beggars because in Cusco the homeless people on the street were mostly street venders selling artisanal trinkets or they had snack carts. There were venders on the streets in Lima, but they were mostly fruit venders, and had much more elaborate carts than the venders in Cusco. Also upsettingly in Lima there were young boys selling lollypops on the street. Why were these boys not in school? 

In conclusion, there needs to be more protection of street venders in Cusco to prevent homelessness, and in Lima to prevent child labor.