Lima welcomed us with a pale sky, bustling streets and a promise of being unforgettable. Through the taxi window, flat topped rectangular buildings of tan brick blurred together as our driver shifted into a higher gear, accelerating us down the bumpy road, weaving freely between a towering blue bus and a dented sedan. The building edges crumbled slightly, bare rebar extended from the walls, reaching for the sky as if waiting for another level to be added. The neighborhood shifted with added wood facades painted only the brightest colors—lavender, pink and yellow, green with orange trim. We passed under an arching pedestrian bridge with a sign reading: Peru, lleno de creatividad.