The money for cycle paths in Peru could have been used to pacify the German farmers, said Hubert Aiwanger. Peruvian cyclists have completely different concerns. On the way on the new paths through Lima

IIs it the beginning or the end? We are standing with our bikes at the terminus of the only S-Bahn line that runs through the city of Lima, a city of 10 million people, from north to south. Final destination? “Wrong,” says Pepe Quispe. “This is where the line begins.” It’s all a question of perspective. For most residents of the Peruvian capital, “Villa El Salvador” is at the very southern end of Lima.

For Pepe Quispe, however, Villa El Salvador is not the last stop, but the first. The 52-year-old bicycle activist is as old as his city and has seen the development of the former illegal poor settlement into a satellite city with today 432,000 inhabitants. To this day, Villa El Salvador is considered a model for well-organized urban development from below. The wide, multi-lane streets and the well-circulated blocks of houses bear witness to this.