San Juan de Miraflores

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San Juan de Miraflores is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. It located in the Cono Sur ( translated as southern slums) area of the city of Lima.

Location in the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area

Officially established as a district on January 12, 1965, the current mayor (alcalde) of San Juan de Miraflores is Paulo Hernán Hinostroza Guzmán. The district's postal code is 29.

San Juan de Miraflores is one of the pueblos nuevos, or new towns, that have been formed by the massive numbers of people moving from other towns of Metropolitan Lima (such as Miraflores, Surquillo, La Victoria, among others) and from the countryside. Basically, people who were from the capital could afford building their new houses, actually , back in the early 60's, SJM was mostly a desertic area. SJM, is divided in zones ("A", "B", "C", "D", "E" and "K") In the early 80's people from Cuzco, Ayacucho, Pasco, and many of the other departments that were under the attack of terrorists, chosed SJM and Villa el Salvador, as their new home. As new residents were coming into SJM, two new zones were created: Pamplona Alta and Pamplona Baja. This name was taken in honor to some of the Spanish missionaries (who were from Pamplona, Spain) who offered their help to the residents. One of Pamplona Alta's mains streets, "Pista Nueva" or "New Street", is an example of how new the area is. When it was first settled, many people lived without electricity, water or plumbing, often building their houses from reed mats into the steep hills, with treacherous paths leading to the houses at the top. As residents could afford building materials, they would begin to reinforce these reed mats with plywood, bricks, or whatever else they could find.

Today the houses are a hodgepodge of building materials, most in a state of continual construction as residents can afford each additional brick. Most have access to electricity, but many still lack running water or plumbing. In just the last couple of years the mayor of Lima has launched an extremely successful program to build concrete staircases "escaleras" into the hillsides, replacing the treacherous paths and dramatically increasing the living conditions of residents. These staircases are distinctively painted yellow, with bright blue signs, and neighborhood residents are hired by the city to build them.

In addition to these new zones, 2 more were created. By the year 1981, America and Umamarca were created, usually these new zones are well known because of its highly interest of being better every day, since most of the owners are the people who worked most of their lives (and still do) in Ciudad de Dios' Market. They urbanized these areas really quick.

By 1983 and 1984, two new more zones were created, these are Maria Auxiliadora and Amauta ("teacher" in English), it's located between zones "A" and "B". One of the main streets of Maria Auxiliadora is Pedro Miotta, which was well known as the former Panamericana Sur freeway.

Within Lima, particularly in public transportation terms, "San Juan" generally refers to San Juan de Miraflores; San Juan de Lurigancho, which is north of the Rímac River and is of larger size, is denoted by its individual sections, such as Zárate, Campoy, Mangomarca, Canto Grande, etc.

Image:SJM_staircase2.jpg

[edit] Geography

The district has a total land area of 23.98 km². Its administrative center is located 141 meters above sea level.

[edit] Boundaries

[edit] Demographics

According to a 2002 estimate by the INEI, the district has 367,128 inhabitants and a population density of 15,309.8 persons/km². In 1999, there were 59,874 households in the district.


Districts of the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area Coat of arms of Callao
Lima

Ancón | Ate | Barranco | Breña | Carabayllo | Chaclacayo | Chorrillos | Cieneguilla | Comas | El Agustino | Independencia | Jesús María | La Molina | La Victoria | Lima | Lince | Los Olivos | Lurigancho | Lurín | Magdalena del Mar | Miraflores | Pachacamac | Pucusana | Pueblo Libre | Puente Piedra | Punta Hermosa | Punta Negra | Rímac | San Bartolo | San Borja | San Isidro | San Juan de Lurigancho | San Juan de Miraflores | San Luis | San Martín de Porres | San Miguel | Santa Anita | Santa María del Mar | Santa Rosa | Santiago de Surco | Surquillo | Villa El Salvador | Villa María del Triunfo

Callao

Bellavista | Callao | Carmen de la Legua Reynoso | La Perla | La Punta | Ventanilla