Essential Spanish phrases

Your foreigner ID card, issued by MIGRACIONES once you hold a resident status. It carries the CE number that banks, employers and SUNAT will all ask for, and it must be renewed every year unless you are a permanent resident.

The online portal where residence applications, renewals and address changes are filed. Almost nothing at MIGRACIONES starts at a counter any more — it starts here, and the appointment follows.

Your SUNAT taxpayer number and the password for its online system. You need a RUC to invoice, to be a landlord, or to run any independent activity — employees on a payroll usually do not.

Your tax status, not your address. Non-domiciled individuals are withheld at a flat 30% with no deductions; domiciled ones pay progressive rates after a 7 UIT allowance. The switch happens on 1 January, never mid-year.

The public health insurer. Employers must enrol you and pay 9% of your salary into it. Most people with means also carry an EPS or private plan and use EsSalud as the backstop.

The municipal service charges and the district's own street-patrol force. Both are set district by district, which is why safety and street cleaning can change noticeably as you cross an avenue.

The fine coastal drizzle-mist that sits over Lima from roughly May to November. It never really rains here, but it is grey, damp and cold indoors for half the year.

The articulated-bus rapid transit line running up the Vía Expresa. Fast, crowded, and the only predictable way to cross the city at rush hour — you need a rechargeable card, not cash.

Private minibuses with a shouting conductor hanging out of the door announcing the route. Cheap, everywhere, and driven with an urgency that surprises newcomers.

Work, a job, a gig. Universal in Peru and used far more than 'trabajo' in conversation — 'estoy chambeando' is what people say when they are at work.

105 for the National Police, 116 for the fire service, 106 for SAMU ambulances. All free from any phone, including with no credit.