“Living in the desert inside a school with a private skatepark.”
A higher level than anyone expects
Mike Boisvert spent about a month in Peru in 2025, most of it in Lima, and the first thing he wants people to understand is the level. He did not see it coming. One session in Lima ran about two hours and he still ranks it near the top of everything he has filmed. “One of the most technical sessions I ever seen. Everybody was killing it.” By industry, he puts Peru fourth in South America, behind Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, but the talent does not follow that ranking. What stayed with him just as much was the people: in his words, how friendly and hard-working the Peruvian skaters are, with good food, good weather and good people around them. The video from that session is below.
Mike's first Golden Ticket
Deyvid Anderson (@deyvid_anderson) is Mike's number one pick in Peru, and the first skater he ever gave a JACKALOPE Golden Ticket to. “I had my eyes on him for a while.” The ticket sent him to JACKALOPE Virginia Beach and Mississauga in 2025, and he came back to Virginia Beach in 2026 and finished third in Men Street. When Mike made the video, he called Deyvid the most underrated skater on the whole continent. He has since skated Street League, so Mike does not think that label fits anymore. Jair Urbano (@jairurbanoo), the real wild card of the crew, has made the trip to Virginia Beach twice. The two of them got a surprise there that Mike set up with the JACKALOPE team: a skydive. “David was so scared. Jer was like, ah, let's go.”
Angelo Caro
Angelo Caro (@angeloxcaro) is the biggest name in Peruvian skateboarding: fifth in Men's Street at the Tokyo Olympics, a Street League regular, and the winner of JACKALOPE Virginia Beach 2024, ahead of Ivan Monteiro (@ivanmonteirosk8) of Brazil. He was back on the podium there in 2025, in third. Mike does not hedge about him. “Angelo Caro is the best skater on the planet. He can do anything.” He means it on pure skill, in Angelo's discipline, and he has seen the proof in person: a big-flip trick on a huge rail, first try. Angelo is also the local contact Mike gave us for the country. His video is below.
The next one
Asked who is underrated now, Mike named Paul Bellido. In his view Paul is at the same level as Angelo, “a bit more rough”, and he has just posted a switch trick into a frontboard on a rail that made the point for him. A Colombian friend of Mike's who lived in Lima for about eight years, and started skating there, added a few more names to follow: Helaman Campos, and Joaquín Goto, who rides for Adidas and is now based in Tampa.
Where to skate in Lima
Peru is not a street country, and Mike is clear about why: the street spots are rough. Peruvians skate parks, and Lima has good ones. Miraflores Skatepark sits by the beach, a beautiful spot and the old hangout, even if it is not the best-built park in town. The brand new one is Skate Plaza Magdalena del Mar, only a few months old when Mike was there. Nearby is a private park run for the federation, for official training and international events; the country funds its Olympic athletes. And for street, there is Larcomar, ten minutes from the Miraflores park. “It's the MACBA of Peru.” Go in the late afternoon; that is when the skaters show up. Mike's friend also flagged Loma Amarilla, in Surco, which just reopened. Mike's own number one place to skate is simple: Lima, everywhere.
Shops and names worth following: Limited Shop Peru, Faster Skateshop, CVD Skateshop, SK Outlet (the biggest shop, per Mike's friend) and the Peru Skate Association.
Living in the desert
Lobitos is a surf town of about a thousand people in the middle of the desert, not touristic at all. Mike lived at Wave Lobitos, a free community school run as a nonprofit on donations, with surf, a bowl and street. He taught the kids transition tricks and watched them learn fast. He also hurt his back skating at seven in the morning and spent five days in bed. It did not change his verdict. “Lobitos was my coolest experience in South America, I think.”
Perukistan
Up in the hills of Villa María del Triunfo, on the edge of Lima, Willy Jenson built a DIY ramp, in a landscape Mike calls Perukistan. With a local at his side it never felt dangerous. The ramp is another story: it is so hard that Mike could not skate it. Patrick, one of the locals, can.
If you go
Plan two weeks at the very least. Mike had a month and it was not enough, and the country is long, so fly between regions. It felt safe to him the whole time, and it is affordable. The food is the best in South America in his book, top three in the world, and cheap, so do a food tour in Lima. Machu Picchu is the famous one. Lake Titicaca is the strange one: at close to 4,000 metres, Mike did a kickflip on one of the floating islands and says he was the first skater to do it. He regrets one thing, a sandboarding oasis he rode past on a 27-hour bus without stopping. And one story he still tells: a dentist who skates and follows the channel fixed his teeth for free, in a coat with a Powell Peralta patch on it, and then they did a double flip together.
The barrier here is the economy, and what would help most, in Mike's view, is a contest. He already has the city picked. “I would say JACKALOPE in Lima.”
Mike Boisvert: “Peru has a really high level of skateboarding.”
Photos and video: Mike Boisvert / The Skate Nomad. Part of the JACKALOPE Skate Atlas, one country at a time, with the skaters who live there. See every country on the map.
