Peru
Sixteenth-century Spanish soldiers described it as a land filled with gold
and silver, a land of untold wealth. To the Europeans who heard these stories
it was a place of tantalizing mystery that mirrored dreams and desires
unsatisfied by the Old World. Nineteenth-century travellers wrote of soaring
Andean peaks plunging into luxuriant Amazonian canyons of orchids, pythons,
and jaguars. The richest treasures, the bloodiest conquests, the most
advanced civilizations-all have been attributed to Peru.
Northern Peru boasts a unique and fascinating cultural history. The entire
region is dotted with archeological sites; many of the gold and silver,
artifacts, ceramics and weavings made by the Chimu, Moche and Sican people
are housed in the Sican and the Royal Tomb of Sipan museums. Near the "White
City" of Arequipa is a spectacular attraction: the Colca Canyon. This canyon
cuts 3182 m (10,607 ft) into the earth-twice the depth of the Grand Canyon in
Arizona! The Colca is shadowed by snow-topped mountains, many of them
volcanoes, and sliced by the Colca River. Around Lake Titicaca, traces of a
rich Indian past still stubbornly cling, resisting the Spanish conquistadors'
aggressive campaign to erase Inca and pre-Inca cultures and, in recent times,
the lure of modernization. When Peruvians talk of turquoise blue Titacaca,
they proudly note that it is so large it has waves! Join us on this very
comprehensive and varied tour to uncover the secrets of the still little-known
pre-Inca cultures of Northern Peru and its myriad unique natural wonders, as
well as the renowned attractions of the Incan capital of Cuzco and the magic
of Machu Picchu.
Peru is a large, mountainous country on the Pacific coast of South America. It
has borders with Ecuador and Colombia to the north. Brazil and Bolivia to the
east, and Chile to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west. There are
three natural time zones, running roughly north to south: Costa, Sierra and
Selva (Amazonian Jungle).
The Costa region, which contains Lima is a narrow coastal plain consisting of
large tracts of desert broken by fertile valleys. The cotton, sugar and rice
plantations and most of the so far exploited oil fields lie in this area. The
Sierra contains the Andes, with peaks over 6000 m (20,000 ft), most of the
country's mineral resources (silver, zinc, copper and gold) and the greater
part of its livestock. The Selva, an area of fertile, subtropical uplands,
lies between the Andes and the jungles of eastern Peru. Many countries have
mountain ranges with beautiful scenery and Peru is certainly richly blessed
in this respect. However, the scenery is only one of the elements responsible
for the magic of the Inca Trail. Can there be any walk anywhere in the world
with such a combination of natural beauty, history, and sheer mystery with
such an awe-inspiring destination? The various ruins along the way serve to
heighten the hiker's sense of anticipation as he or she approaches what would
surely find a place in any new list of archaeological wonders of the world--
Machu Picchu.
The population is largely Indian and Mestizos with a noticable influence from
European (mainly Spanish), Chinese, and African settlers.