Introduction

If diversity were given a proper name, it would be Peru. This South American country, roughly the size of Alaska (496,200 square miles), has perhaps greater diversity than any other country in the world. A description of Peru’s topography is deceptively simple. The western coast is a thin ribbon of desert giving way to the Andes Mountains. The Andes begin to rise close to the coast, sometimes as close as ten miles from the ocean. The Andes, known as the backbone of South America, run north to south through the country and are the second highest mountain range in the world. The eastern slopes of the Andes are skirted by rainforest, the beginning of the Amazon basin.

Of the world’s 103 categorized ecological zones, scientists have identified 83 within Peru’s borders. Peru also has the world’s driest desert and the richest rainforest on the face of the earth. It is in the midst of this harsh, seemingly impassable land that several great civilizations, even empires, flourished.

Population

Peru has approximately 24 million inhabitants, with a yearly growth rate of 1.8 percent. Due to its great size, Peru has a low population density, but the rugged character of its land tends to concentrate populations in small areas and cities. About 52 percent of Peruvians are Indians of varying descent. Mestizos, those of European and Indian blood, comprise about 32 percent of the population. Whites, mostly of Spanish descent, make up about 12 percent of the population. The remainders are blacks, Japanese, Chinese, and other smaller groups.

Half the population lives in the highlands, where rural campesinos practice subsistence agriculture. Only 5% of Peru's population lives in the Amazon Basin, although the same area makes up 60% of Peru's land mass. Some Indian groups are still completely isolated deep in the jungle. Other jungle tribes have only infrequent contact with civilization, trading for hand tools and shotgun shells. Many indigenous communities have been uprooted, sending the inhabitants to live in the cities, losing their way of life forever. Most of the rest of the population lives in the coastal desert, the smallest region of Peru. 70% of the total population lives in cities.

Climate

Although it lies wholly in the tropics, Peru can get cold. The summer months are October through April. The winter months are May through September. Peru has three main climatic zones. The coast is mainly desert. It hardly ever rains on the coast, as the Andes mountains block the moisture from the Amazon. The summer months are beautiful, with clear skies and warm temperatures. The winter months are colder and misty. The temperature is moderate, averaging between fifty and sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but the humidity can make it uncomfortable. Although the coast is a desert, there is significant humidity in the air, and during the winter months, an ocean fog known as garúa covers the sky. The Andean altiplano has the same cycle of temperatures as the coast, but the moisture cycle is reversed. The rainy season coincides with summer. Typically, it rains once or twice a day for an hour.

The other months are characterized by clear skies. Days are almost invariably warm, and nights can be cold. Winter nights are usually below freezing. The jungle is the last climatic zone. It is always hot and humid in the jungle regions. Precipitation follows the same pattern as the highlands.

Government

Peru is a democratic republic with a social market economy, although it has not always been. A series of authoritarian regimes have characterized Peru's government, and Peru was aligned with the Soviet Union under the dictatorship of General Velasco in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 1980s saw a return to civilian regimes, but Peru suffered under severe economic hardship, as the Latin American debt crisis spread. Under President Alan Garcia, Peru's foreign debt totaled $24 billion. To make matters worse, Garcia defaulted on foreign loans and embarked upon an inflationary monetary policy. The economy fluctuated then worsened as loans to the country dried up and inflation shot up to 10,000%. Garcia went into exile.

In 1990, Alberto Fujimori defeated acclaimed novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in the presidential race. Out of necessity, Fujimori opened the economy, reduced state ownership and regulation, did away with price controls and attracted substantial foreign investment. A new currency, the nuevo sol, was adopted and inflation was reduced to fewer than 20%. In April of 1992, however, Peru suffered a constitutional crisis. Still faced with the terrorist attacks of the Shining Path guerillas, Fujimori suspended the constitution, dissolved congress, and arrested prominent opposition party leaders. He declared war on terrorism and claimed that the corrupt government only hindered the fight. However, the military itself was being accused of terrorist practices at the same time. By September 1992, just four months later, Abimael Guzman, the leader of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) terrorist group was captured, bringing an end to the group. Fujimori enjoyed the support of the majority of the population, and proceeded to lay the groundwork for massive improvements in Peru's standard of living.

In 1995, Fujimori won the general election in an overwhelming landslide, winning two thirds of the popular vote against former UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar. Terrorism was considered dead in Peru until December 17, 1996. The Armed Revolutionary Movement for the Tupac-Amaru (MRTA) seized the Japanese embassy, holding about four hundred people hostage. While brilliantly executed, it was a last desperate revolutionary attempt by the movement. The situation was resolved in a lightning raid by Peruvian special forces, saving all of the hostages except one, who died of a heart attack during the rescue. Interestingly, it can be said that since the incident took place in the embassy, it occurred on Japanese soil, not Peruvian. Nowadays, Lima residents go about their lives as normal.

History

Before the modern history of the country began about four hundred years ago, history could be observed in a series of cycles in Peru. The pattern was small local cultures giving rise to an empire, which asserted itself through trade and conquest. The empire would decline and fragment again into small local cultures, and the cycle would repeat itself. These great empires include the Nasca, Huari, Moche, Chimu, and Inca cultures. The first great civilization in the cycle can be traced back to approximately 1300 BC, to the beginnings of the Chavin culture.

The most famous of these great civilizations, the Inca, rewrote history to suit their own beliefs. According to their history, there was no civilization before the Inca, only savagery and barbarism. The creator, Viracocha, made the Sun, known as Inti, to rise out of Lake Titicaca and then went to Tiahuanaco, where he created man and animals out of clay and sent them into the world. Manco Capac, progeny of the Sun, also rose out of Lake Titicaca and made his way to Cusco, where he founded a community and the royal Inca family. Eight generations later, in the fifteenth century, the Inca were under attack from the Chancas. The son of the eighth Inca ruler won the battle and became the new Inca ruler.

Inspired by his victory and a vision from Inti, the Sun God, the new Inca ruler gave himself the name Pachacuti, "Earthshaker", and set out to conquer the surrounding lands. His mission was to make Cusco the center of the civilized world, uniting the land and, in his eyes, doing the work of the "creator." Some twenty years later, he gave the conquest over to his son, Tupac Yupanqui, who became known as the Great Conqueror. He consolidated the empire, bringing Inca civilization and control to the several outlying tribes. The Incas continued this process of empire building until the Spanish arrived.

When the Spanish interrupted this process in 1535, less than a hundred years after Pachacuti began his conquest, the Inca empire spanned 3,300 miles. The Spanish recorded the Inca legends as fact, and it is only recently that the true nature of ancient Peruvian history has been understood. The Inca were not the only great civilization to flourish in the Andes or in the coastal regions of Peru, only the last.

The Spanish conquest began eight years before the first conquistador ever set foot on Inca soil. Diseases brought to the New World by Europeans were already spreading throughout the region rapidly. In 1526, Tupac Yupanqui's son, the Inca ruler Huayna Capac, died in what is thought to have been a smallpox epidemic, leaving behind two brothers, Huascar in the capital city of Cusco, and Atahualpa leading the imperial army in Quito. A civil war ensued between the brothers, in which Atahualpa was victorious.

The conquest of Mexico only increased the Spaniards’ appetite for gold. In 1532, Francisco Pizarro, originally a pig farmer, along with 63 horsemen and 200 infantrymen, disembarked on the desert coast near the modern-day town of Tumbes and made their way to the mountain city of Cajamarca. A victorious Atahualpa, now the absolute ruler of the Inca, was making his way from Quito to Cusco to consolidate his empire. The Spaniards’ route took them near Atahualpa, who was accompanied by 10,000 Inca legionnaires. Heavily outnumbered, but driven by the lust for gold, the Spanish took Atahualpa prisoner in a surprise ambush. Fearing a rescue attempt, the Spanish garroted Atahualpa after collecting his ransom—$50 million of gold by weight in today’s bullion standards.

Marching on to Cusco, Pizarro was welcomed by many Indians as a liberator from the oppressive Inca. The Spanish lost no time in pillaging the country. Pizarro delayed full-scale plunder until he received reinforcements from his partner, Diego de Almagro. The mercenaries were given allotments of natives to induce them to stay as colonists. Pizarro rode back to the coast to found Lima as the capital of the whole region. Another of Huayna Capac’s sons, Manco (after the first Inca ruler), was appointed as the puppet leader. Manco, realizing the Spaniards were here to stay, organized a revolt and succeeded briefly in retaking Cusco.

War spread throughout the country even striking into Lima, but the Spanish cavalry slaughtered the Incas. In Cusco, Manco retreated to the hillside temple/fortress of Ollantaytambo. With reinforcements from Lima, the Spanish drove Manco into the jungle. With this victory, the Spanish promptly fell to fighting with each other. Pizarro killed his partner Almagro in the civil war that ensued. Supporters of the late Almagro in turn killed Pizarro.

The Incas, meanwhile, had retreated to the jungle fortress of Vilcabamba. Spanish refugees to whom he had granted sanctuary killed Manco. His son, Titu Cusi, dropped dead after drinking a healing potion given to him by an Augustinian friar. The Spanish took Vilcabamba, and captured and beheaded the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru. They placed his head on a stake, but the Indians began to worship it, so it was burned with the body.

For two hundred years, the Spanish ruled the viceroyalty of Peru with an iron fist. They appropriated Inca techniques of taxation and tribute, and forced a new religion upon the natives. The hierarchical structure of Inca society allowed the Spanish to establish broad control over the population. This large-scale extortion of the Indians made the Spanish colonists incredibly rich. At its height, the viceroyalty of Peru was fifteen times as large as Spain, stretching from Panama to Argentina. With rampant corruption, native uprisings were frequent. The Spanish royal family changed from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons. This change, along with a particularly bloody uprising, caused Charles III to break up the viceroyalty of Peru into seven intendancies.

This reform was the beginning of regionalism, which set the stage for South America’s current patchwork of states. By the early 19th century, the entire continent was ripe for revolt from Spain. Argentina and Chile, to the south, were liberated by Jose de San Martin, and Simon Bolivar liberated Colombia and Ecuador to the north. The two zones of revolt and liberation met in the area of Peru and Ecuador.

Under San Martin’s leadership, Peru declared independence from Spain in 1821. In 1822, San Martin and Bolivar met privately in Guayaquil. What transpired remains unknown, but afterwards, Jose de San Martin went to live in France, while Bolivar went on to liberate Ecuador and Bolivia. Two decisive battles were fought in 1826 at Junin and Ayacucho. Despite a small pocket of royalist resistance, Peru was independent from Spain.

Since its independence, Peru has fought several regional wars. The coastal desert areas in the south were fought over with Chile in the late 19th century. A border dispute with Ecuador caused a war in 1941. A treaty was drawn up, giving Peru a large portion of Ecuador. Still a sore point between the two countries, armed skirmishes have occurred irregularly over the last few decades.

Although Peru drew up a constitution in 1933 providing for a president and legislature to be elected for six-year terms, military dictatorships dominated Peru until the 1960s. In 1963, Fernando Belaunde Terry was elected in a free multiparty election. He was deposed by a military junta in 1968, and then in 1980 was reelected to office when the reigning junta agreed to step down.

Troubles with the economy had begun during the dictatorship and were now coming to a head under President Garcia. The Sendero Luminoso or Shining Path, a Maoist terrorist group began a guerilla war and was responsible for some 18,000 deaths. In desperate need of an end to corruption and economic stagnation, voters elected Alberto Fujimori. The ensuing economic liberalization has significantly improved Peru’s position. Abimael Guzman, the leader of the Shining Path, was captured in 1992. Freed from the Shining Path's terrorism and with a recovering economy and emerging middle class, Peruvians look to the future with hope and expectation.

Culture

Custom & Attitudes
Peruvians are strong willed and very nationalistic. They have come through many trials, both politically and economically, but still maintain the desire to succeed. This is reflected in the entrepreneurial ambulantes (street vendors) in Lima, who, along with other underground entrepreneurs, provide many goods and services to Peruvians. An informal sector, or "gray" market has arisen over the last few decades to evade the impossible legal and regulatory hurdles required to start a business.

In the past few years, the government came to grips with reality by recognizing many informal businesses and doing away with stifling regulations, and as a result the economy has greatly improved. The attitude is that nothing happens unless you make it happen. Peruvians are generally optimistic about their future.

The inhabitants of cities are well educated. Peruvians are very polite, have a good humor, and are generally accommodating. However, jokes about their country and lifestyle from foreigners are considered offensive. Peruvian life-style is generally relaxed, and schedules are followed loosely, although as international visitors are seen to value punctuality, foreigners are expected to be on time for their appointments.

Some of the Indians feel discriminated against by the Spanish and mestizo populations. At one time, many families earned money through grave robbing. Now, plundering archeological sites, huacas, is illegal.

Many Indians observe busloads of tourists going to the sites, and they present the fact that the entrance fees go to regional governments rather than the Indians. Most Indians live in rural areas, but those who move to the city are shunned, settling into shantytowns on the fringes of cities. The Indians put their hope in the recent promises of increased investment by government and international organizations.

Diet

The three main Peruvian food staples are potatoes, corn, and hot peppers. More than 200 varieties of potato are grown in Peru, alongside dozens of varieties of corn. Other staple foods include rice, beans, onions, fish, and tropical fruits. The coast of Peru boasts the most productive fishery in the world, and the cuisine shows it; seafood is ever-present. Ceviche, raw fish marinated in lime and pepper sauce, is often considered the national dish of Peru. Tropical fruits are so tasty that it is a common joke among coastal inhabitants that visitors will get stomachaches from eating too much fruit. Meat features highly in Peruvian cuisine in such forms as street foods, usually anticucho (grilled beef heart) and chicarrones (fried pork or beef).

Peru also has two national drinks: Pisco sour and chicha. Pisco, a grape brandy produced in the southern part of Peru, is mixed with lemon, bitters, beaten egg whites, and sugar. Chicha is a traditional drink made from corn. There are two main varieties, an alcoholic form and a nonalcoholic form.

Coca has its own place in highland society. With up to three growing seasons, coca is by far the easiest crop to grow. It has enjoyed a sacred place in local traditions for centuries. It is supposed that Machu Picchu’s function was to serve as a supplier of coca for religious traditions.

Coca leaves contain a small amount of an alkaloid similar to caffeine, with mild analgesic effects. (It must be refined in a chemical process for it to have any stronger effect.) The chewing of the leaf has long been touted as a means of maintaining one's stamina as well as the best remedy for a variety of ills, including altitude sickness. In the highlands, coca leaves are chewed or brewed into a tea. Coca tea is widely served throughout the highlands.

Clothing

Western clothing is common throughout Peru. Traditional native clothing is common in the highlands, where alpaca wool is used in textiles. Coastal inhabitants prefer lighter, often baggy, clothing and straw hats.

Language

Peru has two official languages: Spanish and Quechua. Quechua is the language that the Incas forced their conquered subjects to learn as the imperial language. The Spaniards later reinforced this practice, using Quechua as a standard means of communication with all Indian groups, spreading it even farther. Another key Indian language, Aymara, is spoken in the highlands around Lake Titicaca. Aymara was the original language used by the Inca nobility, but later gave way to the more widely spread Quechua.

About 3 to 5 percent of Peruvians speak no Spanish, but indigenous languages only. Schools teach English as a second language, and many Peruvians can speak it in phrases. The more educated speak it well.

Religion

The Roman Catholic church was the state church of Peru until 1979. The Catholic church still plays an important role in the people’s lives. Protestant evangelical churches are gaining in number. Many Indians mix Catholicism and their own native beliefs. A tradition of brujos (shamans), remains strong in parts of the country. In the highlands, the cult of Pacha Mama (mother-earth) is very strong. 'Esoteric tourism' from North America and Europe has reinforced the cult of Pacha Mama, while adding elements of Eastern and New Age philosophy

Travel Information

Currency
The monetary unit is the nuevo sol, and the exchange rate floats in
relation to the U.S. dollar. Cash and traveler's checks may be exchanged at any bank, the airport, at most hotels or at exchange houses or casas de cambio. You should exchange your money in Lima upon arrival. The airport will give you the official rate of exchange, the same as banks, and a small fee is usually charged for changing traveler's checks.

Currency Converters:
http://www.xe.net/ucc/
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

The majority of hotels and businesses will accept major credit cards, such as Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc. Every decent sized town has at least one Banco de Credito. Most large bank chains feature an ATM machine; most only accept Visa. Make sure you know your Visa’s pin number if you anticipate using the ATM. Traveler’s checks are sometimes accepted for payment, but at a hefty reduction of their face value.

Time Zones
Peru has the same time as Eastern Standard Time, or 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. Peru does not observe daylight savings time. On your flight schedule all listed times are local times. Please take this into account when reviewing your flight schedule.

Electricity

Electricity in Peru is 220 Volts. Adapters and converters are needed for electrical devices. Some hotels may have a 110 Volt outlet for razors. Hair dryers have extremely high wattage; do not use a razor outlet for a hair dryer unless you have checked with the hotel first. Many hotels have a 220 volt hair dryer as a courtesy.

Entry Requirements

American and Canadian citizens need a valid passport to enter Peru; the passport must be valid for six months after the date of entry.

Even when no inoculations are required, it is a good idea to consult your physician for optional inoculations. To contact the CDC directly, you may visit their website (http://www.cdc.gov/travel/destinat.htm) or you may call the toll free number 888-232-3228 for more information.

The CDC recommends that all travelers review the following vaccines with their physicians no later than ten weeks before departure (most are childhood vaccinations which should be kept up to date as a matter of course): Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) Vaccine; Diptheria,Tetanus, Pertussis (DTP or DTaP) Vacine; Polio (OPV) Vaccine; Haemophilus Influenza B (HbCV) Vaccine; Hepatitis B (HBV) Vaccine; Hepatitis A Vaccine and/or Immune Globulin.

Shopping

The towns of Peru are alive with small shops and market stands. Peruvians expect you to bargain. One can often cut the asking price for an item by more than half. Be careful of getting the haggling fever and trying to bargain beyond reason. Consider how important the one or two extra dollars are to you compared to how important they might be to the vendor.

The types of items offered vary from region to region. The northern coast specializes in pottery, ceramic jewelry, and straw products. The Andean highlands specialize in musical instruments, alpaca wool products, and jewelry. Be extremely careful of buying ceramic pots. Make sure it has the replica stamp on the bottom. It is illegal to take authentic Pre-Columbian pottery out of Peru.

Telephones

Peru’s phone system is very modern; public telephones working with either coins or cards can be found throughout Peru. Telephone booths are primarily used for making local calls. Calling the United States from Peru is expensive; it is much cheaper to have someone call you in Peru. To reach the international operator for collect or trunk calls, dial 108. Alternately, you can be connected with the AT & T operator by dialing 0800-50000. The easiest way to call the United States is to ask the hotel to call for you. You will be charged for the call, plus an additional service fee by the hotel.