Dangers of Andean Travel

Over a year ago I illustrated the dangers of travel in the Andes with a series of roadsigns that would scare even the most experienced driver. Today I can illustrate it with photos of the recked remains of a taxi that drove off the road into a ravine. This is a daily occurance in Peru – though only bus-fulls of dead are enough to make the news, albeit briefly.

November 30, 2007 | Opinion

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San Martín and Peruvian Independence

It was from this balcony in Huaura that in 1820 General Jose de San Martín first declared Peruvian independence from Spain.

November 24, 2007 | Culture & History

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Caral – The “Oldest” Civilisation in the Americas

In ancient times, as the peoples of the Nile valley in Egypt and the peoples of the Indus valley in India came together to form cooperative societies, so too did the people of the Supe valley in Peru. In groups of family units of small scale farmers and fishers they began to form systems of government, religion and trade.

November 18, 2007 | Archaeology, Lima City Guide

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Caral: Ruth Shady Solís

She was a girl who belonged to the Archaeology Club in her school and found it a great influence in her life, so much so that she is now a Doctor in Archaeology and the woman in charge at the special Caral-Supe project. It took 13 years to demonstrate to the world that the city of Caral, located on the Peruvian coast, developed in line with the civilisations as old as those of Egypt or India.

November 17, 2007 | Opinion

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An Introduction to Caral

Caral is one of 20 sites thought to be part of the oldest civilisation in Peru and all of the Americas at over 5000 years old. Along the Supe river valley, 5200 years ago, dozens of roaming family groups surviving day to day on what they could find to eat banded together to form a new kind of social group which began pooling their energies and sharing the burden of gathering food and surviving. Here in South America, at the same time as the peoples in the Nile valley were doing the same, one of the first civilisations was formed.

November 14, 2007 | Culture & History

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The Streets of Cusco [Featured]

Alan Malarkey is currently in the city of Cusco studying Spanish, and writes about his time there on his blog Malarkey en Perú. Below he gives us an idea of day to day life on the streets of the city.

November 13, 2007 | Opinion

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Peru unveils 4000 year old temple

The new discovery filled with murals has been discovered on the north coast.

The ancient temple inside a larger ruin in the Lambayeque valley is home to what is believed to be one of the oldest murals of its kind in the Americas. Video:

November 12, 2007 | Archaeology, News

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Quest for the lost city of Paititi

The legend of Paititi refers to a lost city in the Amazon rainforest, said to be founded as a refuge from the Spanish by surviving Incas. During colonial times it was sought out by dozens of explorers eager to conquer it’s people to retrieve it’s gold.

November 12, 2007 | Opinion

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Petroglyphs of Pusharo

In his article for the Athena Review, Deyermenjian tells us, “I first encountered petroglyphs in 1984 while my party of highland campesinos and Peruvian adventurers was traversing the Cordillera de Paucartambo, the easternmost range of the high Andes to the northeast of Cusco. We were at an altitude of 13,500 feet when we found ourselves astride a rockhang covered with bas- relief images of llamas and walking humans. All the human figures on the rock were heading in one direction, northeast, toward the tropical forests This site is named Demarcación, whose meaning would doubtless have been understood by Incan peoples of old passing this way”.

November 10, 2007 | Archaeology, Opinion

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Birdwatching in Peru

Peru is known to be one of the best places in the world to see birds; it has the second highest number of species on earth. 1800 in fact, making it a bird-watchers paradise.

November 8, 2007 | Nature

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Chile returns Peru’s historic books

Realising that the new found mineral wealth on the pacific coast lay entirely in Bolivian and Peruvian hands, and sparked by Bolivia’s plan to tax Chilean companies extracting it, Chile launched an invasion against the two nations. After their successful land grab in the south, Chilean troops continued up the coast, burning down towns and massacring thousands. When they reached Lima, all resistance was put down and troops began ransacking Peruvian national treasures – Lima having been the centre of the Spanish empire in the new world.

November 7, 2007 | News

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Mesa Redonda Fire

The Mesa Redonda fire of the 29th December 2001, just two days before New Year caused deaths in the hundreds. Now, almost six years on, an almost identical tragedy was narrowly avoided, showing that no lessons had been learned.The Mesa Redonda shopping district in downtown Lima was jam-packed full of people, as it normally was, but more so now in the height of shopping season.

November 5, 2007 | Culture & History, News

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