Video: People of the Mountains, 1940

First presenting the contrast between the republican grandeur of Lima and the Andean stylings of Cusco, this video goes on to follow the day to day live of rural Cusqueños. In the images you will also see Machu Picchu before its restoration, as well as Sacsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo and a Cusco without cars.

June 2, 2010 | Cusco Guide, Film, Modern Peru

2 Comments

Colonial-era buildings in the historic center of Cusco risk collapse

Historic Cusco is at serious risk. Dozens of colonial buildings face collapse and authorities aren’t doing a thing to prevent it.

April 5, 2010 | Commentary/Opinion, News

No Comments

Without Machu Picchu you’ll enjoy the trip of a lifetime

SPECIAL: PERU WITHOUT MACHU PICCHU – Machu Picchu is closed. It will stay that way through all of February at the very least. Do you have your flights booked and are wondering what to do next? Should you cancel or put off your trip to Cuzco?

February 4, 2010 | Travel and Places

24 Comments

A tale of colonial ships and Peruvian gold

In May 2007, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered $500,000,000 of Peruvian gold and silver coins from the sunken colonial ship Nuestra Señora del las Mercedes. Spain immediately claimed the bounty as property of the Spanish crown, as did Peru. The saga begins more than 200 years ago, and is one that is only now coming to an end.

January 15, 2010 | Modern Peru, News

7 Comments

Colonial jewel in Peru’s capital to be restored with UN help

As part of a United Nations-backed plan to restore historical architectural gems that have deteriorated into slums, residents of Rimac, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Peru’s capital, Lima, will start registering property titles as of 2010 in an effort to restore the priceless landmarks.

January 1, 2010 | Modern Peru, News

No Comments

The revolt of Túpac Amaru II

Born José Gabriel Condorcanqui in 1742, he was the great-grandson of the last Inca emperor Túpac Amaru. Like his great-grandfather before him, he was destined to resist the Spanish occupation, and, like his great-grandfather before him, was destined to meet the same fate.

July 29, 2009 | Commentary/Opinion, Modern Peru

15 Comments

Colonial Callao

Starting life as a rocky bay that was the nearest natural port to Pizarro’s capital of Los Reyes, El Callao soon became the most important port in the Spanish colonies. It has witnessed colonial splendour, pirate attacks, disastrous tsunamis, battles, republican splendour and economic collapse. Each of these events have left a mark on the city and the chalacos that live there, many of these marks visible to this day.

May 21, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Modern Peru

9 Comments

Real Felipe Fortress

The Fortaleza del Real Felipe is the most prominent landmark in Callao. Built during colonial times, it was used to defend Spain’s most important port in the Americas against pirates and corsairs who would otherwise raid Callao or nearby Lima as they did up and down the Pacific coast. Today it is a tourist attraction and museum run by Peru’s army.

April 24, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Modern Peru

10 Comments

Casa de Osambela-Oquendo

This mansion in the colonial heart of Lima is as beautiful as it is unique. In its 200 year history it has seen two wealthy owners come and go, leaving it with two names. I happened to be passing by when Lizardo Retes, who takes care of the site that is now a cultural centre, offered to show me around – and to the roof where you can see as far as Callao.

January 16, 2009 | Lima City Guide, Modern Peru

4 Comments

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

Born in Cuzco in 1539, Garcilaso de la Vega was the son of Spanish conqueror Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas and Inca princess Palla Chimpu Ocllo. He grew up in the earliest years of the Spanish empire, just when the conquered Incas were becoming used to Spanish rule. He lived among and was related to indigenous Peruvians who were alive in the days of Huascar’s rule in Cuzco and his subsequent battle with half-brother Atahualpa, as well as those who were alive during the rule of Huayna Capac.

He grew up learning both Quechua and Spanish while living with his mother – until he turned 10. It was then, with the death of his father who had long since abandoned the family, he decided to go to study in Spain with the 4,000 pesos he had received as an inheritance.

January 1, 2009 | Culture, Modern Peru

4 Comments

Photographing Lima’s colonial centre

I recently spent a day walking around the old centre of Lima, once one of the most important and wealthiest cities in the Spanish Empire and the entire world. Its prestige has faded quite a bit, thanks to suffocating internal migration in the 50′s and ex- turned- current President Alan García’s reign of economic destruction and devastation in the 80′s.

These were the results..

December 14, 2008 | Lima City Guide

9 Comments

Colonial cannon discovered beneath Lima’s streets

A cannon dating from Peru’s Spanish colonial period has been found by workers constructing part of Lima’s new Metropolitan transport system and underground central station. Unearthed at the intersection between Camaná and Emancipation, the cannon measures 2.79 metres long and is in good condition.

An archaeologist from the country’s National Institute of Culture (INC), Carmen Gabe Benaki, explains that the cannon was likely to have been reused in the 1800s to protect an old mansion that once occupied the site but no longer stands. During the building’s demolition it would have been left in place and become buried.

November 28, 2008 | Lima City Guide, News

2 Comments