Peru is South America’s third largest country, covering 1,285,215 sq. km., and can be divided into three distinct geographic regions. The best known of these is the central high sierra of the Andes, with its massive peaks, steep canyons, and extraordinary pre Columbian archaeological sites. The Andes are still one of the world’s most unstable mountain ranges, with frequent earthquakes, landslides, and flash floods. Despite such instability, the Andes are also the site of the most fascinating pre-Columbian cities of South America-like the great city of the clouds, Machu Picchu.

The Andes are by no means the only region to visit in Peru. Also of great interest is Peru’s narrow, lowland coastal region, a northern extension of the Atacama Desert. Although the Atacama is generally known as the most arid region on the planet, the climate along Peru’s shores is made cooler and less dry by La Garuùa, a dense fog created by the collision of the frigid waters of the Humboldt Current with the heated sands of the Atacama. Lima, Trujillo, and Chiclayo, three of Peru’s major population centres, are located along this coastal desert.

Peru is legendary among world travelers looking for new experiences. Stunningly endowed in both natural and man-made attractions, Peru offers much more than most short trips can hope to take in: charming Andean highlands towns with colonial architecture, remote jungle lodges in the Amazon basin, soaring snowcapped mountains and volcanoes, a 3,220km (2,000-mile) Pacific coastline, and, of course, the legacies of the Incas and other sophisticated pre-Columbian civilizations. The following lists are some of my favorite places and activities, from hotels and restaurants to outdoor experiences and festivals. But the fun of traveling to a fascinatingly diverse country like Peru is compiling your own unforgettable list.

The 1982-1983 El Niño has received wide attention for its severity [10]. In Peru alone, it was responsible for much loss of life, damage affecting over 80% of the highway system, railroad washouts, and material loss estimated in the billions of dollars. The heating of the ocean off the Peruvian coast during El Niño periods has also caused the loss of much marine life. For example, the El Niño of 1972 virtually destroyed the Peruvian anchovy fishing industry, which at that time represented a significant percentage of the world’s protein supply with a catch of about 12 million tons per year [11]. Such destruction emphasizes the need to better understand the meteorological forces unleashed by this powerful ocean-air interaction.

Goldberg et al [6] have investigated the mesoscale structure of severe rainfall events during the 1982-1983 period by examining daily data from 66 rainfall stations in the Chiura-Piura region of northwestern Peru. Figure 1 shows the location of this region, which was selected because it was most severely affected by the 1982-1983 El Niño and because the data were highly reliable and complete.