Shopping in Peru

There are many attractive Peruvian handicrafts such as alpaca wool sweaters, alpaca and llama rugs, Indian masks, weaving, jewelry and much more. Galleries and handicraft shops abound in the Miraflores, Pueblo Libre and downtown districts of Lima. Handicrafts markets are located in Miraflores (Petit Thouars Ave, blocks 52 to 53) and Pueblo Libre (La Marina Ave, blocks 8 to 10). Bargaining is an expected practice with beach vendors and at markets and known as ‘regateo’.

Shopping hours
Mon-Sat 1000-1300 and 1600-2000 (although many shops are open Mon-Sun
0900-2000).

Currency Information:

Currency
New Sol (S/.) = 100 centimos. New Sol notes are in denominations of S/.200, 100, 50, 20 and 10. Coins are in denominations of S/.5, 2 and 1, and 50, 20, 10 and 5 centimos.

Currency exchange
Only a few bureaux de change in Lima will exchange currencies other than US Dollars. Outside Lima, it is virtually impossible. US Dollars can be exchanged everywhere and banks, hotels and shops also readily accept US Dollars (although torn or damaged notes are usually rejected). It is not recommended to exchange money from street vendors. ATMs are now generally regarded as one of the best ways to obtain money in Peru.

Credit and debit cards
American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa are all accepted, but usage facilities may be limited outside of Lima. Check with your credit or debit card company for details of merchant acceptability and other services which may be available.

Travelers cheques
Banks will exchange travelers cheques although it can be a slow process outside Lima. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travelers are advised to take travelers cheques in US Dollars. The ability to use travelers cheques is also quite limited in some areas so you should check whether or not they will be excepted in the area your visiting prior to travel. (more…)

Subdivisions of Peru

Peru’s territory is divided successively into regions (25) (Spanish: regiones; singular: region), provinces (180) and districts (1747).

The Lima Province, located in the central coast of the country, is unique in that it doesn’t belong to any of the twenty-five regions. The city of Lima is located in this province, which is also known as Lima Metropolitana (Metropolitan Lima).

Until 2002, Peru was divided into 24 departments (departamentos) plus one constitutional province (Callao), and many people still use this term when referring to today’s regions, although it is now obsolete.

Current Peruvian regions are:

Amazonas
Ancash
Apurimac
Arequipa
Ayacucho
Cajamarca
Callao
Cusco
Huancavelica
Huanuco
Ica
Junin
La Libertad
Lambayeque
Lima
Loreto
Madre de Dios
Moquegua
Pasco
Piura
Puno
San Martin
Tacna
Tumbes
Ucayali
(more…)

Politics of Peru

The current president is Alejandro Toledo, leader of Peru Posible. He was elected with 53% of the votes in second ballot in the 2001 election defeating former socialist president Alan Garcia. Peru Posible, with 45 seats, was also the largest in the 120-seat parliament.

The second and third largest parties are in opposition; respectively Partido Aprista Peruano (short: PAP, 28 seats), which is led by Alan Garcia Perez, and Unidad Nacional (short: UN, 17 seats), which is led by Lourdes Flores Nano.

Other important political currents stem from the ongoing investigation of Fujimori-era corruption (notably the proceedings against Fujimori’s former advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos), and an increase in activities by Sendero Luminoso, a maoist insurgent group.

The Toledo government has remained committed to neoliberal economic policies and structural reform in the hope of attracting sufficient international investment to generate growth and job creation. After the resignation of President Fujimori, Alejandro Toledo cannot run for the presidency again. The next presidential election will be held on Sunday, April the 9th, 2006, and more than 16 million Peruvians will be able to vote worldwide.

The Republic of Peru is in a state of ongoing democratization. Led by President Alejandro Toledo, the executive branch is attempting to be transparent and accountable. Previously a rubberstamp body, Peru’s unicameral Congress is emerging as a strong counterbalance to the once dominant executive branch, with increased oversight and investigative powers. The executive branch and Congress are attempting to reform the judicial branch, antiquated and rife with corruption.

Peruvians, whose expectations were raised during the 2000 and 2001 election campaigns, are frustrated at the slow pace of economic recovery and job creation. As discontent rises, the Toledo administration is in a race to strengthen the economy so that popular pressures do not force a shift to more radical measures. So far, the Toledo government remains committed to neoliberal economic policies and structural reform in the hope of attracting sufficient international investment to generate growth and job creation.

Other important political currents stem from the ongoing investigation of Fujimori-era corruption (notably the proceedings against Fujimori’s former advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos), and an increase in activities by the insurgent group Sendero Luminoso. The recent trial of Abimael Guzman has been suspended, due in part to Guzman’s use of it as a forum for broadcasting Sendero Luminoso propaganda.

Regarding the latter, the Toledo government has been forced to consider putting resources back into the security forces which they had been hoping to use to fund social programs.

Branches of government

Executive branch

The President of Peru is popularly elected for a five-year term, and the 1993 constitution permits one consecutive re-election. All citizens above the age of eighteen are entitled and in fact compelled to vote. The first and second vice presidents also are popularly elected but have no constitutional functions unless the president is unable to discharge his duties.

The President appoints the Council of Ministers (Consejo de Ministros, or Cabinet) and Prime Minister (primer ministro). All presidential decree laws or draft bills sent to Congress must be approved by the Council of Ministers.

President Toledo has held office since 28 July 2001, after winning a special election and runoff on 3 June 2001 by 53% of the vote, following the scandal of the previous year’s election. The next election will be held on 9 April 2006. Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has occupied his position since 16 August 2005, replacing Carlos Ferrero. (more…)

Sports in Peru

Soccer: The most popular Peruvian sport is soccer (World Cup appeareances: 1930,1970,1978,1982 two Copa America tournaments). Although the National team has not been very successful, most of the population of Peru follow the World Cup tournament on television. Soccer legends from Peru include Hugo Sotil, Cesar Cueto, and Teofilo Cubillas, Peru’s best striker in World Cup Finals with 10 goals. Current renowned players include midfielder Nolberto Solano (Newcastle United since 1998, with a 2-year parenthesis in Aston Villa), and strikers Claudio Pizarro, Paolo Guerrero (Bayern Munich) and Jefferson Farfan (PSV Eindhoven).

Volleyball: Other popular sport is Women’s Volleyball (Silver medal in Seoul 1988 Olympic Games and 14 times South American champion).

Surfing: Sofia Mulanovich, Women’s World Surf Champion in 2004 and 2005.

Sailing: Peru is the only country of the region that has won for six consecutive years the world Cup in the Sunfish Class. In addition, Peru has won the Central American, South American and Caribbean Championships for the same category. In the Optimist Class, it was three times World Champion in Team-Racing in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

Shooting: Peruvian shooters have won 3 of Peru’s 4 olympic medals. Edwin Vasquez won Peru’s only gold medal in London 1948 Olympic Games, while Francisco Boza (Los Angeles 1984), and Juan Giha (Barcelona 1992) both won silver medals.

Folklore and Music of Peru

Hundreds of years of ethnic and cultural mixing has created a rich musical landscape across Peru. Typical instruments include the Andean flute and pan-pipes (Quena and Zampona), the Cajon drum used in Afro Peruvian music, and the traditional Spanish guitar. Peru is home to thousands of dances of pre Inca, Andean and mestizo origin. The southern Andean region is famous for the Huayno.

Arequipa is the proud creator of the famous Yaravi, a melancholy style of a capella singing that evokes the solitude of the mountains. Probably the most well known song of this style is “El Condor Pasa”, a traditional Peruvian song popularized in the United States by the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel and featured in the movie “The Graduate”. The original composition consists of a Yaravi, followed by an inca “pasacalle” and a Huayno fugue, three traditional inca rhythms. The Huaylas, by contrast, is a cheery, rhythmic style from the central Andes.

The coast has a different feel to its music than its Andean counterpart. Primarily Spanish in origin, coastal culture combines traditional European rhythms such as the flamenco and the waltz with Creole, African and Gypsy influences to create the wide range of styles we hear today. Lima’s most well known musical style is the Vals Peruano (Peruvian Waltz), popularized by the great Chabuca Granda. She is widely considered the most important composer of Coastal Creole music, with such songs as La Flor de La Canela, Fina Estampa, and Jose Antonio. Other commonly known Vals Peruano tunes are: Alma Corazon y Vida, Odiame, Mi Propiedad Privada, El Plebeyo, and Devuelveme El Rosario de Mi Madre, some of which are sung by Caribbean artists in the Bolero or Salsa version.

Afro Peruvian music is most commonly performed by duos of Creole guitars, the Cajon and spoon rhythms. African derived rhythms like the Festejo or Lando are common in the black communities of the southern coast. Susana Baca is a renowned singer and composer of Afro Peruvian music. She won a Grammy award in 2002 for her album Lamento Negro. (more…)

Painting and Sculpture in Peru

The art of Peru was shaped by the melting between Spanish and Amerindian cultures. During pre-Columbian times, Peru was one of the major centers of artistic expression in The Americas, where Pre-Inca cultures, such as Chavin, Moche, Paracas, Huari (Wari), Nazca, Chimu, and Tiahuanaco developed high-quality pottery, textiles, jewelry, and sculpture.

Drawing upon earlier cultures, the Incas continued to maintain these crafts but made even more impressive achievements in architecture. The mountain town of Machu Picchu and the buildings at Cuzco are excellent examples of Inca architectural design.

During the colonial period, Spanish baroque fused with the rich Inca tradition to produce mestizo or creole art. The Cuzco school of largely anonymous Indian artists followed the Spanish baroque tradition with influence from the Italian, Flemish, and French schools. (more…)

Languages in Peru

Peru has two official languages - Spanish and the foremost indigenous language, Quechua. Spanish is used by all coastal Peruvians, the government, the media, and in education and formal commerce; although there is an increasing and organized effort to teach Quechua in public schools.

The major obstacle to a more widespread use of the Quechua language is the lack of modern media which use it: for example books, newspapers, software, magazines, technical journals, etc. However, non-governmental organizations as well as state sponsored groups are involved in projects to edit and translate major works into the Quechua language; for instance, in late 2005 a superb version of Don Quixote was presented in Quechua.

Despite this work an even more fundamental problem remains: most of the native speakers of Quechua are illiterate. Thus, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially an oral language. Until more work is done in terms of teaching written Quecha, it is unlikely to rival Spanish as the major language of the country.

Geography of Peru

Peru is bordered by Ecuador and Colombia on the north, Brazil to the east, and Bolivia and Chile to the southeast and south, respectively. To the west lies the Pacific Ocean. Eastern Peru consists mostly of the moist tropical jungles of the Amazon Rain Forest, the largest on Earth.

In the southeast along the border with Bolivia lies Lake Titicaca- the highest navigable lake in the world. The Altiplano plateau is a dry basin located along the slopes of the Andes in southeastern Peru. Along the border with Chile, the Atacama Desert is the driest place on the planet.

The Pacific Ocean is home to a large amount and variety of fish life. The Sechura Desert is located in northwestern Peru along the Pacific coastline.

The main rivers of the Peru include the Ucayali, Maranon, Amazon (which is formed by the confluence of the Maranon and the Ucayali), Putumayo, Pastaza, Napo, Jurua, and the Purus.

The largest cities include Lima (the capital and the economic and cultural center), Arequipa, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Callao (a suburb of Lima), Piura, Iquitos, Chimbote, Huancayo, Cusco (the capital of the ancient Inca Empire), Pucallpa, and Cajamarca.

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 zones, running roughly north to south: Costa (Coast), Sierra (the Highlands) and Selva (Amazonian rain forest). The Costa region, which contains Lima (the capital), 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 6000m (20,000ft), most of the country’s mineral resources (silver, zinc, lead, copper and gold) and the greater part of its livestock. The Selva, an area of fertile, subtropical uplands, lies between the Andes and the border with Brazil. Sections of a proposed international highway are at present being built through it, with some sections already in use.

The Amazonian jungle has vast natural resources. The absence of land communications, however, left the area largely uncharted until full-scale oil exploration began in 1973. The population is largely Indian and Mestizo with a noticeable influence from African, Chinese and European (mainly Spanish) settlers.

Demographics of Peru

Peru is one of three countries in Latin America whose largest population segment is comprised of unmixed Amerindians - , where almost half of all Peruvians are Amerindian, or 45 percent of the total population.

Mestizos, a term that denotes people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, constitute around 37% of the people, and 15% of white European ancestry, with the majority of them living in Peru’s largest cities such as Trujillo, Arequipa and Lima.

The two major indigenous ethnic groups are the various Quechua-speaking populations, followed closely by the Aymara, as well as several dozen small Amerindian ethnic tribes scattered throughout the country beyond the Andes Mountains and in the Amazon basin.

Amerindians who live in the Andean highlands speak Quechua and Aymara have a rich culture which was part of the Inca Empire, the most advanced agricultural civilization in the world.

In the low lands of the Amazon Jungle thousand of indigenuos population are dispersed around thousands of square miles of inexpugnable jungles, and 3 big cities ( Iquitos, Puerto Maldonado and Pucallpa ) with a population of more than one million and an area larger than the US states of Texas and West Virginia combined

Almost half of all Peruvians are Amerindian, or 45 percent of the total population. The two major indigenous ethnic groups are the Quechua, followed closely by the Aymara, as well as several dozen small Amerindian ethnic tribes scattered throughout the country beyond the Andes Mountains and in the Amazon basin. Mestizos, a term that denotes people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, constitute around 37% of the people. Peruvians of European descent make up about 15% of the population.

The remaining 3% is constituted by Afro-Peruvians, Chinese Peruvians and persons of Japanese descent. Despite the presence of Peruvians of Asian heritage being quite recent, in the past decade they have made significant advancements in business and political fields; a past president, several past cabinet members, and several members of the Peruvian congress are of Japanese or Chinese origin. Small numbers of Arab Peruvians, mostly of Lebanese and Syrian origin, also reside. (more…)

Economy of Peru

The Peruvian economy has become increasingly market oriented, with major privatizations completed since 1990 in the mining, electric/power, and telecommunications industries. Thanks to strong foreign investment and the cooperation between the former Fujimori administration, the IMF, and the World Bank, growth was strong in 1994-97 and inflation was brought under control.

In 1998, El Nino’s impact on agriculture, the financial crisis in Asia, and instability in Brazilian markets undercut growth. 1999 was another lean year for Peru, with the aftermath of El Nino and the Asian financial crisis working its way through the economy. Lima did manage to complete negotiations for an Extended Fund Facility with the IMF in June 1999, although it subsequently had to renegotiate the targets. Pressure on spending grew in the run-up to the 2000 elections.

Growth up to 2005 has been driven by construction, investment, domestic demand, and exports to different world regions. Peru’s economy is one of the better-managed in Latin America. Over the next few years, the country is likely to attract both domestic and foreign investment in the tourism, agriculture, mining, construction, industry, petroleum and natural gas, and power industries.

It has taken steps to consolidate a possible free trade agreement with United States of America by April 2006; both countries wait for the approval of the terms by their respective congresses. Peru is negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Chile, Mexico and Singapur which may be finished between March and April 2006.

Peru currently has a free trade agreemente with the Andean Community, which is composed of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. It also holds free trade agreements with many of the countries in Mercosur as well as Thailand, and during the recent APEC summit, Peru voiced intentions to sign free trade agreements with China, Japan, South Korea.

It is also pushing for a free trade agreement with the European Union. All these negotiations will broadly expand the markets in which the Peruvian products are traded. Peru has a great export potential in agricultural products (coffee, asparagus, paprika, artichokes, bananas, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, tropical fruits-such as oranges, lemons, limes, papayas, pineapples, peaches, coconuts, sugar, cotton, potatoes -where it is originally from- flowers, avocadoes, olives, mangoes, apples, grapes, ethanol -byproduct of sugar cane), textiles and clothing, shoes, petroleum derivatives (gasolines, light oil, plastics, synthetic fibers, etc), natural gas, minerals (copper, gold, molibdenum, silver, zinc, plumbum, antimonium, etc), as well as fish and seafood products (oil fish, tuna, shrimp, Peruvian King crab, etc), tourism, and manufacturing (electrical and electronic equipment and machinery, automobiles, assembly parts for equipment, hydraulic pumps, ships, small aircraft, sub-assemblies, etc). (more…)