People and Culture of Peru

Since pre-Columbian times Peruvians have been divided by nature. From the arid deserts of the coast, the Andean Sierra rises up to 19,700 feet. The highlands comprise about a quarter of Peru’s territory, but are home to about half of Peru’s population. This mountain mass poses major problems for development and integration into a single society.

The result is dramatic regional diversity, and considerable inequalities in services and living standards. Health, education and law enforcement programs are unevenly distributed across Peru.

At first sight, Peruvian culture may seem brutally divided between indigenous and colonial societies - the mountains and the city. Elite white creoles trace their bloodlines back to the Spanish Conquest in 1536. Like generations before them, most live in Lima, where a European visitor will feel a comfortable familiarity in the cafes and supermarkets.

On the other side, rural communities now also aspire to ownership of televisions and blue jeans but this comes into conflict with their traditional cultural values. The people of the Andes are maintaining the traditional practices of their ancestors in a rapidly changing world. Their livelihood continues to be based on family-owned fields or charkas which are farmed by hand or with the assistance of draft animals.

The social organization of communities in the Andes differs greatly from that of Europeanized creole culture. Work, marriage and land-ownership are centered around a complex extended family organization called the ayllu in Quechua which dates back to at least Inca times. One of the main functions of ayllus is to organize reciprocal work exchange.
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Adventure Travel in Peru

Adventures, risks and emotions for paths scrabbled up heights. Walking, pedalling, riding, maybe ascending a mountain covered with perpetual snow or facing the rapids of a torrent river that runs between vertical walls.

Challenge, anger and honor… and the adrenaline overflows when flying over deep depressions, climbing rocks chiselled out by the beating of the wind or dominating the waves of a cagey sea that pretends to be still.

For its geography of unlikely mountain ranges, rivers of diabolical torrents, deserts of infinite appearance and suffocating forests, the Andean countries are ideal for the practice of those sports that they take man to the limit of his possibilities and allow him “to challenge” nature, in adventures that bury - although for a moment - the maddening tension of the cities.

The magic of the Andean world, is not only in the shades of its millennial culture, in the fabulous constructions of the prehispanic architects, in the incomparable beauty of its picturesque landscapes; but rather it also seduces with the charm of its coasts, magnificent for surfing and diving, its chains of mountains that tempt climbers form the whole planet and its belligerent torrents of water that don’t tire of mistreating canoes and kayacs.

It was in the decade of the 80s when adventure sports beganto be developed with more intensity in these lands. It was an authentic awakening , a discovery that the old paths were potential paths for the lovers of trekking and cycling to ascend to the summit of a mountain - sacred and protective guardians according to the inhabitants’ beliefs of the Andes - it was excitingly an unequalable experience and that the abysses of the mountain range, could be crossed by fragile paragliders. (more…)

Bird Watching in Peru

Peru is the birdiest country in the world. Peru ties Colombia with over 1800 species of birds, more than 85% of which are permanent residents. Peru is second only to Brazil in the number of endemic birds and second only to Indonesia in the number of bird species with restricted geographical ranges. Several rainforest lodges in Peru offer superb birding, each with a list of over 550 species! In 1982 a team of birders in Manu in southeastern Peru established the current world record “big day” when they recorded 331 species while only walking and paddling canoes.

Peru is truly a land of superlatives: From the world’s richest oceanic current, to the world’s highest and most extensive tropical mountains, to the rainforests of the world’s largest river, Peru is a country of unparalleled diversity. With 87 of the world’s 104 climate zones, Peru encompasses both the driest desert and the second wettest locality on the planet.

The Birds of Peru

Imagine a country with 1,804 species of birds…. A country with more bird species than found in all of North America and Europe combined. Home to 120 endemic species that cannot be found anywhere else in the world! Imagine traveling through the land of the Incas, among locals dressed in colorful woven fabrics. Here at the birthplace of the potato, visit with the people of ancient traditions, savour tasty cuisine, mingle in lively markets and see sophisticated folk art- just to name a few of the country’s unmistakable allure.

Visualize waking up in the morning to ear-deafening noise of thousands parrots and macaws - an unforgettable cacophonic experience as they arrive each morning for their daily supplementary diet of mud. (more…)

Peru Nature and Biodiversity

Peru offers excellent destinations for the eco travelers Peru is located in the subtropical area of South America, it should be warm and humid, but due to the presence of the Mountain range of the Andes, to a complex system of marine currents and the movement of the masses of air, it is generated in its territory a climatic, geologic and ecological variety.

In Peru you can find 84 of the 114 identified living areas in our planet, in the Peruvian Amazon 1,700 varieties of birds, infinity of mammals and all type of animals exist. The Peruvian flora has given the humanity the biggest variety of domesticated plants, among them, exist more than a thousand potato varieties. The natural reservations are the richest bank of natural resources in the world.

In Peru is born the Amazonas River, the longest and mighty in the world, and its basin is covered with vegetation, embraces more than half of the Peruvian territory. The interesting thing is that the Peruvian Amazon is so big that we could take months or years visiting it, that is the reason why a tourist infrastructure has been designed to allow the visitor to choose the one that suits better. The north, oriental, central and south forest, are points of great interest, besides the reservations, natural sanctuaries that are plenty in the three regions of Peru, protecting the fauna and flora.

In the coast, Peru has a marine domain of 863 thousand square kilometers, almost similar to the area of the Amazon, being the area corresponding to the Peruvian Current or of Humboldt, the richest in the world in plankton production. In the Peruvian Sea, exist 20 of the 67 species of small cetaceans known in the world. (more…)

Pico Alto Beach Peru

The Pico Alto Surf Camp is located in Punta Hermosa, a quick and easy drive from Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima. Your host Oscar Morante, the camp owner has been actively surfing Peru for over 30 years. He and his son, Oscar junior, will make your stay in Peru a memorable one. Once you arrive at the camp you will be made to feel at home. The camp itself offers all of the necessary amenities and the perfect surf location.

Find the beach break ‘Playa Norte’ in Punta Hermosa (43km south of Lima) and paddle out to the really obvious break (700m paddle) - or go in at Senoritas and do an equal length paddle. Or take a jet-ski!Held to be the biggest and most spectacular wave in Lima and all over Peru. The wave is a point break (with left and right-running waves, although the latter are more commonly surfed). The waves, perfect and long, can reach a height of 10 meters. Not for beginners.

Experienced surfers compare it with Waimea (Hawaii) and Todos los Santos (Baja California). A long paddle out (the wave breaks 1 km out to sea).

Climate: Average annual temperature 19°C (maximum 25°C minimum 13°C).

Access: Pico Alto lies 43 km south of the city of Lima down the South Pan-American Highway.

Services: The area has a variety of hotels and restaurants, most of which are open from January to March.

Penascal Beach Peru

From San Bartolo - Playa Norte (los muelles), paddle out and to the obvious point break on the north (right) side of the bay

Location : In the Central Coast of Peru in the city of Lima, district of San Bartolo by the Km 51
of the Panamericana South.

Kind of wave : Reef-break, right, strong, formed, with tubular section. Considered as a big wave
that reaches the 4 meters.

Sea performance : Cold water, light fluent, waves all the year.

Average temperature: 16°C. No apt to beginners.

Weather : Very hot in summers, reaches the 28°C. In winter is moderate, moist with light rains. Won’t go bellow the 12°C.

Access : By the Km 35 of the Panamericana South take the detour by the right (old highway),
arriving to the town of San Bartolo.

Services : San Bartolo counts with all services. We recommend the Hotel Penascal

Cerro Azul Beach Peru

Cerro Azul (”Blue Hill”) is a fishing village and formerly a port in the Canete Province, Lima Region, Peru. Located 131 km south of Lima, it is frequently visited in the summer by residents from that city, and of San Vicente de Canete. The village has come to depend more heavily on tourism than on fishing.

The beach forms an attractive bay that ends in a rocky point where the waves it is famous for break. The renowned quality of its waves is mentioned in the Beach Boys’ song “Surfing Safari.” However, the quality of the waves changes from year to year, as the sand and stones that make up the beach are chronically withdrawn by the sea to form a bank where the waves break.

South of the pier is the area known as Puerto Viejo (”old port” ), where all the holiday homes are and where most of the surfing takes place (left breaks). To the north of the pier, the beach is much longer, less curved and much sandier. (more…)