PERU, COUNTRY OF DIVERSITY
Surface Area. With 1,285,215 square km, Peru is the third-largest country in South
America after Brazil and Argentina, ranking it amongst the world's 20 largest nations.    

Peru also holds sway over the sea up to 200 miles from the Peruvian coast and has
territorial rights to an area of 60 million hectares in the Antarctic. Peru is divided into 24
departments. Lima is the capital of Peru.  

Population: 28.000.000 inhabitants. Urban: 72% & Rural: 28%  

Peru is a nation of mixed ethnic origins. Throughout its history, Peru has been the meeting
ground for different nations and cultures. The indigenous population was joined 500 years
ago by the Christians. As a result of this encounter, and later enriched by the migration of
African blacks, Asians and Europeans, Peruvian man emerged as the representative of a
nation whose ethnic mix is one of its leading characteristics.

Language: Spanish 80%, Quechua 16%, Other languages 4%

As part of its rich cultural tradition, Peru features many different languages. Although
Spanish is commonly spoken across the country, Quechua is a major legacy of the Inka
empire, and is still spoken with regional dialects in many parts of Peru. In addition, other
languages are spoken such as Aimara (in Puno) and a startling variety of dialects in the
Amazon jungle, which are divided up into 15 linguistic families and 40 different languages.

Currency. The official currency in Peru is the Nuevo Sol (S/.), which is divided into 100
centimos. The currency includes coins for 5, 10, 20 and 50 centimos and 1, 2 and 5 sol
coins. There are bills in the denomination of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 Nuevos Soles.    

Government. Peru is a democratic republic. The president and members of Congress
are elected every five years by universal suffrage. The current constitutional president of
Peru is Alan Garcia Pérez (2006-2011).    

Religion Roman Catholic: 90%
Evangelical: 6%
Other religions: 4%

Peru is a forced religious country: a diversity of beliefs and freedom of worship can be
seen from the wide range of festivals and rituals that feature the Catholic dogmas and its
fanatic traditions.

Heir to ancient cultures, Perú is a magical spot which involves one of the richest
biodiversities of Earth, and is a melting pot of different cultures who together are forging
the promise of a better future.         

Hotel infrastructure
• 2,000 lodgings offering 200.000 beds.
• 26 five-star hotels, 26 four-star hotels, 500 three-star hotels, and 42 logdes.  

Accessibility by air and land  
• 14 airports equipped to receive commercial flights.
• 7 airline companies offering domestic flights.
*Ports. Peru's largest port is Callao, outside Lima. Other major ports include Paita, Salaverry, Chimbote,
Callao, Pisco, Ilo and Matarani.  

Archaeological heritage  
Ten thousand years of history are lived through museums and historical places. While
Peru inevitably evokes images of Machu Picchu and the Inka empire, the country is also
riddled with archaeological sites which are a legacy of even more ancient times, when
great civilizations bequeathed a legacy of their art, customs and rituals, their wisdom and
skills.   

Nature and Landscapes
• As home to 84 of the 104 life zones that exist on our plant makes Peru a privileged
destination for nature lovers.  
• Close to 20% of the world birds and 10% of the world's reptiles live here.
• Peru has converted 13% of its territory into Protected Natural Areas.  
Festivities and Traditions
Peru is a country that sings and dances in joy and sadness with colour and a great deal of
paraphernalia.

Incomparable cuisine. Over 10,000 restaurants across the country reflect the diversity
of a nation that has mixed its native traditions with the cuisines of Europe, Arabia, China,
Africa and Japan. The result: unique flavours that make Peruvian cuisine one of the best
and most varied in the world.

Telephone. Peru features a far-reaching telephone network that provides services for
national and international long-distance calls from private telephone lines and public
cabins. There are also millions clients who have cellular phones, and satellite
communications are currently being developed.     

Internet. This service providers across the country has given the public access to
Internet. Known in Peru as Cabinas Internet, the average cost of an hour's connection is
S/.3,50 (US$1).     

The main roads running down the length of the country are the Pan-American Highway
(North and South), which links up the towns along Peru's coast, and the Marginal Jungle
Highway which links up the towns in the northern jungle with the south, near the Bolivian
border. Cutting inland is the Central Highway, which starts out in Lima and runs up to the
central highlands, climbing through the high mountain pass of Ticlio (Kilometer 132), which
at 4,818 meters above sea level is also the world's highest railway pass. From here, the
road descends to the towns of La Oroya and Tarma, continuing down to the
Chanchamayo jungle valley in the department of Junín. The government plans to build
another 1,819.2 km of roads in the next century.

Geography
Peru is divided into three regions. Although this simple division is a fair portrait of Peru's
geography, the reality is much richer and far more complex: in Peru, nature appears to
have taken on particular characteristics which have turned its mountains, plains, jungles
and valleys into unique habitats. An extraordinary variety of eco-systems shelters a wide
diversity of animals and plants.

The Coast. Which features deserts, beautiful beaches and fertile valleys. The Peruvian
coastline is formed by a long snaking desert hemmed in between the sea and the
mountains. The Andes to the east and the cold Humboldt sea current that runs along the
coast are what make this area so arid. From the Sechura desert to the Nasca plains and
the Atacama desert, the dry coastal terrain is occasionally split by valleys covered by a
thick layer of cloud and drizzle in the winter.

Humidity in these areas produces a sensation of cold, although temperatures rarely dip
below 12°C. During the summer, meanwhile, the sun beats down and temperatures often
top 30°C. The central and southern sections of the coast feature two well-defined
seasons: winter and summer. The north coast, meanwhile, is not touched by the effects of
the cold current, which means it enjoys many days of sunshine a year and warm
temperatures all year-long (as much as 35°C in the summer). The rain season runs from
December to March

The Highlands. A mountainous area dominated by the Andes, where the Waskaran
mountain soars to 6,768 meters. In the Peruvian highlands, there are two well-defined
seasons: the dry season (from April to October), marked by sunny days and cold nights;
the rainy season (November to March), when there are frequent rain showers. A
characteristic of the mountain region is the drop in temperature during the day:
temperatures commonly range around 25°C at midday before plunging to 0°C at night.
The steep slopes of the Andes means temperatures gradually drop in the highest region,
known as the puna, the highland plain.  

The Jungle. A vast region of tropical vegetation in the Amazon River Basin, home to
Peru's largest natural reserves. The vast Peruvian jungle, which surrounds the wide and
winding Amazon river, is divided into two differentiated areas: the cloud forest (above 700
masl), which features a subtropical, balmy climate, with heavy rain showers (around 3000
mm a year) between November and March, and sunny days from April to October; and the
lowland jungle (below 700 masl), where the dry season runs from April to October, with
sunshine and high temperatures often topping 35°C.    

The jungle features high humidity all year long. In the southern jungle, there are
sometimes cold spells known locally as friajes or surazos, cold fronts which drift up from
the far south of the continent between May and August, where temperatures can drop to 8-
12°C.

Note: To calculate Fahrenheit temperatures: 9/5 (ºC) + 32   
Pachamama
Journeys
the path of beauty