peru is a huge country with 1.2m km2, 35m inhabitants, density 26 people per km2
60% mestizos = descendants of mixed european and indigenous ancestry, 26% indigenous people (quechua + aymara in the andes + approx 50 smaller groups in the amazonas lowlands), 6% of european origin, 3.5% african origin, 1.2% asian origin (mostly chinese + japanese, like the just few days ago elected right wing president ms. fujimori)
languages spanish, quechua (incas) + aymara (aymaro indigenous people)
3 major areas: the coast, the andes highlands with highest peak 6,700m + the tiny populated amazonas region (60% of the land + 12% of the population?)
lima, 11m inhabitants, in 1535 demonstratively built by spanish conqueror francisco pizzaro on the ruins of destroeyd inca city. few unesco heritage buildings in the city center. it was quite difficult to swim in the pacific ocean, more suitable for surfers 😉
independance from spain 1821 (argentina's san martin) + 1824 (venezuela's simon bolivar)
money: peruvian sol, 1 EUR = 4 SOL when changed at the bank / office / official dealers in the streets. 1 EUR = 3.85 SOL is the official exchange rate and your credit card rate when booked in SOL. 1 EUR = 3.45 SOL when by mistake chosen currency conversion at the ATM, 1 EUR = 3.65 SOL if the credit card invoice was booked in EUR => its up to you 😀
after in lima for the 1st time, i could again go swimmig in paracas, close to pisco. yes, due to el nino has the water 22°C temperature which is +5°C above average and much much warmer then i would expect
panamericana, the longesst road / higway in the world. unfortunately often surrounded by tons of mostly plastic waste + shredded car tires
my daugher + me has to play logical brain twisters out of her fat marhematics book
#1 we have 100 tigers + 1 sheep. if a tiger eats the sheep, it will metamorphose into a sheep. if the tiger knows, it will survive, it will eat the sheep. WILL THE SHEEP SURVIVE?
#2 we have 12 equal looking balls, one of them is haevier or lighter than the others and we have an old fashioned scale with 2 cups. yoo can weight these balls 3x and have to say, which one is different + wheter it is havier or lighter than the others
desert between the pacific ocean and the andes. due to a sand storm, we had to cancel the 1st day of our sightseeing tour at the paracas peninsula
paracas - swimming in the hot pacific ocean, boat tour into an ocean NP wih sea lions and many many birds (pelicans, cormorans, humbold pinguins, inca seagulls, gannets (tölpel), red head condors). it is a region where it almost never rains, maybe just every few years. why? it is due to the cold humbold stream in the ocean, the high andes mountains which block the rain from amazonas region and some winds (el nino?)
nazca / nasca lines starting 800 years B.C. in the desert earth. maria reiche museum (she was a german scientist from dresden and has discovered + protected the lines for decades). ancient up to 2,000 years old nasca graves with mumies, ancient water conduits (wasserleitungen) with small fish inside. the nasca culture was the successor of the paracas culture
nasca is in the ica province. the major source of income here is mining (Cu, Fe, Au, Ag), tourism (nasca city only?) and agriculture as it rains 3 months in a year, but only 1-2 hours per week (really?)
the people here in peru are generally smaller, thus the beds are often too short (1.80m) and the pissoirs too low 😀
arequipa, the 1.5m inhabitants large unesco heritage city with beautiful buildings + restaurants. great rafting adventure at the chili river. nice post office experience when a local guy helped me to find the office even if it was just partially on his way. due to some minor holiday it was closed, but the security guard out there opened the door anyway + dropped my 2 cards into the post box => s.th. like that would not possible in germany, you know?
interoceanica, the road between pacific+atlantic oceans is part of the new chinese silk road through peru, bolivia and brasil + an one line railroad with almost no rail traffic next to it. maybe even more trucks than at the panamericana, if you asked me. pampa with dry + yellow grass lands often above 4,000m high with some cactus 🌵 + bushes very few trees and many lamas + alpacas + vicunas + guanacos = the 4 camelios 🦙 south americas, where the last two are (still) wild. quite many lagunes with water birds like ducks, flamingos, black ibis, seagulls and also few rivers/creeks with or without water. some agriculture (lamas, alpacas, cattle, sheep, quinoa, oats + other grains and many different local potatoes kinds, vegetables, ...). btw, the same waste beside the road like at panamericana => an improvement is a question of culture + education, isnt it? 😇
the colca canyon which is double as deep as the grand canyon in colorado with condors 🦅 + eagles, falcons + nice short hiking tour + thermal springs bath + ice cold nights with frozen water puddles (pfützen) in the morning.
city of puno at the titicaca lake at 3,812m above sea level. the swimming yellow reed grass homes of the indigenous uros culture, 1 night at the amantani island with 4,000 inhabitants in the homes of quechua speaking culture. the 2nd day at the a little smaller taquile island with 2,000 inhabitants. here i was swimminginthe titicacalakefor 3 or minutes 😍. we have'd a hiking tour on both islands. the 300m hight meters covering tour to the pre-inca time pachatata (father earth) temple at 4,150m at the amantani island was more then difficult, if you adked me. there was the pachamama (mother earth) temple at the a little bit higher twin peak as well, my dears. btw, both islands are to 100% terrace fields agriculture land, there is no forest or any waste land left today. ok, they have few passion fruit + pine trees, bushes, flowers and eukalyptus trees recently imported from australia growing on mostly bald mountains
inca trail - our 4 days hiking adventure from the eastern, rainy + green side of the andes 🌴
macchu picchu - the holy city of the incas in the jungle at approx 2,500m
the unesco heritage city of cusco -
anything else? it is dark at 6 p.m., many tuk tuk taxis in the cities, many by earthquakes destroyed buildings, many quite easy to hike 6,000+ m high mountains, the highest point of our journey was the 4,910m high pass and viewpoint 'mirador de volcanos' in the colca canyon, tropical fruits + juices at the markets and restaurants, coca leaves tee all over the country, traditional clothed people in the highlands + of course souvenir sellers, many of my mining investments have operations in peru (Cu, Au, Ag, ), ...
is peru a beautiful contry? not at all, if you asked me. all the way from lima to cusco there are mostly grey+brown lands + deserts, ugly dusty cities with overwhelming number of not finished or not painted houses (due to the frequent earthquakes?), dry + boring pampa yellow grasslands surrounded by naked mountains, (plastic) waste almost everywhere, ... of course, there are also beautiful spots down the road like the city of arequipa, colca canyon, lake titicaca, ...
coming soon: pictures made by my 10 kind fellow co-travellers taken out of our WhatsApp-pictures-group ...
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