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About Peru
You can wander around colonial cities which have preserved the legacy of the Spanish conquistadors, visit the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, explore the lost city of Machu
Picchu and ponder the enigma of the Nazca Lines.
It also has some of the most spectacular and varied scenery in South America. The Peruvian Andes are arguably the most beautiful on the continent
and the mountains are home to millions of highland Indians who still speak the ancient tongue of Quechua and maintain a traditional way of life.
You don't have to be in Peru too long to
realize that the 'New World' had a rich and complex cultural life thousands of years before Pizarro turned up wearing funny clothing.
And then there's the natural world. The verdant
Amazon Basin, which occupies half of Peru, is one of the world's top 10 biodiversity 'hot spots' - a species-rich area of tropical rain forest that will make your head spin when you start to
learn about its ecology. And the coastal deserts, with their huge rolling dunes, farmland oases and fishing villages, are underappreciated by travellers but offer the opportunity to get off the Gringo
Trail in a big way.
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