Trips to Peru

TRIPS TO PERU: GENERAL INFORMATION OF PERU

Geography
Peru is a great and mountainous country located in the coast of the Pacific Ocean of South America. It has borders with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, with Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and with Chile to the south. It limits by the west is the Pacific Ocean. There are three natural zones: the Coast, the Mountain range, and the amazonian Forest.

Region of Coast, that is where it is located capital Lima, is a close coastal plain essentially desert and crossed by fertile valleys. Here are the agricultural plantations of cotton, sugar and rice, as well as the majority of the petroliferous operations of the country. The Mountain range, leaves from the mountain range of the $andes, has some tips over the 6,000 meters of altitude.

In this zone they are the mining resources of the country: silver, zinc, lead, receive and gold; as well as most of its cattle ranch. The Forest, is a zone of very fertile high earth, of subtropical type. The amazonian forest located in the Eastern part of Peru has immense natural resources. Nevertheless the lack of communication infrastructures and transport did that this region was not exploded until the Seventies. In 1973 the extraction of petroleum began on a large scale. The population of Peru is a mixture of Indians, mestizos and descendants of the Colonizing Spaniards, in addition, there are Chinese communities and of African origin.

Climate
The winter in the hard coast from June to September. In this station, the mountainous zones usually have cloudless skies and sunny climate during the day. At night the temperatures lower. The rainy season in mountains and the hard forest from December to April.

Clothes: For the summer the best thing is light clothes. In high earth the year is recommended throughout clothes of shelter and still more in the months of winter.

Political system
Presidentialist republic. It obtained the independence of Spain in 1824. The constitution modified in 1993, stipulates that the executive authority is represented by the President of the Republic and the Legislative power resides in the delegated House of Representatives who tiene120. The President and the deputies are chosen by a mandate of five years. According to the constitutional modifications, the President could be reelected.

Language
The Spanish and quechua are both official languages. Quechua is the more important native language and it is spoken in the majority of the Andean cities. He will aymará is spoken in some zones of the region of Fist. In the forest they are spoken multitude of indigenous dialects.

Religion
90% of the population are catholic Roman.

Hour reference: GMT - 5

Electricity: 220 volts CA, 60Hz.

Telephone
The International can be called using the Direct Connection. Telephone code of the country: 51. Code for international calls: 00. Telephone codes of some important cities: Lima: 1, Arequipa: 54, Ayacucho 66, Cajamarca 76, Chiclayo: 74, Cusco: 84, Huaraz 43, Ica 56, Iquitos: 65, Piura 73, Fist: 51, Tacna: 52, Tarapoto: 42, Trujillo 44 and You fall down: 72. From the telephone cabins calls to reverted collection can be done. The telephone cards can be bought and be used in the main cities.

Movable telephony
The main operators are:
Movistar (www.telefonicamovistar.com.pe)
TIM (www.tim.com.pe)
Bellsouth (www.bellsouth.com.pe)

Fax:
The same company, Telephone of Peru, offers a service of fax that covers all the country. There are telephone locutorios with services of fax in the main cities. The majority of the hotels of Lima and other great cities also have this service.

Internet
In the commercial zones of the main cities there are places that offer facilities of Internet.

Telegram
The Central office of Telephone of Peru (Passage Piura 25, Lima) offers services of telegram. The schedule is from 08,00 to 20,00 of Monday to Saturdays, and 08,00 to 14,00 Sundays. The great hotels have this service to use of their clients.

Mail
The airmail to Western Europe takes approximately one week. The postal services outside Lima can be more irregular. The airmail from Europe or North America to a post office box of Peru can get to take to 4 weeks. The Central office of Post office in Lima is near the Place of Arms.

Press
The daily newspapers are in Spanish; most important they are the Commerce, Express, Management, the Bocon and the Republic. In the hotels and certain specialized bookstores some international newspapers can be obtained.

Currency
The new sun (S/.) = 100 pennies. There are bills of 200, 100, 50, 20 and 10 new suns. The currencies are of 5, 2 and 1 new sun; and 50, 10, and 5 pennies.

Currency change
Only some offices of change in Lima will accept currencies that are not dollars. Outside the capital it is virtually impossible to change currencies. The dollars of the United States can be changed in addition in the banks, hotels and some stores. He is not advisable to change `ticket salesmen' that are in the street.

Credit cards
American Express, MasterCard, Diners Club and Visa are admitted. Nevertheless its use outside the tourist places can be restricted. It is advised to verify with the emitting company of his card the possibility of using it in commerce, as well as the facilities to which can have access in Peru.

Travel checks: The banking offices change travel checks, although it is can be a slow process outside the capital. In order to avoid high commissions at the time of changing checks it is recommended that they get rid in dollars of EE.UU.

Restrictions
There is no restriction in the import and export of the currency of Peru. The currency export is limited the imported amount.

Schedule of the banks: From 09,00 to 17,00 of Monday through Friday. Note: During the summer the schedule of the banks can vary.

History
In Peru, have been rest of human life that it has more than 15 thousand years. The culture of the Chavin town, whose apogee is placed between the 1400 and the 200 a. of C, it developed a very sophisticated urban planning. Parachutists (700-100 a. of C.) they were first in practicing the cerebral surgery. The mochica constructed great temples of adobe in the Moche valley and it thinks that their direct heirs were Chimu (1000-1400 d. of Cs), that emphasized in jewelry. The culture Is born (200 a. of Cs. - 800 d. of C.) it developed agriculture with irrigation systems on a large scale and established calendars.

The culture Tiahuanaco-Huari (600 a. of C-1000 d. of C), that had their base in the present territories of Bolivia, one expanded until the Peruvian plateau. In century XII the period of height of the Incas, who would be to politically unify to the diverse cultures and languages of the region, reinstalling to important contingents of subjects in other places of the empire began, and imposing quechua like its common language. Most of the cultural legacy of the Incas and the other Andean cultures was destroyed by the Hispanic colonization, but its history has been preserved by generations through the oral tradition and of later texts written to the Spanish conquest.

In 1532 a war faced inheriting Incas both: Atahualpa and Huáscar. The balance had inclined in favor of Atahualpa when a group of 180 Spaniards, led by Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, disembarked in You fall down. The city of Lima was founded on 1535, and was the capital of the See-reigned one of Peru.

Spain controlled the country until century XIX, using the enormous reserves of silver to finance the wars against France and Holland. The independence wars began towards 1820. Simon Bolivar won to the Spanish troops in the famous battle of Ayacucho, in December of 1824. The relations between Peru and its neighbors were difficult from this time. The bordering problems with Ecuador, Brazil and mainly with Chile, took to the explosion of the War of the Pacific in 1879, in which, after five years military, Peru it lost territories in the south. During 30 years, the political problems were dominated by the economy completely destroyed by the war. First, of the multiple military coups that Peru has undergone, it was in 1914. The meeting governed during five years before taking step to the civil government of Augusto Leguia. Between 1919 and 1930 in spite of the corruption, Leguia introduced capital reforms in the education and the social thing.

Its mandate was finished by a coup d'etat. Since then the military are an important force in the Peruvian policy. The main party of opposition, the Popular Alliance Revolutionary American (APRA) was founded on 1924 by Doctor Victor Raul Has of the Tower and its objective one was the fight against imperialism. With the years, the APRA, has been placed to the center. Nevertheless during long time the APRA was considered like an illegal movement. The governments between 1963-67 and 1980-85 were directed by President Belaunde Terry, leader of the right party, Public interest action whereas APRA had the majority of the Assembly. The APRA took the power in 1985 for the first time, with Alan Garci'a, the administration of Garci'a was a failure as much in the political plane as in the economic plane. In the politician, Garci'a had to face the guerilla maoista of the Shining Path, that was developed thanks to the deterioration of the economic situation.

In the elections of 1990, two Mario candidates faced Vargas Llosa, the famous writer who directed the called coalition In front Democratic and almost not known, engineer agronomist of Japanese origin, Alberto Fujimori, that appeared like independent centrist. Fujimori gained the elections. The new government followed the same treatment that the rest of Latin America, dictated by the IMF to try to save the economies and to fight against the drug. The war against the drug is the center of the discussions between Peru and the United States. In the outer scope, the government of Fujimori, multiplied the agreements and agreements of commercial interchange and tried to solve the bordering conflicts. Mainly with Ecuador by the entrance to the Amazon and the control of the mining region of the Condor.

In 1995, a new armed conflict opposed both to countries in this region and the problems continued until 1999. In the national scope, the Armed Forces, captured the leader of the Shining Path, Abimael Guzmán, in 1992. This it was the principle of the aim of the Footpath that followed in spite of everything being very active in some regions. Nowadays no longer it has almost no influence. This capture helped Fujimori, that was very criticized at this time as much at national level as international by to have modified the constitution to its favor, in which the public opinion described like “constitutional blow”.

In 1992, Fujimori suspended the Congress and governed by means of decrees. In 1993, it put under the new constitution referendum and the country returned to the constitutional life. The fall of the Shining Path and a certain economic improvement allowed Fujimori to gain the elections of 1995 against the ex-secretary of the UN, Javier Perez de Cuellar. But a new guerilla attack in 1997, darkened the political landscape. The residence of the ambassador of Japan in Lima was taken by the militants of the guerilla of left MRTA. The guerilla maintained to the hostages during four months until the army took part and massacreed the guerillas. In 1998, the phenomenon of the Boy, devastated the coasts of Peru and hundreds of people died because of the floods.

In the political scope, Fujimori tried to modify the constitution once again to be able to occupy a third mandate. These modifications were done before the elections anticipated for May of the 2000. The last political problems of the country had to do with the elections in which Fujimori was accused of electoral fraud by the international observers. The opposition, headed by Alexander Toledo showed its indignation in multiple manifestations. In spite of the forts international critics and of the displeasure of the population, Fujimori assumed the presidency. But the pressure became more fort and finally against the accusations of corruption of the regime, the 21 of November of the 2000, President Alberto Fujimori was dismissed by the Congress, defendant of incapacity to govern the country. Fujimori is exiled at the moment in Japan.