Uncovering the secrets of Ichic Willcahuain

The Ichic Willcahuain complex (700 AC), located in an area where the Chavin Culture once flourished, may have been built under the influence of the Wari Culture, from the distant Ayacucho Region. This fact may have encouraged its inhabitants to change their burial customs, since these differ from the Chavin funeral traditions, which were subterranean and not in burial chambers. The archaeological site is four miles northeast from Huaraz in the region of Ancash.

Archaeologists have found textiles, ceramics, and other objects that may help tell the story of the people that live in Ichic Willcahuain. Among the buildings discovered are the “chulpas,” burial chambers that may have been built for the elite as mausoleums.

http://www.andina.com.pe/ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=ppB5nvpUwrI=

Countryside tourism in the Colca Canyon

Soon visitors to the Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world after Cotahuasi, both located in the Arequipa region, will be able to enjoy a deep cultural experience in this remote Andean area by living together with locals. The Colca Canyon is 3,400 meters deep and 100 kilometers long.

The International Cooperation for the Development Agency of Spain (AECID) began, early in 2008, a project that includes the renovation of old houses in Sibayo, a town located in the Colca Canyon. Eventually, visitors may stay and enjoy the Andean life and culture in these houses host by locals. At the end of the year, there will be 42 of these places available, which will help improve the economy of the local community.

http://www.terra.com.pe/turismo/tur9799/impulsan-turismo-vivencial-valle-colca.html

Peru improves in tourism ranking

According to the World Economic Forum, Peru moves from position 86 to 70 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Ranking 2008. The Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) measures the factors and policies that promote the development of the tourism industry in different countries as well as establishes an international agenda that helps determine those factors and policies.

Peruvian cuisine reaching the world

Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio is one of many entrepreneurs that have open restaurants featuring Peruvian cuisine around the world. Recently, his restaurant Astrid & Gaston was chosen as the best in Chile by a Culinary 2008 survey. It got also first place in best desserts. Customers can enjoy the same exquisite menu in any Astrid & Gaston restaurants in Ecuador, Colombia, Spain, Panama and Venezuela. Soon a new restaurant will be open in Mexico.

News about the discovery of Machu Picchu

As in an adventure movie, old maps of Machu Picchu that were recently revealed may change the story of its discovery. The American explorer Hiram Bingham is known as the discoverer of the ancient site in 1911, a feat done with the help of Yale University and the National Geographic Society.

Since American cartographer Paolo Greer made public the old maps last week in Cusco, archaeologists and historians came up with more information about the maps and the history behind them, adding conflict and doubts to the story of the discovery of Machu Picchu.

The old maps were published for the first time in 2003 by the Peruvian historian Mariana Mould de Pease, however her publication wasn’t properly exposed. It proved that the German adventurer Augusto Berns knew about Machu Picchu 40 years before the arrival of Bingham to the site. According to the Peruvian historian, the American explorer knew about the authorization given by the government to Augusto Berns for mining and forest explorations around the archaeological site, which included the exploration of the ruins that may have resulted in many archaeological objects ending in Germany around the end of the XIX century.

http://www.gogeometry.com/incas/inca_city_who_found_machu_picchu.htm
http://terranoticias.terra.es/cultura/articulo/historiadora-machu-picchu-2527770.htm

“El Tren Macho”

The upgrade of the railway from Huancayo to Huancavelica, “El Tren Macho” (the macho train), will soon be ready giving passengers the benefit to travel to and from Lima without changing trains at Huancayo. The new tracks will be part of the Andean Central Railroad, a 535 Km railway that was built in the 1800s by a crew of 10,000 people; it is the highest railway in the Americas and the second in the world.

Train lovers can experience comfortably one of the world’s most remarkable feats of engineering, the Andean Central Railroad, a train trip from Lima to Huancayo through the rugged and steep Andean range, crossing 69 tunnels and 58 bridges in a fascinating 12 hours journey. And soon this trip could be extended to Huancavelica through the upgraded railway, a section called “El Tren Macho” because of its former unpredictable schedule, which has been improving lately and will run on time when the works on the railway are done; locals remember that this train used to leave when it wanted and arrives when it feels like it or when it could.

Peruvian cuisine could soon be declared a World Intangible Heritage

The National Cultural Institute (INC) will soon finish the documentation that will be handed over to the UNESCO, in order to apply for the recognition of the Peruvian gastronomy as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The National Cultural Institute (INC) declared the Peruvian cuisine a national cultural heritage on October 2007 due to its originality, quality, and variety. According to a news report from the INC, the Peruvian cuisine has been considered one of the world’s best gastronomies; furthermore, the Madrid Fusion in Europe has awarded the city of Lima the title of Gastronomy Capital of Latin America.

The INC pointed out that the Peruvian cuisine has a long tradition, and that on pre-Columbian times it had a magical and religious character, which grants it symbolic and cultural content.

Meals thousands of years old are still on the menu such as Carapulcra, Humitas and the Pachamanca. Among the most popular dishes in Peru are Ceviche, Papa a la Huancaina, and Aji de Gallina. Creative chefs in Peru have made the country an important culinary destination for tourists from all over the world.
http://inc.perucultural.org.pe/

Security post will protect Amazon tribes

Since pictures emerged of an uncontacted Amazon tribe that crossed the border from Peru to Brazil, running away from illegal loggers, authorities in Peru have decided to set-up a security station in the area. Security guards will keep loggers from getting into natives’ territory, in the Alto Purús sector. The station will protect the mashcopiros natives and the uncontacted tribes that live in the area. More than 7,500 hectares of tropical forest have been lost to the illegal loggers in the Alto Purús, which has created conflict between the natives and the outsiders.

Eco-tourism may save the rainforest

An article from “The Economist” about the success of a business venture between Rainforest Expeditions and a group of native families, in the region of Madre de Dios, could be the solution to save vast areas of the Amazon forest. This venture encourages the use of tourism to foster conservation Rainforest Expeditions is the biggest tourism operator in the region; they run the Posada Amazonas, a lodge by the Tambopata River within the 2,000 hectares owned by the 148-family community of Infierno. The 20 year joint venture began in 1996 and meant that the community share the decision-making through an elected “control committee,” and receive 60% of the profits –an average of US$130,000 a year. Rainforest Expeditions is training the members of the community so that they can take over the whole operation by 2016. The benefits from the agreement are already improving the life of the community in such areas as literacy, nutrition, and healthcare, while the surrounded rainforest remains unspoiled. This business approach has achieved what neither the government nor any NGO had, in terms of conservation and social development of the Amazon rainforest and its native population. http://video.economist.com/?fr_chl=9bb17d8453e2da796351845a6cb3d4a1dfdf0691

A millenary exhibition about the potato

Among the activities planned due to the celebration of the International Year of the Potato, the National Museum in Lima features “The potato: sacred and profane symbol”, a cultural exhibition that shows the rich customs and traditions emerged round potatoes, how their production spread around the Americas, Europe and Asia, and pays tribute to the Andean farmers that knew how to develop it since ancestral times.

The origin of the potato is located on the Peruvian Andes, north of Lake Titicaca; it is 8,000 years old and has 5,500 varieties. Potato is one of the four most important crops in the world together with wheat, maize and rice.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato, aiming to revalue, increase and promote the investment and development of the production of this tuber. Since Peru has the greatest diversity of potatoes in the world, the event was launched early this year at the Botanical Garden of Moray, Urubamba, in the region of Cusco.

World Bank will support the research of tropical glaciers

The World Bank through its World Environment Funds will support Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador against the global warming effects on their tropical glaciers, granting US$7.49 million for research by installing meteorology centers around the glaciers in order to measure the reduction in their size. Seventy percent of the tropical glaciers are located in the Peruvian Andean Mountains where the thaw has reduced them by 20% in the last 25 years.

Canada and Peru sign free-trade agreement

The free-trade agreement between Canada and Peru was signed recently in Lima at the Government Palace by Helena Guergis, secretary of state for the International Trade and Foreign Affairs of Canada, and Alan Garcia, president of Peru. They also signed accords in Labor Cooperation and the Environment.

The trade ministers of both countries completed the negotiations in Davos, Switzerland, in January 26, 2008. Currently, Peru exports to Canada US$1,780 million in products, figure that will eventually increase due to this free-trade agreement.

New discoveries at Bandurria

While uncovering a circular square in Bandurria, the second structure that’s been revealed in the site, archaeologists found human remains of three people that may have been sacrificed thousands of years ago. It is the first time they found incomplete skeletons in the site, which are missing the skulls and other bones. The radiocarbon analysis that was done earlier in the year, on samples coming from the archaeological site of Bandurria, confirmed that it dates back to 3,200 years BC. It is older than Caral, once thought the oldest civilization in the Americas. Both Bandurria and Caral are located north of Lima, and are open to visitors. Archaeologist Alejandro Chu Barrera assumes that the sand of the desert covers at least ten more structures in Bandurria, which is considered now the birthplace of the oldest civilization in the Americas. http://www.andina.com.pe/ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=wGAafA+K3GA= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080604-human-sacrifice.html http://archaeologybriefs.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

More options to admire the Nasca Lines

New viewpoints may soon be built in strategic areas of the archaeological site, offering more options for tourists to admire the Nasca Lines and Figures without the stress and worry those expensive over-flights in small planes may cause. Currently, five viewpoints offer a mystic experience to visitors, where they can enjoy looking at the mysterious figures with no distracting noise, just the natural sounds of the desert.

http://www.universia.edu.pe/noticias/principales/destacada.php?id=66563
http://peruhispanico.blogspot.com/2008/05/acondicionarn-ms-miradores-naturales.html

The Festival of Chairo and Patasca in Lima

With the intention of promoting a couple of hearty Andean soups, chairo and patasca, a folkloric festival including traditional music and dances from the regions of Puno and Junin is celebrated at the Coliseo Internacional Puno in Lima, at the end of May. The chairo from Puno is a soup of lamb, vegetables, and black chuño—a freeze-dried potato product traditionally made by Andean people. The patasca from Junin is a soup of beef and mote—fried hominy corn. Both soups are high in nutritional values. Among the many artists that perform at the festival are the Sikuris music band from Puno and the Tunantada dancers from Junin.

Surveillance cameras in Machu Picchu

Security will be improved in the archaeological site of Machu Picchu with the addition of a surveillance camera system. Two cameras will be installed in the actual site, and another one will be located at the entrance from the Inca Trail, where 500 trekkers walk through every day. The cameras will be connected by fiber to the security office at Aguas Calientes, also called Machu Picchu town.

http://www.audleytravel.com/Destinations/South-America/Countries/Peru/News/Machu-Picchu-installs-cameras18959312.aspx
http://www.livinginperu.com/news-8150-travel-and-tourism-surveillance-cameras-watch-tourists-around-machu-picchu-peru