Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE LAND
On the coast, a narrow strip of land, which lies below 1000m in elevation, hugs the coun-
try's 3000km-long shoreline. Consisting primarily of scrubland and desert, it eventually
merges, in the south, with Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth. The
coast includes Lima, the capital, and several major agricultural centers - oases watered by
dozens of rivers that cascade down from the Andes. These settlements make for a strange
sight: barren desert can give way to bursts of green fields within the course of a few meters.
The coast contains some of Peru's flattest terrain, so it's no surprise that the country's best
road, the Carretera Panamericana (Pan-American Hwy), borders much of the Pacific from
Ecuador to Chile.
The Andes, the world's second-greatest mountain chain, form the spine of the country.
Rising steeply from the coast, and growing sharply in height and gradient from north to
south, they reach spectacular heights of more than 6000m just 100km inland. Peru's highest
peak, Huascarán (6768m), located northeast of Huaraz, is the world's highest tropical sum-
mit and the sixth-tallest mountain in the Americas. Though the Peruvian Andes resides in
the tropics, the mountains are laced with a web of glaciers above elevations of 5000m.
Between 3000m and 4000m lie the agricultural highlands, which support more than a third
of Peru's population.
The eastern Andean slopes receive much
more rainfall than the dry western slopes and
are draped in lush cloud forests as they descend
into the lowland rainforest of the Amazon. Here,
the undulating landscape rarely rises more than
500m above sea level as various tributary sys-
tems feed into the mighty Río Amazonas
(Amazon River), the largest river in the world.
Weather conditions are hot and humid year-
round, with most precipitation falling between
The origin of the word 'Andes' is uncertain. Some
historians believe it comes from the Quechua
anti,
meaning 'east,' or
anta,
an Aymara-derived term
that signifies 'copper-colored.' Interestingly, the
mountains don't stop at the Pacific coast; 100km
offshore there is a trench that is as deep as the
Andes are high.
December and May.
