LOCAL NEWS

Next year, Peru’s Export and Tourism Promotion Board (Promperu) will launch a marketing and tourism promotion program of "Moche Route", involving Lambayeque and La Libertad regions, in order to turn it into the second historic and archaeological tourist destination after Cusco.

Announcement was made by Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Martin Perez Monteverde, who announced a four million soles (some US$ 1’428,571) investment into the program.

“Next year, a marketing and tourism promotion program will be implemented through Promperu with an investment of four million soles. It aims to turn Moche Route into the second historic and archaeological tourist destination of the country.”

After meeting with Lambayeque’s assistant governor Luis Becerra Arribasplata, the minister said one billion soles will be invested in the area within the next two years.

The meeting, held at the Gran Hotel of Chiclayo, was attended by Vice Minister of Tourism Mara Seminario Maron, regional manager of Economic Development of Lambayeque Rosa Melendez Malatesta, and regional director of Tourism Salvador Hoyos.

The Moche Route includes archaeological wonders like the tomb of the Lord of Sipan and the pyramids of Tucume, in Lambayeque; and the Huacas del Sol y la Luna as well as Chan Chan, in La Libertad.

Northern Peru beaches will be the scenery where more than 1,000 humpback whales will perform their spectacular nature shows during the breeding season, between August and October, when they migrate to warmer seas, like the ones in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica.

Some tourism operators are aware of this and are already organizing whale-watching sea tours and preparing all the necessary infrastructure for domestic and international tourists.

In many countries, whale watching is a tourist industry which generates millions of dollars, since these whales offer a unique experience: during their courtship rituals, they jump, "dance" and often hit the water with their head, fins or tail.

Thus, local operators are asking the Transports Ministry to revise air fares to these northern destinations and reduce them, to make the most of this natural attraction.

"We have had many cancellations because tourists can find cheaper packages to the Caribbean or to another Latin American countries,” says Jacqueline Vargas Fort, general manager of DCO Suites, Lounge & Spa, a beach hotel in Mancora, Peru.

Best Western International, one of the largest hotel chains in the world, has announced plans to open up at least five new hotels in different Peruvian regions through 2015.

"The company’s Latin American headquarters have recently moved to Peru due to the country’s economic and tourism growth. Undoubtedly one of our goals is to expand here," said the executive director of Best Western International-South America, Richard Rehwaldt.

He pointed out that the Best Western's investment policy is to partner with other companies and license the use of its brand name to the company.

"For a hotel to be part of Best Western, it must meet the international standards in capacity, design, service and environment protection. When it meets all the requirements then it can be part of our chain, the largest in the world," he told Andina.

Best Western International plans to open up hotels in the Peruvian cities of Cusco, Arequipa, Tumbes, Iquitos (Loreto) and Puerto Maldonado (Madre de Dios), among others.

Aiming to boost the domestic tourism to the jungle, the Peruvian government has launched a campaign called “Jungle at half price,.” that seeks to take 20,000 domestic tourists in the jungle regions during the next weeks.

The campaign is intended to highlight and promote the beauty of tourism destinations such as Loreto, San Martín, Huánuco, Selva Central, Ucayali and Amazonas, currently in low season.

Madre de Dios is not included in this campaign because it is already in high season, but the other destinations will have discounts up to 50% in the packages total price, and 35% in air fares,

Some of the recommended destinations are the lagoons in Tingo María, in Huanuco, the fortress of Kuelap, in Amazonas, and the gastronomy of Loreto, among others.

This campaign starts today and will last until Oct. 20.

The head of Machu Picchu archeological park Fernando Astete Victoria says preliminary data show Machu Picchu is on course to host 150,000 domestic and foreign tourists through the Inca trail this year.

He said some 500 tourists enter the citadel per day through the Inca trail, same figure of 2009.

“January tourists flow was continuous; the rail closed in February as usual and also cloased in March due to rains but reopened on April 1st,”

He detailed that Americans' favorite places are Sala Punku, Q’anabamba, Willkarakay, Q’entimarka, Patahuasi, Runkuraqay, Sayaqmarca, Qonchamarca, Phuyupatamarka, Yuncapata, Wiñaywayna, Intipunku, Choquesuysuy, Chachabamba, Waynaq’ente, Torontoy y Qorihuayrachina located between 2,472 and 4,201 meters above the sea level.

Official figures released by Promperu reveal that foreign tourists that visit Lima stay for six day as an average, spending nearly US $544.

This report also states that the most of these visitors come from the United States, totaling 27% of the foreign tourists.

Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Brazil are the Latin American markets with more presence, reaching 6% each, while Spain is the European country with the highest presence of tourists, with 5% of participation.

More than 50% of these visitors range between 25 and 44 years old, are professionals (51%) and have an annual household income between US $20,000 and US $79,999 (60%).

More than 25% of them stayed at five-star and four-star hotels (28%); the same proportion stayed at three-star hostels or hotels, and another 28% chose one-star or two-star places.

Andean Railways announced that it is planning to start operating in July, one the road to Machu Picchu is fully repaired, said its Executive President, José Amado.

“Our trains are going to end their testings and trial period and we expect to have an inaugural trip during the celebrations of Fiestas Patrias,” (Peru's Independence) he said.

Amado also said that they are to start only with two services, and that their complete fleet will gradually come into service towards the beginning of 2011.

“This year the natural disasters interrupted our tests, and the road had to be closed. However, now that is history, and we are ready to enter the competition,” said Amado.

A total of 54,787 tourists visited the impressive Colca Valley in the southern Arequipa region between January and May this year, a significant increase compared to 46,761 visitors during the same period last year, Colca Autonomous Authority (Autocolca) reported.

Autocolca reported that the tourist flow in the five first months of the year proved to be optimal and can be even better in the next months due to the high season.

Most tourists visiting Colca Valley -located four hours away from Arequipa- come from European countries, the United States and Latin American nations.

The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) has announced its annual "Pharmacy from the Rainforest" Botanical Medicine Workshop and Ecotour, which will take place in Amazonian Peru and the majestic Andes Mountains on October 7–17, 2010.

Since 1994, ABC has partnered with the Amazon Center for Education and Environmental Research (ACEER) to co-sponsor this exciting educational ecotour for health professionals, researchers, industry members, and laypersons. This year's tour is also co-sponsored by West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

The 2010 ABC-ACEER Botanical Medicine Workshop will take place in various locations in Amazonian Peru and the Andes including the famous mountaintop "lost city" of Machu Picchu, declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations and often referred to as one of the new "Seven Wonders of the World."

This year's adventure also features a special optional extension from October 16–19 to the Wayqecha Research Station and the Manu Cloud Forest Canopy Walkway, the only canopy walkway system in the cloud forests of the Andes.

The trip's first destination is Puerto Maldonado, capital of the Madre de Dios region, which is a tributary of the upper Amazon. Participants will visit the local market, where they will have a chance to view medicinal herb stands and discuss traditional remedies.

Other highlights include visits to Reserva Amazonica and the Inkaterra Canopy Walkway, a series of suspended walkways 100 feet above the floor of the rainforest that provide a spectacular view of forest life in the upper canopy.

Participants will also explore the diverse flora and fauna of an oxbow lake reserve, Sandoval Lake, home of the endangered giant river otter and other rare animals.

One of the highlights of the tour is a visit to the Sacred Urubamba Valley near Cuzco, the longest-inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere, plus a day at the spectacular mountaintop site of Machu Picchu. Educational workshops will feature information on medicinal plants, plant diversity, and ecosystems within the rainforest.

This year's tour leaders are Steven Foster, renowned photographer, lecturer, author, and president of the ABC Board of Trustees, and Amanda McQuade Crawford, herbalist and television show host, who specializes in women's health issues and is a member of ABC's Advisory Board. Programs will also be presented by local native healers.

"ABC's Peruvian Botanical Medicine Workshop is one of our most popular and unique educational programs," said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. "For over 15 years, people who have attended this amazing Amazon and Andean adventure have told us it has literally changed their lives. I've been to the Amazon at least a dozen times and to Machu Picchu four times, and the images of those fascinating locales are indelibly etched in my memory."

Authorities in the Andean city of Cusco have published 13,000 handbooks designed to improve the quality of tourism services for visitors.

The handbooks will be distributed to hotels, travel agencies, restaurants, tour guides and tourist transport companies, said Cusco's regional trade and tourism director Victor Hugo Perez.

Perez pointed out that the goal is to improve the quality of services rendered to thousands of tourists who arrive in Cusco before visiting one of the new seven wonders in the world, Machu Picchu.

Tour operators, local universities and companies participated in the development of the handbook, which contains processes to improve service quality in craft centers, tourist information offices, archaeological centers, entertainment and leisure centers and taxis

People embarking on a gap year tour of South America might want to make a stay in Peru one of their priorities.

This is because the Andean country has plenty to offer, according to Peru's Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru), i-to-i.com reports.

A PromPeru spokeswoman advised that there are other areas to visit in the destination apart from the usual tourist haunts such as Machu Picchu.

The north of Peru could be of particular interest, the expert noted, as investments in the sector are arriving to provide better tourist infrastructure and facilities.

She remarked: "The north of Peru is characterised by its beautiful beaches and warm weather during most parts of the year."

The industry expert recommended travellers head to the Kuelap Fortress and Huaca of the Sun and of the Moon, as visitors will be able to learn more about pre-Inca cultures that are as "marvellous" as the Inca civilisation.

According to a report published by Cusco’s Committee on Tourist-Cultural Integrated Services, around 70,000 visitors have gone to alternative archaeological sites to Machu Picchu this year

The Colca Valley, located in Arequipa, has received 30,184 tourists during the first quarter of 2010, a figure that represents an increase of 23.3% compared to the same period last year, said Jose Luis Talavera, Manager of the Authority of the Colca and annexes.

He remarked that the first three months have been especially good for the area, probably due to the temporal closure if Machu Picchu citadel, and that he expects this increasing tendence to continue during the rest of the year.

"We expect to welcome a total of 180,000 tourists this year, after our hard work in tourism promotion,”

Peruvian authorities in the southeastern Cusco region expect that visitor arrivals will return to normal levels by June, when the peak tourism season starts in the imperial city of the Incas.

"The reopening of Machu Picchu and its train access will led to a gradual recovery of the tourism sector," regional trade and tourism director Victor Hugo Perez told Andina.

He pointed out that last Monday's procession of El Señor de los Temblores (Lord of the Earthquakes) in Cusco city was attended by a large number of people, including many Peruvian and foreign visitors.

The tourism official said that although there are currently certain restrictions on the train service, additional train capacity and services will be available starting next month.

The New7Wonders Foundation expressed its great happiness at Machu Picchu returning to normalcy, for both its residents and for the many fans of the Incan city in the N7W community.

"Machu Picchu, the sprawling Incan citadel high in the Andes, was reopened last Thursday with a special ceremony featuring American actress Susan Sarandon," reads a New7Wonders press release.

Heavy rains and mudslides early this year had compromised the infrastructure around the world-famous site, elected one of the Official New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007 thanks to more than 100 million votes from around the world.

The New7Wonders Foundation is an NGO dedicated to fostering global dialogue and mutual appreciation through worldwide participation in its voting campaigns.

The campaign that chose the man-made Official New 7 Wonders of the World was the first-ever global election and received more than 100 million votes.

The current campaign, to choose the Official New7Wonders of Nature, is now in its third and final voting phase, and expects some 1 billion votes.

National and foreign tourists are allowed to visit the National Park of Manu again after the rehabilitation of the road Paucartambo-Kosñipata-Manu, which was blocked by landslides triggered by incessant rains, reported Paucartambo's mayor Mario Condori Huallpa.

According to the town councilor, some 150 vehicles pass through this route, which was affected along over 40 kilometers.

This was because workers from Paucartambo and Kosñipata arrangements for the opening of the highway by using tractors and compressors.

“The rains continue, but now they are not as heavy as before. Stretches along Rocotales and Chontachaca, in the district of Kosñipata, are already accessible,” he said.

Condori Huallpa mentioned that tourists of different nationalities (Latin American, American and European) not only visit the Manu, but also some landscape sites of Paucartambo.

The 21 Sports and Eco Adventure Festival 2010 will be held in the Valley of Lunahuana on May 1 and 2, organized by the Latin American Association of Adventure Sports, with the purpose of promoting the area.

The festival will feature sports competitions like canoeing, rock climbing and mountain cycling; it will also throw a party with sportsmen, journalists and general public.

The scheduled activities include lectures on the conservation of the Cañete river and all the environment, focused on students, tourist guides, travel agencies, restaurants, etc.

Attendants can camp at San Jeronimo Camping, taking their own tents and personal camping gear; hotels and lodges will offer discount rates,

Hollywood star Susan Sarandon led a ceremony to welcome back visitors to the area, two months after landslides washed away the only rail link to the lost city.

Some 4,000 tourists - including a number of Britons - had been stranded at the isolated Machu Picchu village, lying directly beneath the ancient ruins and with limited supplies.

Sarandon asked for the blessing of mother Earth and performed other rituals.

The actress then posed for pictures with young girls wearing traditional Andean dress and drank coca tea that locals use to fight the effects of altitude at 8,000ft above sea level.

Torrential rain gave way to sunshine as hundreds of tourists flocked to Machu Picchu after the reopening, Peru's tourism vice minister Mara Seminario said.

The rescue effort in January saw 12 helicopters make 276 flights over four days to take trapped people to safety. It was the worst flooding to hit the area for 15 years.

The 15th Century Inca citadel - Peru's most popular tourist attraction - is on a mountain ridge 43 miles from Cusco and attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year.

Workers have now finished repairing the last 17 miles of the train tracks, although service has not yet been restored all the way to Cusco.

It is expected to fully reopen in June.

The Hiram Bingham train service which transports tourists between Cusco and Machu Picchu has been included in a list of the world's ten most scenic railways, according to China's People's Daily Online Newspaper.

The train, operated by PeruRail, has once again been named one of the best train rides, according to an article in the Global Focus on Travel section of China's People's Daily Online Newspaper.

"During the seven-hour tour on a 1920s' style Hiram Bingham, passengers will go through mountains, plains, Incan agricultural relics, green fields and finally arrive at Aguas Calientes, a famous town of Machu Picchu," reads a brief description of the train.

"The one-way ticket is 334 dollars, including fees for local dinners, entertainment, tour guide, bus, ticket for protected area of birds and animals in Machu Picchu, afternoon tea and cocktails," it adds.

The other railways on the list are the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada, Darjeeling–Himalaya in India, Semmering Railway (Austria), Glasgow Subway (UK), Chihuahua-Pacific railroad (Mexico), Douro Valley Railway (Portugal), Ghan Railway (Australia), Bergen Railway (Norway), and Bernina-Express (Switzerland and Italy)

Machu Picchu, the Amazon River and Arequipa are the best attractions of Peru, according to an article published by British Telegraph and writen by Chris Moss, which offers a guide to the Andean country, ahead of this year's celebrations to mark the bicentenary of Latin America's fight for independence.

According to "Peru: a guide for beginners", the top six attractions are Machu Picchu (reopening in April, after recent floods), whether by train, trek or bus; Iquitos and the Upper Amazon river; and Arequipa, known as the ciudad blanca for its buildings made from pearly white volcanic material, and a Unesco World Heritage site.

Also the archaeological site of Chan Chan, including the ruins of the largest adobe city in the world; the high peaks of the Cordillera Blanca to see tropical glaciers and turquoise lakes on off-the-beaten-track hikes; and the mysterious, geometrical Nazca Lines, thought to have been etched into the stony desert as far back as 900BC.

For Chris Moss, Cusco is the best city of Peru because it has many impressive monasteries, churches and pre-Columbian buildings and is, as Che Guevara recorded in The Motorcycle Diaries, tangibly "the navel of the Inca world".

He also recommends tourists to buy a bottle of Peruvian pisco, the national firewater, and read Hugh Thomson's The White Rock, which deftly combines a history of the last days of the Incas with a gripping story about the search for lost cities buried in uncharted corners of the Sacred Valley.

More than 1,200 visitors entered Machu Picchu citadel during the first day of its reopening, according to Cecilia Bakula, Director of the National Institute of Culture.

She said that some improvements were made in the access routes during these 66-day closure, to enable them for receiving a larger number of tourists.

Bakula announced that tourists will soon be able to buy their entrance tickets via Internet, with all the required security and with the guarantee of meeting the established maximum number of visitors allowed per day.

She also said that the ticket prices are not going to increase, and also that three chemicals WC's will be installed inside the citadel, in order to provide more comfort to the visitors.

The reopening of the citadel was presided by Hollywood Oscar-awarded actress Susan Sarandon, who says that she is “amazed” by the place, and promises to invite other celebrities to come visit

A foreign tourist on an average spends about US$ 98 on handicraft items during his/her visit to Peru, said the National Director of Handcrafts at Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Madeleine Burns.

“The quality of Peruvian handicrafts has considerably improved in the last few years, while the per-capita tourist spending increased to $98. A tourist used to spend about $ 80 in 2005,” she said.

Madeleine Burns pointed out that most tourists prefer to buy jewelry and alpaca products, which account for 60 percent of total craft sales.

Peru's tourism sector grew by 4% in 2009, the second largest growth in the region during a year marked by the financial crisis. It was reported that a total of 2'139,961 tourists visited Peru last year, and 2'023,967 of them were foreigners.

The Sumaq VIP Lounge & Business Center of Peru's Jorge Chavez International Airport has been voted the world's best for 2010 by independent airport lounge programme Priority Pass. More than 30,000 passengers from all over the world were asked by Priority Pass to pick their favourite lounge from among a 600-strong list.

The lounge at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport came up tops, reclaiming its 2009 position, with travellers praising its business facilities and relaxation rooms that have blankets, pillows and showers.

“The awards reflect truly exemplary service standards from the Sumaq VIP Lounge and our other award winners,” Jonathan French, head of brand at Priority Pass, said in a statement.

By region, Continental Presidents Club, Terminal E, Houston, Texas, United States, was voted the best lounge in North America and Zurich's Panorama Lounge (Switzerland) the best in Europe. In the Asia Pacific, KAL Lounge, Concourse A, in Seoul's Incheon Airport (South Korea) was in first place while Bahrain's Dilmun Lounge (Bahrain), was the top in the Middle East and Africa.

Priority Pass is the world's biggest membership programme that gives frequent travellers access to airport lounges regardless of their class of travel or which airline they've flown.

The governor of Peru's Cusco region, Hugo Gonzales Sayan, announced that the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu will reopen in the second half of March.

Gonzales Sayan met with authorities of the Machu Picchu and Santa Teresa towns and they agreed to speed up the repair of rail tracks and roads.

The meeting was called following a request by Machu Picchu and Santa Teresa residents whose livelihoods depend on tourism.

Gonzales explained that from Ollantaytambo to Piscacucho, visitors can go by car, and from Piscacucho to Aguas Calientes they would take the train.

He also mentioned that a pedestrian bridge would be rebuilt between Santa Rosa and the local hydro power station.

Rains and floods in Cusco have hit again in Peru's Sacred Valley region. The main access road that connects Cusco and Pisac road is currently blocked in several spots due to several mudslides caused by the heavy rains, according to Cusco regional President, Hugo González.

The floods have also swept away the asphalt in some sections.

The worst damages have been registered in the sectors known as Awanocancha, Huancalle, y Ccochahuasi, among others Vehicles are now forced to take the route Cusco-Huambutío-San Salvador, which means a significantly longer journey.

Another landslide happened yesterday in the sector known as Morroblanco, in the road between San Salvador and Pisac.

Tourist access to Machu Picchu by train would be ready before April 1 thanks to the progress on restoration works of the damages caused by the overflow of the Vilcanota river, the company Ferrocarril Transandino (FTSA), concessionary of the route, reported.

Only 10 kilometers are left to be restored so that the stretch Aguas Calientes (kilometer 110) – Piscacucho (kilometer 82) is ready, which is part of the second stage of programmed works.

The development of the works and its completion will be subjected to favorable climatic conditions.

As soon as that stretch is finished, tourists will be able to get to the town of Machu Picchu by train using the bimodal service (from Cusco or Ollantaytambo to Piscacucho by bus and from there to Aguas Calientes by train).

The track line has been enabled from kilometer 82, in Piscacucho, to the kilometer 90; the track line was moved several meters towards the hill in some stretches. Also, the embankment has been repaired and some walls of stone and gabions are being built.

Argentine airline Aerolineas Argentinas announced that by the end of this year it would begin flying from Buenos Aires to Cusco, with a stopover in an Argentine province that has yet to be determined.

The state-run airline, the largest domestic and international airline in Argentina, expressed its interest in covering this route at Expo Perú in December 2009.

Aerolineas Argentinas official Jorge Lopez said the company's interest has not changed due to the recent adverse weather conditions, particularly heavy rains in many Cusco areas.

"We are still keen to fly to Cusco because it is a favorite destination for Argentine citizens and a major attraction in world tourism," he told.

"The progress of this project will depend on the company's future performance and its criteria for prioritizing investment projects, including that of Cusco" he added.

The president of Cusco´s Chamber of Commerce Carlos Milla said there is great news for the world amid the devastation caused by heavy rains and floods in Cusco region: Machu Picchu and all the Inca ruins were not affected by the rainfall and remain perfectly intact.

"The big news is that Machu Picchu and all the ancient sites created by our ancestors remain intact and stood the ravages of nature. This is because they were built in height, and because of the impressive drainage system constructed by the Inca. That is indeed excellent news."

The official noted that although economic activity will be seriously threatened in the region -affecting around 175,000 direct and indirect jobs - tourism industry will begin to flourish again in the short-term since ancient attractions remain intact.

Peru´s President Alan Garcia assures railway to Machu Picchu will be restored and that Peru has the technical and human conditions to face consequences of rains and river overflows.

Given that there is no access to the citadel of Machu Picchu after the heavy rains, Peru's Tourism and Export Promotion Board (PromPeru) will promote tourist attractions of Cusco such as Sacsayhuaman, Pisac and Moray, among others, Cusco Governor Hugo Gonzales said.

He pointed out that he discussed with Peru's Minister for Foreign Trade Martin Perez the performance of that tourism promotion campaign, thanks to PromPeru, in order to maintain the flow of domestic and foreign visitors.

“The Inca citadel will be closed an average of eight weeks, because access routes, mainly the railroad, have been severely affected by rains,” Governor Gonzales told Andina News Agency.

He said that “with Minister Perez we agreed this campaign, in order to avoid more economic losses in the tourism sector.”

“We have to promote the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Moray, Calca, Pisac, among other tourist attractions of the region, because if tourism falls there will be strong complications to hundreds of workers of this sector,” he added.

Lima Airport Partners' (LAP) General Manager, Jaime Daly, told the press that at least three new airlines are to enter the Peruvian market during 2010-2013, since operations at our International Airport Jorge Chávez are "becoming more interesting."

"The goal is to have more airlines, the occupancy rates regarding planes from Europe and US is over 85% and we could serve more airlines from those regions," said Daly.

In addition, Lima Airport Partners opened a maintenance hangar of almost 13,000 square meters, which will increase the current available space in Lima airport: this could be used as a parking space for planes

Daly also added that with this addition, Jorge Chávez airport increases its space for planes in 10%, which will allow it to continue being considered as the most important hub in the region

Peru's renowned ruins of Machu Picchu will reopen to local and foreign tourists from April 1 as rehabilitation of roads continue progressing, announced Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez. "From April 1, we hope to receive millions of tourists as we used to," he said noting the progress made towards the rehabilitation of the railway line by the concessionaire operating the route. Perez said the Vilcanota River’s flow, the cause of damage, has decreased significantly and has gotten back to normal for this time of year, enabling authorities to resume reconstruction works. He also highlighted the response to the campaign “Cusco Pone”, which offers a round trip plane ticket to the Andean city of Cusco for 49 dollars, and promotes accommodation packages for three or four-star hotels for up to 70 soles. The campaign 'Cusco Pone' (Cusco Rocks) was launched through a joint effort between authorities and tourist operators in Lima and Cusco, by offering special prices in flight tickets and some hotels. At least 8,000 visitors have visited Cusco so far. The campaign received response not only from Limeans, but also from tourists coming from Trujillo and Arequipa, especially workers of the public sector

Some 90 percent of tourists visiting the Peruvian jungle -looking for relaxation, fun and adventure- come from abroad, mainly from Europe and Asia, reported Amazon Raiforest Lodge.

The general manager of Amazon Raiforest Lodge Peter Schneider said this is a very interesting destination for receptive tourism, since visitors take part in activities that cannot be experienced elsewhere.

"Before the crisis, 60 percent of foreign visitors arriving at this destination were Americans, but after the turbulence, that situation changed," he told Andina news agency.

At the moment, 50 percent of tourists come from Europe (mainly from Spain, Italy and England) and Asia (especially from Japan and China).

Peru’s Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPerú) announced that a jury of the UK's top explorers, adventurers, and award-winning writers has selected the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu as one of the ten world’s greatest adventure trips, ranking fifth on that list.

For the past two months, a jury panel comprising eminent personalities such as Tony Wheeler –the founding publisher of the famous travel book Lonely Planet- have been assessing the most intense adventures on the planet.

The list was drawn up on behalf of Adventure Travel Live, which takes place at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London, on 29, 30 and 31 January 2010.

"Whatever tribulations the economy may deliver, the British spirit of adventure is alive and well. Travellers are turning their backs on the beach and going to extremes to satisfy a craving for adrenalin-fuelled experiences," said one of the judges, Simon Calder.

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu occupies the top five position in the list and is part of an Inca roads system of more than 30,000 kilometers that integrated the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyo

It is believed that the Inca and his royalty moved across this road to the sacred city of Machu Picchu, the highest point on the journey.

"Popular though this three-day trek is, nothing can prepare you for the awesome first sight of the 'lost' city of the Incas as you round the trail on the last day, seeing it perched high above the Urumaba with the mist swirling around it," stated Bryn Thomas, another judge.

The jury have selected the world's greatest travel adventure as "staring down into the smouldering eyes of a tiger from the back of an elephant in India's Kanha National Park".

And the chance of getting close to a tiger in the wild - while such a possibility exists - was judged to be even more thrilling than skiing down a live volcano on the Japanese island of Hokkaido or diving with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos.

Another wildlife experience - an encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda - took fourth place, just ahead of two great hikes that shared fifth spot: the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Larrapinta Trail in Australia's Northern Territory.

"The ultimate railway adventure," Russia's Trans-Siberian, took seventh place, just ahead of hot-air ballooning over Tanzania's Serengeti. A hike through the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar took ninth position, while South America's third appearance completed the top 10: exploring the wildlife of Brazil's Pantanal.

The judges were: Hilary Bradt (adventure guide and publisher); Paul Goldstein (tour leader and award-winning photographer); Benedict Allen (explorer and television presenter); Tim Fryer (land product manager, STA Travel); and Mark Smith (award-winning rail expert).

In addition to Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet founder); Simon Calder (travel writer and broadcaster); Paul Rose (explorer and adventurer); Perry Wilson (founder, Insure & Go); Bryn Thomas (guidebook writer and publisher).

The Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport of Cusco will have runway lighting to allow it to receive flights around the clock, thus increasing the number of domestic and foreign tourist visits to the ancient capital of the Incas.

Peruvian Transport and Communications Minister Enrique Cornejo announced that Lan Perú plans to invest 500,000 dollars in the temporary installation of a runway lighting system as early as March or April this year.

"This is important because travelers won’t have to travel to Cusco at dawn," he said.

Cornejo noted that his ministry will complete the implementation of a permanent lighting system before the end of this year.

He explained that rehabilitation works at Cusco’s airport will being in the coming weeks and will not affect flights, “we will also work at night to avoid interfering with flights.”

The arrival of winter in the Northern Hemisphere encourages thousands of people to explore options for a short holiday away from their countries.

That is why National Geographic Traveler features in its Jan-Feb edition a list of fifteen recommended destinations to visit in this month, including the Islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia.

The article, which recommends places combining spectacular scenery and cultural traditions, highlights that the Amantaní island is "surrounded by Inca terraces (...) and invites to hike along its groomed trails and stone arches of fantasy."

The prestigious travel magazine also suggests visiting the Taquile island, highlighting its wonderful textiles; Suazi, which regional cuisine, is highly recommended, and the Isla del Sol, located in the Bolivian part of the lake.

Peru was listed among the world’s top tourist destinations for 2010 by the most prestigious media outlets in the world, including magazines from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, major origin countries of tourists visiting the Andean nation.

Announcement was made by Peru's Tourism and Export Promotion Board (Promperu) according to rankings published in early editions of several international tourism magazines.

U.K. travel magazine Wanderlust released in January the “Top 12 trips for 2010” describing the Huayhuash circuit - located 50 kilometres to the southeast of the Cordillera Blanca in Ancash department- as new trek which is a combination of adventure and beauty.

On the other hand, the "Top Destinations 2010" list, issued by Real Travel magazine, includes northern Peru as a new tourist destination, which stands out as a prominent tourist attraction with impressive archaeological sites, good food and beaches. Also, the National Geographic Traveler features in its Jan-Feb edition a list of fifteen recommended visiting the Islands of Lake Titicaca.

The article, which recommends places combining spectacular scenery and cultural traditions, highlights that the Amantaní island is "surrounded by Inca terraces (...) and invites to hike along its groomed trails and stone arches of fantasy."

The prestigious travel magazine also suggests visiting the Taquile island, highlighting its wonderful textiles; Suazi, which regional cuisine, is highly recommended, and the Isla del Sol, located in the Bolivian part of the lake.

Peru tourist destinations were recognized by other international magazines such as Travel and Leisure, Archeology, and Elle.

The latest Country Brand Index survey -conducted by Future Brand and based on a poll of 2,700 passengers from several countries- placed Peru third as world's major tourist destination for visitors seeking “authenticity and history”; and ranked seventh and ninth in ‘Arts and Culture’ and ‘Natural beauty’ categories, respectively.

The British Embassy in Peru projected that more than 67,000 British tourists will visit Peru this year, showing an increase compared to 2009, when tourism was affected by the global crisis.

"We still don’t have the 2009 figure but there will be a decrease compared to 2008, when 67000 British tourists came to Peru," said British Ambassador to Peru, Catherine Nettleton.

"But I'm sure we will see a rapid recovery this year because Britons are great travelers and Peru is on the spotlight, so there won’t be another fall but an increase,”, she added.

The diplomat made these statements during the launch of the “Know Before You Go" campaign. This is the fourth year that this campaign is launched in our country with the aim of providing valuable information to British tourists before they come to Peru.

"The purpose is to inform the many tourists coming to Peru, most of them have not experienced any problem during their trip, only a small percentage faced mishaps so this campaign aims to prevent them,” said Nettleton.

The campaign is promoted by the British Embassy in Lima in a joint work with Unicef, the Red Peruana contra la Pornografía Infantil (The Peruvian Network Against Child Pornography), the Minsitry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, IPeru and the Tourist Police.

Bad weather is continuing to hamper evacuation efforts in areas hit by mudslides near Peru's historic Machu Picchu ruins.

More than 800 tourists are stranded and an estimated 240 Australians are among those waiting to be flown to safety.

Heavy rain and mudslides since Sunday have severed road and rail access between the city of Cusco,the ancient Inca capital, and the town of Aguas Calientes, at the foot of the ruins.

Overland access to Machu Picchu is expected to be impossible for another three days, putting a strain on food, water and accommodation, as well as the helicopter evacuation effort.

Bottles of water are said to be selling at five times the normal price.

Authorities say that those awaiting rescue are uncomfortable but safe.

Peruvian officials say they evacuated 595 tourists yesterday and they expect to airlift another 800 to safety today.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says at least 24 Australians have already been evacuated.

Hundreds more tourists are arriving back to the evacuation zones as they return from treks that began before the trail was shut.

US support
US ambassador Michael McKinley has said six US helicopters will support the effort to airlift the stranded tourists.

"We have provided six of the helicopters that we have in the country to support the effort by the Peruvian security forces," he said.

Mr McKinley emphasised the United States was "supporting, not managing the rescue, which should take two to three more days to conclude".

He said the US helicopters will rescue all tourists, not just US citizens.

More than 1,000 tourists have been flown out since Sunday, when the air bridge operation began.

The helicopter pick-up point is Aguas Calientes, which lies at the bottom of a narrow canyon, a difficult place for pilots to land, Mr McKinley said.

Peruvian officials defended the slow pace of the operations, saying they were being hampered by the heaviest rains in 15 years.

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Latin America, attracting more than 400,000 visitors a year.

The Andean Railways Corporation (ARC), one of the operators of the Cusco-Machu Picchu rail route, plans to invest over US$ 11 million in the first year of operations, said the company´s executive president Jose Daniel Amado.

“Up to now, we have brought equipments worth US$6 million to operate the Cusco-Machu Picchu route, but the idea is to invest US$11 million in the first year of operations,” he told Andina.

It should be noted that last week Inca Rail, Andean Railways and Ferrocarril Transandino (Fetransa), rail concessionaire in southern and southeastern Peru, signed contracts to provide rail passenger transport services.

Amado said that the corporation is also interested in increasing their investments in Peru, that is why they are assessing to operate new rail routes in the country.

“Cusco-Machu Picchu is an interesting route but it is not the only one, that is why Andean Railways is interested in investing in other railway projects. Peru has many options to develop rail tracks because this kind of transport system is much more efficient than others,” he added.

ARC´s main operating shareholder is Iowa Pacific Holdings, Chicago, a conglomerate of railway companies operating in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Illinois

Some 90 percent of tourists visiting the Peruvian jungle -looking for relaxation, fun and adventure- come from abroad, mainly from Europe and Asia, reported Amazon Raiforest Lodge.

The general manager of Amazon Raiforest Lodge Peter Schneider said this is a very interesting destination for receptive tourism, since visitors take part in activities that cannot be experienced elsewhere.

“ Before the crisis, 60 percent of foreign visitors arriving at this destination were Americans, but after the turbulence, that situation changed,” he told Andina news agency.

At the moment, 50 percent of tourists come from Europe (mainly from Spain, Italy and England) and Asia (especially from Japan and China).

Peru´s Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPerú) announced that a jury of the UK´s top explorers, adventurers, and award-winning writers has selected the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu as one of the ten world’s greatest adventure trips, ranking fifth on that list.

For the past two months, a jury panel comprising eminent personalities such as Tony Wheeler –the founding publisher of the famous travel book Lonely Planet- have been assessing the most intense adventures on the planet.

The list was drawn up on behalf of Adventure Travel Live, which takes place at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London, on 29, 30 and 31 January 2010.

“Whatever tribulations the economy may deliver, the British spirit of adventure is alive and well. Travellers are turning their backs on the beach and going to extremes to satisfy a craving for adrenalin-fuelled experiences,” said one of the judges, Simon Calder.

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu occupies the top five position in the list and is part of an Inca roads system of more than 30,000 kilometers that integrated the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyo

It is believed that the Inca and his royalty moved across this road to the sacred city of Machu Picchu, the highest point on the journey.

“Popular though this three-day trek is, nothing can prepare you for the awesome first sight of the 'lost' city of the Incas as you round the trail on the last day, seeing it perched high above the Urumaba with the mist swirling around it,” stated Bryn Thomas, another judge.

The jury have selected the world´s greatest travel adventure as “staring down into the smouldering eyes of a tiger from the back of an elephant in India´s Kanha National Park”.

And the chance of getting close to a tiger in the wild - while such a possibility exists - was judged to be even more thrilling than skiing down a live volcano on the Japanese island of Hokkaido or diving with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos.

Another wildlife experience - an encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda - took fourth place, just ahead of two great hikes that shared fifth spot: the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Larrapinta Trail in Australia´s Northern Territory.

“The ultimate railway adventure,” Russia´s Trans-Siberian, took seventh place, just ahead of hot-air ballooning over Tanzania´s Serengeti. A hike through the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar took ninth position, while South America´s third appearance completed the top 10: exploring the wildlife of Brazil´s Pantanal.

The judges were: Hilary Bradt (adventure guide and publisher); Paul Goldstein (tour leader and award-winning photographer); Benedict Allen (explorer and television presenter); Tim Fryer (land product manager, STA Travel); and Mark Smith (award-winning rail expert).

In addition to Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet founder); Simon Calder (travel writer and broadcaster); Paul Rose (explorer and adventurer); Perry Wilson (founder, Insure & Go); Bryn Thomas (guidebook writer and publisher).

At least 5,000 tourists from Bolivia,Chile,Argentina and Brazil are expected to visit Arequipa´s beaches in the summer of 2010,just as the number of tourists registered last summer, estimated Rocío Cervantes, regional manager of Foreign Trade and Tourism.

The beaches of the provinces of Camaná and Islay are the most prefered by tourists who arrive in Arequipa to enjoy the summer, since they are located very close to the city.

For tourists from Brazil and Argentina it´s easier to go to these beaches than to go to the Atlantic beaches.

"Bolivian tourists also prefer Arequipa to spend the summer, that's why the number of visitors is constantly increasing",Cervantes said.

The Foreign Trade and Tourism Office is intensifying supervisions to offer local and foreign visitors better services.

With a budget of 1.5 million soles, the National Institute of Culture in Cusco acquired the latest cutting-edge equipments to monitor the National Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.

The equipment includes: laser scanner, two geodetic GPS, photogrammetry equipment, aerial digital photos, two total stations and a plotter.

It will provide enhanced capacity to monitor the place, collect immediate measures and applications like the land registry of archeological sites, among other things.

INC will be able to compile real data -based on photos- of the sanctuary, public works, archeological monuments, maps, etc.

This investment aims to protect Machu Picchu and facilitate research, restoration and maintenance works, said Jorge Zegarra, head of INC in Cusco.

Mancora beach, located in northern Peru (Piura department),expects to receive some 6,000 domestic and foreign tourists, to celebrate New Year´s Eve, the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Arequipa (Ahora) reported.

The representative of Ahora – Piura en Mancora, Jose Ossio, said that exclusive hotels and those located in town area are completely booked, adding that visitors started to arrive in the last days.

"We believe we will receive nearly 6,000 visitors in Mancora during New Year´s Eve, most people from Lima," he said.

However, he pointed out that if families decide to travel to Mancora beach at the last moment, they can find some available lodging or small houses that are rented.

During this season, prices of hotels and tourist services in general increase by 50%, "but people still comes, because Mancora is a privileged destination."

Ossio added that security is assured in Mancora and the surrounding beaches, because they work closely with the police and the municipality.

Aerolíneas Argentinas is studying the possibility to start flights from Buenos Aires to Cusco, with a stop in the province of Salta (Argentina),as of the second half of 2010, reported the airline manager of the Commercial Area, Diego García.

This possibility was explored this week after the Argentine state-owned company was authorized by the Congress to purchase 20 new aircraft.

"This purchase opens the door to explore new opportunities for expansion on routes and provide flights to common destinations", he said after participating in the "Conversatorio de Turismo" forum (Tourism Discussion Group) which brought together entrepreneurs from the tourism sector of both countries.

The discussion group was organized as part of Expo Peru -a new trade mission format promoted by Peru´s Foreign Trade and Tourism Ministry- taking in Buenos Aires.

He said the new Aerolineas Argentinas planes will start operations within the next 18 months, so the decision to operate the Buenos Aires - Salta - Cusco route will be made by the second half of 2010. "We are interested in this route to Cusco, because it is the most popular tourist destination in Argentina," he added.

Although the route to Cusco has not yet been confirmed, Garcia pointed out that the tickets will be at competitive rates and similar to the LAN airline flights prices, which is the biggest competitor.

The National Geographic will broadcast a documentary on the latest findings at the Amazonas region's Kuelap Fortress ruins, said the mayor of Chachapoyas, Peter Lerche.
The "Peru´s Mass Grave Mystery" documentary attempts to determine how these last Kuelap citizens died whether by disease, sacrifice, war, or conquest by the Inca or the Spanish.
It is an elaborate puzzle of bones, but this finding could solve the mystery of one of the South America´s most mysterious ancient civilizations and massive monuments.
The team of archaeologists -made up of Sonia Guillen, a renowned American anthropologist and led by Alfredo Narvaez- uncovers some startling evidence about this mysterious civilization.
They found over eighty bodies piled at one end of Kuelap, stacked between houses, lying where they fell not carefully buried like all of the other bones that have been excavated at Kuelap.
Alfredo and his team have uncovered the largest mass grave in Peru and believe they may have finally found the secret to Kuelap's last stand.
"The documentary program will be available in English next month and in Spanish in mid 2010," said Lerche.
According to Lerche, some workers from Chachapoyas municipality served as actors during the making of the video.
"The video lasts over an hour and will be sent to local television stations to be broadcast,"he said.

As it struggles to emerge from an economic crisis, the United States continued to be the second top destination for Peruvian exports between January and October this year.

However,its 30% market share of just a few years ago has been lowered to 16% as a result of the global economic downturn.

The Peruvian Exporters' Association (Adex) pointed out that the global crisis is still affecting the U.S. economy, resulting in reduced demand for Peruvian products.

It is expected that as of October 2009, Peruvian exports to the U.S. market will drop 34% percent from a year earlier, declining from $5.1 billion to $3.34 billion.

Meanwhile, exports to Switzerland (Peru's main destination market) totaled 3.37 billion dollars in the same period.

Peru's Tourism and Export Promotion Board (Promperu) will organize the event called “Border Seminar”, from November 4 to 6 in cities of Rio Branco and Porto Velho (Brazil) to promote receptive tourism in southern Peru.
Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) said that this event is aimed at tourism professionals and end consumers, in order to provide in a direct way the specialized and current information on Peruvian tourist destinations, especially of Arequipa, Cusco, Puno and Madre de Dios regions.
Mincetur authorized the trip of a Promperu official to these cities to develop activities related to the tourist promotion of Peru in that seminar.
Promperu has also planned the participation together with 40 tourist enterprises of Peru in the 2009 World Travel Market (WTM) International Tourism Fair, to be held from November 9 to 12 in London (United Kingdom).
The goal is to strengthen Peru’s position as tourist destination and diversify the Peruvian tourist offer, promoting new destinations and tourist products the country offers.

Over 15,000 visitors expected to attend the X Agroindustrial, Ecotourist Fair in Lambayeque - 2009, which will take place on November 4 and 11 at the Chiclayo-Pomalca highway.
The president of the Organizing Comission of the event, Carlos Montenegro, said that this traditional fair will offer a Caballos de paso exhibition, a milk gastronomic festival, cuy celebrations and an exhibition of cattle.
The First Afro Peruvian Festival, the III Northern Marinera Conquest and the III Mariachis Festival will also take place during this event.

The traditional International Spring Festival held in Trujillo, capital of the northern Peruvian region of La Libertad, will officially begin on Sunday at noon, announced event organizer the local Lions Club.
“There is great expectation surrounding this event and more than thirty companies will participate in this year's float parade,” said the President of Lions Club, Alberto Ganoza.
Ganoza pointed out that they expect more than 250,000 visitors to Trujillo's colorful parade, which will start from Mansiche Stadium, through España and Juan Pablo II Avenues, near the National University of Trujillo.
Then the parade will reach America Sur Avenue and will end near Antenor Orrego Private University.
According to the scheduled program, the event will include a bike ride this year, then a new parade called “Peru Dances in Spring” and finally the main spring and float parade.

Despite the global economic crisis, luxury tourism in Peru remains stable while average daily per capita expenditure reaches up to $1000, Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) reported.
"Even though the international financial crisis has beaten the country's inbound tourism, luxury tourist rates remain constant,” said Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martin Perez.
In the past five years, the average expenditure of tourists visiting the country has grown by 40 percent, which is not insignificant.
"Tourists usually stay between three or seven days and their per capita expenditure reaches up to $1,000 per day, which covers lodging, meals and transportation, and greatly contributes to the growth of the sector," he told Andina news agency.
Among their needs are personal and spiritual growth through adventure activities, community experiences and relaxation, among others, all this linked to exclusive and personalized attention.

The international airport in Brazil’s largest city, Rio de Janeiro, which won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, will be privatized and modernized to prepare for the Olympics, the authorities said.
Rio, which faced stiff competition from Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, became the first South American city on Friday to be awarded the games.
Rio de Janeiro’s Galeao international airport, the largest airport in Brazil, evoked the strongest criticism from members of the International Olympic Committee at the stage of Rio’s preparations for the 2016 Olympic bidding, the State Privatization Council said.
The terms and the exact date of the airport’s privatization would be determined later, the council said.
The issue of the airport’s privatization was first raised a year ago by the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, who said that the need to sell the airport was conditioned by its unsatisfactory infrastructure, poor airport services and ineffective management.

Andina.- The Peruvian gastronomy is headed to conquer worldwide palates in about ten years as it is competing with the Japanese cuisine due to its high level of sophistication and added value, stated the renowned chef and president of the Peruvian Association of Gastronomy (Apega) Gaston Acurio.

“We want to sell the image of a sophisticated gastronomy, like the Japanese, with much more added value that any other cuisine, with beautiful restaurants and the use of many native products of Peru in the dishes,” he told Andina.

He said that Peru's gastronomic scene has garnered worldwide attention in recent years, so it will be among the most preferred around the world int en years, unlike the Italian one that took 100 years and the Japanese which took 30 years.

“It took 100 years for the Italian cuisine to be placed where it is now. In any city in the world, there is a pizzeria, there's a global market of Italian food,” he said.

The Japanese cuisine took only 30 years to do the same; 15 years ago there were no Japanese restaurants in Lima, now there some in each city of the country.

Acurio said that in about 10 years, there'll be a Peruvian restaurant in most cities in the US and in the biggest markets in Asia and Europe.

Peruvian Deputy Minister of Tourism, Pablo López de Romaña, announced that the authorities are evaluating the possibility of starting night tours to Macchu Picchu, which would come into effect sometime between next December and April 2010.
According to López de Romaña, the aim is to increase the visiting hours beyond 4:00 p.m.
"We are planning a new presentation of Macchu Picchu, giving it a proper ilumination. Tourists and all visitors want to have a picture of the site. This has been a good year, and we think 2010 will be a better one", said López de Romaña.
According to a 2004 study made by INC-Cusco, the daily amount of tourists to Macchu Picchu should not be more than 2,500 persons; however, a recent research indicated that there will be between 4,000 and 5,000 daily visitors in the following years.

Andina.- The Peruvian gastronomy is headed to conquer worldwide palates in about ten years as it is competing with the Japanese cuisine due to its high level of sophistication and added value, stated the renowned chef and president of the Peruvian Association of Gastronomy (Apega) Gaston Acurio.
“We want to sell the image of a sophisticated gastronomy, like the Japanese, with much more added value that any other cuisine, with beautiful restaurants and the use of many native products of Peru in the dishes,” he told Andina.
He said that Peru's gastronomic scene has garnered worldwide attention in recent years, so it will be among the most preferred around the world int en years, unlike the Italian one that took 100 years and the Japanese which took 30 years.
“It took 100 years for the Italian cuisine to be placed where it is now. In any city in the world, there is a pizzeria, there's a global market of Italian food,” he said.
The Japanese cuisine took only 30 years to do the same; 15 years ago there were no Japanese restaurants in Lima, now there some in each city of the country.
Acurio said that in about 10 years, there'll be a Peruvian restaurant in most cities in the US and in the biggest markets in Asia and Europe.

The Amazon across Peru, Colombia and Brazil is recognized as the largest river in the world but he is generally considered that ranks second in total length facing the river Nile in Egypt.
Scientists in Brazil announced after an expedition to Peru where he would set a new point of originate of the Amazon River.
The new discovery puts the Amazon River as the longest in the world with 6,800 miles, compared with 6695 kilometers of the Nile.
The exact length of a river is not easy to calculate and depends on correctly identifying originate.
Scientists say they have found a new originate of the Amazon River in southern Peru and not north of that country as had been supposed.
Although the exact source of the river yet to be confirmed, scientists say the finding would make the Amazon the longest river in the world.
The scientific director of the Institute of Geography and Statistics of Brazil, Guido Gelli, announced in the Brazilian TV channel Globo that it can be considered as a fact that the Amazon is the world's largest river.

The route of the fruit is realized, since the late nineties, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Thanks to tour the municipalities of Atibaia, Indaiatuba, Itatiba, Itupeva, Jarihu, Jundiaí, Louveira, Morunga, Valinhos and Vinhedos, visitors know the food and rural tourism in each place. Perform walk through the plantations and plantation producing fruits and vegetables and can go to festivals, exhibitions, markets and festivals that pay tribute to the fruit.
It takes approximately five days to travel the circuit and attractive routes, some of them are: the route of wine tourism, to visit the vineyards and local wine tastings, the route of beekeeping, honey to see the place, the known Brazilian coffee road and the route of aromatic and medicinal herbs.
Among the means of transportation used by travelers are CPTM train and tourist train. Another option is to rent a car and stroll through municipality with complete peace of mind, knowing also the culture of the inhabitants, the fusion of races and the diversity of people. For example, in Ataiba, Jundiaí and there are colonies Indaiatuba Japanese, Italian and Swiss living with local people.

Cusco was the third among the cities of Central and South America in the "World's Best" from performing 14 years ago from Travel and Leisure readers, the prestigious U.S. magazine Travel and Tourism, announced today the Commission for the Promotion Peru's Export and Tourism (PromPeru).
In the ranking of best cities in the world, Cusco is ranked sixteenth.
Readers of the magazine, which sells around one million copies a month, voted for their cities, hotels and tour operators favorites.
In the last six months, Peru has appeared in major U.S. media as Elite Traveler, Travel and Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, Bon Appetite, Gourmet, New York Times, among others.
The competition conducted by Travel and Leisure confirms that Peru makes  a good impression to the traveler and this is reflected in the published articles about the country.

About 14 thousand national and foreign tourists visited the five museums of the department of Lambayeque during Fiestas Patrias, reported Celso Távara Sial, director of the Executing Unit Lambayeque.
The official said that the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum received between 25 and July 31 over 7 thousand 600 visitors, who admired the costumes and ornaments of the Lord of Sipan and other dignitaries Mochica.
"There was a significant increase in visitors compared to similar period last year. Tourists also appreciated the exhibition of pieces of gold, silver and copper, which presents the Bruning Archaeological Museum and National Museum of Sican Ferreñafe, who received more than 2 thousand 500 visits between the two campuses, "he added.

The newly opened Museum of Huaca Rajada Sipan site, located 28 kilometers from Chiclayo, received more than 300 thousand visits. It displays the results of the discovery of the tomb No. 14 warrior priest in June 2007.
Sial stressed that foreign tourists came from Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, United States, Germany, China, while nationals of Lima, Arequipa, Amazonas, San Martín, Huaraz, Huancayo and Ayacucho.

Built in the fifteenth century, it is considered by the historians to be one of the most audacious Inca constructions. The remarkable Wiracocha temple, 100 meters long and 20 meters wide is made of adobe walls built on top of volcanic stone foundations. The complex also includes a residential area made for the Inca nobles and dozens of circular warehouses to store food.

The site has experienced a recent increase in tourism in recent years.

It is a wonderful place, great for stay and know he is 177 km from Cusco to travel two hours by bus.

Start with the preparations for the anniversary of the Convention of the province, whose capital is the city of Quillabamba. Every year during this week was elected Miss Coffee or Miss Quillabamba. Championship fights are held cock and powers of motocross, and the Fair where Coclé is a music festival with national and international artists.

The Municipal Commission of Celebration. The Municipality of Provincial Convention today averaging 10 in the morning, the General Program of Celebration 2009, the event was attended by Mr. Hernán Provincial Mayor De La Torre, president of the Victor COMUFE alderman Pedroza Rondinel well as business representatives and Dials CREDINKA, sponsors of the various activities planned for this year.

Her grandfather fought for his idea of freedom, equality and a better world. Lydia Guevara is simply fighting for attention.

The granddaughter of the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara has posed semi-naked with bandoliers of baby carrots slung across her shoulders in an advertisement promoting vegetarianism. And she made sure to wear the iconic beret so associated with the famous grandfather she never knew. Miss Guevara, 24, has been recruited by animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

'It's a homage of sorts to her late grandfather,' said a PETA spokesman. 'It very much evokes the tag line of the ad, which is "Join the vegetarian revolution".'

Since his death in 1967, Che Guevara's stylised image has become one of the world's most recognised emblems.

His family has criticised the fact that his face has been used to sell everything from T-shirts to vodka . PETA enlisted Miss Guevara, who lives in the U.S., after finding out she was a vegetarian. Che Guevara played a pivotal role in Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba. He was executed by the CIA in Bolivia in 1967.

The ad is PETA's first campaign promoting vegetarianism in South America. 'We say the best way to save animals is not to eat them,' Mr McGraw said.

He said others who have promoted vegetarianism for PETA include Paul McCartney, Forest Whittaker and Alicia Silverstone.

It has also emerged that Natascha Kampusch who was abducted and held in a cellar for eight years, wants to strip off for a PETA campaign.

Hollywood producer, director and actor Ron Howard arrived in Peru and visited Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, that has attracted many worldwide celebrities. Howard took the Hiram Bingham train at Ollantaytambo station as any other tourist, but some minutes later some passangers recognized him asking him to pose for some pictures with them.

The 55-year-old famous director agreed and signed some autographs for his fans, reported Peru's newspaper El Comercio.

The American producer arrived in Machu Picchu around midday and started to visit the place accompanied with a local guide. The Hollywood director took notes and recorded everything the guide was saying.

Howard is one of the most sought-after and highly regarded directors in the business. His films, including Splash, Cocoon and Apollo 13, have been some of the most memorable entertainment experiences of our era. He won the 2002 Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, which also won the 2002 Oscar as Best Picture.

Machu Picchu's popularity has rapidly risen since it was chosen one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Many celebrities such as The Police guitarist Andy Summers, have traveled to the Andean city of Cusco and visited the Inca citadel.

The list of celebrities include Princess Beatrice, daughter of Prince Andrés and Sarah Ferguson, Olivia Newton John and Cameron Díaz.

Multibillionaire Bill Gates also visited the Inca citadel and attended the Inti Raymi in Sacsayhuaman, and so did Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson in December last year.

The Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun, a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire held in Cusco, will be promoted at ITB Berlin, the world's largest tourism and travel fair.

The Inti Raymi and other traditional celebrations held in Cusco will be promoted in major international events thanks to a strategic partnership between Cusco's Festivities Municipal Enterprise (Emufec), Chamber of Tourism (Cartuc) and Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur).

Emufec’s general manager Giovanni Escobar Madrid said “this strategic alliance will allow them to join forces to formally promote Cusco’s Jubilee celebrations, not only at ITB, but in other major events during 2010."

ITB Berlin is THE B2B-Plattform for trade visitors – an excellent opportunity to meet business partners and to do business. For all other visitors ITB Berlin is a wonderful possibility to discover the whole world within a few hours.

The next ITB Berlin will be held during March 10-14 on the fairgrounds of Messe Berlin.

Inti Raymi

The Inti Raymi marks the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere.

Since 1944, a theatrical representation of the Inti Raymi has been taking place at Sacsayhuamán (two km. from Cusco) on June 24 of each year, attracting thousands of tourists and local visitors.

After two and a half years of production, people around the country will be able to enjoy the premiere of a documentary about the Lord of Sipan, the oldest and most magnificent tomb found in the Americas.
The Lord of Sipan, a film about an ancient Moche ruler from northern Peru, will premiere tonight at 8pm on Peruvian state-run TV Peru (Channel 7).

The documentary was co-produced by Spanish filmmakers Jose Manuel Novoa, Pedro Almodóvar and his brother Agustín as well as film director and archaeologist Walter Alva, who discovered the Royal Tombs of Sipan at the Huaca Rajada complex in 1987.

The documentary mixes archival footage with the reconstruction of historical settings including commentaries from experts such as Walter Alva.

Peruvian actors in this film include Reynaldo Arenas playing the Lord of Sipan, Monica Sanchez as the priestess, Augusto Varillas and more than 200 local people who participated as extras.

Authorities in the Peruvian department of Ancash announced Friday the discovery of a number of tenon heads believed to be some 4,000 years old.

According to the Mayor of Huaylas district, Jose Espinoza Caballero, these ancient stone carvings were found in the Chupacoto town and would be older than the famous tenon heads of Chavin de Huantar Archaeological Complex.

He noted that the discovery shows the district’s great tourist and scientific potential, as it is considered as “the centre of the Huaylas Culture."

In addition, Espinoza stressed the need to study and protect other local archaeological remains which have not yet been brought to light or recognized.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Daniel Chumpitaz said this discovery revealed that the Chavin Culture may have originated in Chupacoto.

Authorities in the Callejón de Huaylas, a river valley that cuts between the Cordilleras Blanca and Negra in northern Peru, will host the Adventure Festival 2009 from April 29 to May 3 with the aim of increasing the number of Peruvian and foreign tourists in the region.

The five-day event will feature a varied program of activities including adventure sports, concerts, food festivals, traditional dance performances and craft fairs.

The festival’s outdoor activities and adventure sports are paragliding, canoeing, rock climbing, cycling, golf, downhill, BMX, free ride, cross country, bungee jumping, canoeing, donkey cross and boat tours.

The Callejón de Huaylas -covering the provinces of Carhuaz, Huaraz, Huaylas, Recuay and Yungay- is a 150 km long valley in the department of Ancash, in the north-central Peruvian highlands, 400 km north of Lima.

It is bordered by two mountain ranges, the Cordillera Negra (Black Range) to the West and the Cordillera Blanca (White Range) to the East.

As the name indicates, there is no snow on the peaks of the Black Range; the glaciers of the White Range, like the Huascarán, reach over 6,000 meters above sea level.

For the second consecutive week, Lake Titicaca, a nomination shared by Peru and Bolivia, ranks fifth in Group F (Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls) of the New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign.

Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America.

The lake is located at the northern end of the endorheic Altiplano basin high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia.

Meanwhile, other Peru nominees including Amazon River and Colca Canyon ranked second and fourth in Groups D and E, respectively.

Voting for nominees will continue through July 7, 2009. The top 77 nominees by group categories (the top 11 in each of the seven groups) will be eligible for consideration by the New7Wonders of Nature Panel of Experts.

The Panel of Experts will review these 77 nominees and choose from them the 21 Official Finalists, according to published criteria.

The selection will be announced on 21 July 2009, and the 21 Official Finalists will then enter the third and final phase to vote and choose the Official New7Wonders of Nature.

Tinya Palla, a traditional dance from the Andean province of Pomabamba in Ancash region, has been declared national cultural heritage by Peru's National Institute of Culture (INC).

The dance is performed by a group of "Inca noble women", called pallas, who are involved in the search for missing warriors.

Tinya Palla is usually performed during two very important festivities: San Juan Bautista and San Francisco, held on June 24 and October 4 every year.

Tinya Palla name may be related to the Tinyash district in the province of Pomabamba, where important Pre-Columbian archaeological remains were found.

The Andean city of Arequipa in southern Peru expects to receive over 7,000 tourists wanting to visit Colca Valley and the city's Historic Center during Holy Week celebrations, said Carmela Llerena, president of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Avit) in Arequipa.

Llerena explained that most tourists visting Arequipa are Peruvians who take advantage of a four-day holiday weekend on the occasion of this traditional religious festival.

"Tourism in Arequipa during this time of year is basically domestic. Most tourists, who come from the city of Lima, show interest in visiting Colca Valley and the city's downtown," she stated.

Llerena noted that 7,000 tourists visited Arequipa during last year's Holy Week celebrations, "a number we expect to exceed this year after the promotion of tour packages from months ago.

The Colca Valley is still the most visited place in Arequipa with tourists staying two days and one night to explore the Colca Canyon, observe the flight of the condor, enjoy the La Calera hot springs and tour the villages located along the valley.

Tourists arriving in the White City not only appreciate the colonial-style houses and temples, but also museums and beautiful countryside, which can be seen while touring the traditional districts of Characato, Sabandia, and Quequeña Yarabamba.

Peruvian nominees, Lake Titicaca and Amazon River, are at the top of their category groups in the New Seven World Wonders of Nature campaign, according to latest ranking of the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

Lake Titicaca, a nomination shared by Peru and Bolivia, moved into first place in Group F (Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls) of the New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign.

Several institutions and authorities as Bolivian President Evo Morales joined the binational crusade to promote Lake Titicaca as a natural wonder.

A voting campaign will be held on April 3 in the Bolivian city of La Paz with more than 500 PCs and 300 Internet booths.

In turn, the 'Amazonia', which includes the world's largest river and the Amazon forest, also ranked first on a New Seven World Wonders of Nature list in the forests, national parks and nature reserves category (Group E).

Meanwhile, Colca Canyon, located in the department of Arequipa, moved up to fourth place in Group D (Caves, Rock Formations, Valleys).

Some thirty tour operators from different countries will visit Iquitos to participate in the 16th Peru Travel Mart (PMT), the most important annual event for the promotion of tourism in Peru, reported the regional director of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Cristina Alegría.

The foreign delegation will stay in the jungle Peruvian city of Iquitos from April 27 to 29, Alegria said.

Since 1987, PTM has been organized by the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) and Peru's Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru).

This event seeks to promote the cultural wealth of Peruvian regions including their customs, traditions, typical dishes and dances, among other tourist attractions.

Tour operators from France, Italy, Australia, Canada, UK, Romania, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela have already confirmed their participation in Iquito’s PTM and business roundtables.

Operators arriving in Iquitos will be able to enjoy the regional tourism diversity and have the possibility to settle businesses in the tourism sector.

In the same way, the visit includes a tour of Loreto’s natural attractions located in the eastern Peruvian jungle, taking into account its ecotourism potential.

A group of Peruvian chasquis (or Inca messengers) will run from the snow-capped mountains of Arequipa to the Bolivian capital La Paz to create more awareness about voting for Colca Canyon and Lake Titicaca in the ongoing voting to select the world's new seven wonders of nature.

The Arequipa - La Paz Chasquis Race will start from Chivay -capital of the Caylloma province in Arequipa- on Tuesday, March 10, and will finish in La Paz, Bolivia, on Thursday 12.

After the race, Peruvian and Bolivian authorities will sign a Binational Cooperation Agreement to promote the Colca Valley and Lake Titicaca as world wonders of nature.

Colca Autonomous Authority (AutoColca) president, Jose Luis Talavera, said this agreement with the Lake Titicaca Binational Authority aims to reaffirm friendship ties between the two cities and the commitment to supporting Colca and Titicaca in the new seven wonders of nature race.

AutoColca representative mentioned that last month they met with La Paz authorities to sign a similar document, which will be ratified next week in Bolivia.

The Carnival Splendor, one of the most modern ships of the fleet of Carnival Cruise Lines, arrived on Sunday in the port of Callao with more than 3,000 passengers and 1,910 crew members on board from the port of Valparaiso, Chile.

The imposing ship, regarded as the biggest transatlantic that has sailed by the Peruvian coast, arrived at approximately 06:00 am (11:00 GMT).

During their stay in Lima for 12 hours, the Carnival Splendor’s passengers visited various tourist attractions of the city including Lima’s Main Square, the Cathedral, Santo Domingo and San Francisco Convent, Larco and Gold Museums, Pachacamac ruins, ranches with Peruvian Paso Horse exhibition and the Indian Market.

Tourists also enjoyed the extraordinary Peruvian cuisine in various restaurants in the city, which already had prepared varied menus and buffets of our flagship dishes.

An important group of passengers of the huge ship traveled to the historic city of Cusco, where they will stay two nights after that they will return to the cruise ship to visit its next destination: Ecuador.

Afterwards, the vessel continued its journey through Acapulco (Mexico) Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), Los Angeles (USA) and finally San Francisco (USA).

The Carnival Splendor provides a host of new features, including: staterooms with flat screen TVs; a spectacular 21,000-square-foot, two-level spa and gym facility; 5,500-square-foot children's playroom; and a mid-ship pool covered with a two-deck-high Sliding Sky Dome.

Peruvian and foreign tourists visiting the Andean department of Puno have now the opportunity to take a new tourist route called "Men and Stone", which includes visits to stone monuments and craft workshops/fairs in different towns around the provinces of Lampa and Melgar.

Gestur NGO representative Hernan Cornejo Rosello said that with the launch of the new tour hundreds of local poor communities will benefit from increased tourist flows.

The tour includes a visit to the traditional pottery village of Pucara and its Stone Museum showcasing a collection of sculptures such as monoliths, steles and zoomorphic pieces, as well as ceramics and other objects.

Pucara is a town located in the Lampa province 107 km northeast of Puno and 62 km northwest of Juliaca, home to the famous Toritos de Pucara (Little Bulls from Pucara) traditional little sculpture clay works native of the nearby community of Santiago de Pupuja (15 km) whose reason to be is related to the magical and religious spirit of the farmers.

The “Men and Stone” tour will also take tourists to the Melgar province at 3,907 m.a.s.l. (12,820 ft). One of its highlights are the towns of Tarukani and Tinajani, famous for their large number of Puyas Raimondi (endemic species of the high Andean zones of Bolivia and Peru) and spectacular rock formations, respectively.

Italian-born American molecular geneticist and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Mario Capecchi, described the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu as a magnificent piece of architecture.

Capecchi was very impressed on how Machu Picchu was built, "The symmetry and length allow a 360 degree view of the citadel," he told Andina news agency.

Capecchi, who is visiting Cusco with his wife and daughter, said it is surprising the ingenuity of Peru's Incas and Mexico's Aztecs to build "such amazing" monuments, which show the development of their cultures.

According to Julio Castro Gómez, Dean of the Peruvian Medical College, Capecchi visited Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley last weekend and today he will make a tour through the city of Cusco.

The tour includes a visit to the Temple and Fortress of Sacsayhuaman (15 minutes drive from central Cusco), the Temple of the Sun or Koricancha in Cusco and other colonial monuments.

Capecchi, whose research open the possibility of curing diseases of genetic origin, has scheduled its return to Peru's capital Lima for the next few hours.

Capecchi came to Peru on Friday to attend the International Seminar on "Research on stem cells: progress, controversies and perspectives", which will take place on February 10-11 at the Peruvian Medical College.

The Andean city of Puno in southeastern Peru will hold Monday a traditional parade and religious rites to honor their patron saint, the Virgen de la Candelaria.

More than sixty folk groups who participated Sunday in the colourful regional dance competition will parade today throughout the main squares and streets of Puno.

For 18 days, the highland city of Puno, nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3,870 meters above sea level, celebrates the Virgen de la Candelaria Festival with a series of traditional dances and songs performed by over 200 folk groups from all over the region.

The festival is linked to the pre-Hispanic agricultural cycles of sowing and harvesting, as well as mining activities in the region. It is the result of a blend of respectful Aymara gaiety and ancestral Quechua seriousness.

The dance of the demons, or diablada, the main dance of the festival, was allegedly dreamed up by a group of miners trapped down a mine who, in their desperation, resigned their souls to the Virgen de la Candelaria.

The Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur) of Puno said it is expected that over 40,000 tourists arrive in Puno this month to participate in the activities scheduled as part of the Virgen de la Candelaria Festival.

In 2003, the event was declared Peru's Cultural Heritage by the National Institute of Culture (INC).

Three preferred destinations in Ecuador and Peru have made it through the first stage to pick the New 7 Wonders of the World. The Tourism authorities of both countries were officially notified that Lake Titicaca, the Galápagos Islands and Amazonia (shared by Peru and Ecuador and several other countries) have entered phase two of this international competition as of December 31st 2008.

260 natural locations have made it to the second phase, and only 20 are in South America. The voting of the second phase will conclude on July 7 with 21 finalists to be voted throughout 2010 and in 2011, the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World will be designated. Your vote is important at www.N7W.com.

Heavy rains have damaged Peru’s famed Nazca lines, a top tourist attraction and one of the world’s greatest archaeological mysteries, reported daily Peru21 on Tuesday.

Precipitation has left a layer of white desert clay and sand atop some of the fingers of a geoglyph known as “the hand.”

The damage is minor, “and is reversible,” said archaeologist Mario Olaechea, of Peru’s National Culture Institute.

“We are presently conducting a field evaluation,” said Olaechea. “We have observed minor damage, and believe that the geoglyph can be restored.”

The sand and clay should soon be carefully dusted away to restore the geoglyph.

Since their discovery by American scientist Paul Kosok in 1939, the Nazca lines on Peru’s rocky Pampa San José have mystified scholars and astounded tourists.

Originally considered to be the vestiges of irrigation lines beyond the lush Nazca valley, the hundreds of figures – ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized marine animal figures and birds including a hummingbird, pelican and condor – are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Peru.

However, as only the lizard, hands and the tree figures can be seen from the a viewing platform located adjacent to the Pan-American Highway, hundreds of planes fly over the lines from dawn to dusk every day.

According to the New 7 Wonders Foundation's website, the Amazon River - a nomination shared by nine South American countries including Peru - is one of the favorites to make it to the top 77.

Voters visiting the official website can now see the top 77 Official New7Wonders of Nature nominees of the week by category groups (Landscapes and Ice Formations; Islands; Mountains and Volcanoes; Caves, Rock Formations and Valleys; Forests, National Parks and Nature Reserves; Lakes, Rivers and Waterfalls; and Seascapes).

The Amazon River/Forest, the world's largest tropical rainforest, ranks second in Group E (Forests, National Parks and Nature Reserves).

The Amazon River accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.

Other nominations in Peru include Lake Titicaca, ranked seventh in Group F (Lakes, rivers and waterfalls) and Colca Canyon, which is in fifth place in Group D (Caves, rock formations and valleys).

A total of 261 qualified national and multinational nominees from 222 countries are participating in this second phase of the Official New7Wonders of Nature campaign. People's votes will decide which of these 261 nominees make it to the top 77.

The inbound tourism in Peru continues to grow strongly and this year could register an increase of between 7 and 8 percent compared to last year, Peru’s Trade Minister Mercedes Araoz said this week.

“We are still making this year’s estimates, because the international crisis could decrease our growth but we could expect a rate of up to 8 percent”, she said to Andina News Agency.

She added that since the international crisis worsened in September last year, no decrease was registered in the number of tourists who travel across the country.

“Tourism has not dropped, there is no formal information about it, no cancellations were registered”, minister Araoz pointed out.

More than 2 million tourists visited Peru last year, 14 percent more compared to 2007.

She told that a large group of visitors came from Chile and the United States.

One of the strategies the Ministry is working on consists of attracting tourists, especially from Latin-American countries, which are closer to Peru.

San Agustín Hotels Chain plans to open its Hotel San Agustín Plaza in the Andean city of Cusco in September or October 2009, the company's general manager Manuel García said on Monday.

"We have overcome all administrative obstacles and we already have the construction permit. The Hotel Plaza will be temporarily closed to allow building demolition," he told Andina news agency.

The project includes the construction of a four-star boutique hotel on the site of the former Hotel Plaza.

The Hotel San Agustin Plaza is located in the Cusco downtown, in front of the Koricancha Temple, in the Avenida El Sol the most important of the Cusco City, and is just 4 blocks to the Main Square of Cusco.

The Hotel San Agustin Plaza will offer 47 rooms with view to the "Koricancha Temple". Each of them equipped with cable TV, frigobar, digital telephone, hair dyer and safety box. The hotel counts with smoking and non-smoking rooms.

On the other hand, Manuel Garcia announced the completion of expansion works at its Hotel & Spa San Agustin Urubamba, located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

The Hotel & Spa San Agustin Urubamba offers 72 rooms and suites. All the rooms offer: cable TV, telephone, hair dryer, no smoking rooms, buffet breakfast, room service, restaurant and bar, meeting room, fax service, laundry and dry cleaning express service, bilingual staff offering personalized service.

Telethon 2008 raised on Sunday a record 10 million soles for hundreds of children and adolescents being treated at the Hogar Clínica San Juan de Dios, a rehabilitation clinic for disabled patients of scarce economic resources.

Peruvian President Alan García, who hosted this traditional one-day fundraising event, announced at 1:00 am (6:00 GMT) that 9 million soles in cash and S/. 1 million in equipments and supplies have been collected for children at San Juan de Dios Clinic.

The Peruvian leader explained that Telethon organizers are still tallying the money raised from phone calls; therefore, it is expected that the total value of donations will surpass 10 million soles.

President García thanked famous artists, television channels, producer Ricardo Ghibellini and all Peruvians for their participation and support during this charity event held Sunday at the Government Palace in Peru's capital Lima.

"This is a time for solidarity and for people to unite. What I wanted to do in this Telethon is to demonstrate that Peruvians can be united by setting aside political differences, disputes and grudges to think about human issues," Alan García said on early Monday.

On sunday, a great number of talented artists perfomed traditional Peruvian dances and songs during the Telethon fundraising event which was attended by hundreds of Peruvians.

Music artists performing at the event included Latin Grammy-winning pop singer Gian Marco Zignago, folk singer Dina Páucar, Cumbia band Grupo 5, and Latin American Idol finalist Sandra Muente, among other singers and bands.

The US largest selling daily newspaper in the United States, USA Today, shows in its travel section an article that highlights Peru as one of the main destinations to visit in 2009.

Besides Peru, the article also includes other four amazing places, such as Riviera Nayarit (Mexico), Vancouver (Canada), Kansas City (United State) and Vilnius (Lithuania).

With a picture of Caral citadel USA Today says that Peru offers unforgettable destinations like Caral, one of the archeological ruins of what is widely recognized as the oldest city in the Americas.

Christine Sarkis, who wrote the mentioned article and works for the online travel magazine SmarterTravel.com says that more people are visiting Peru every year and recommend it as a travel destination for 2009 since this Andean country is supporting its growth in this industry with major funding of tourism infrastructures and projects.

She stressed on Lima (Peru’s capital) concentrates the appeal of Peru into an urban centre. Rich in museums celebrating the heritage, culture, and natural beauty of the country, it also has colonial architecture, archaeological ruins, scenic landscapes, and even beaches.

The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) trained 130 representatives and employees of restaurants and lodging establishments in Machu Picchu district (Cusco), with the aim of promoting good practices to improve the quality of tourism services.

The courses were focused on the implementation of Good Practice Management services manual in Lodging establishments and Good Practice for Food Handling for Restaurants and Related Services manuals, developed as part of the National Plan for Tourism Quality (Caltur).

The first manual considers that competitiveness in the hosting service is primarily based on intangibles, such as the service quality provided by employees.

In addition, small and medium-sized companies of the tourism industry will give recommendations to improve the services, starting a quality commitment ad counting on more satisfied customers.

The ex-hostage of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Ingrid Betancourt, arrives in Peru on Thursday to hold a series of meetings with Peruvian officials, the Colombian ambassador to Lima, Alvaro Pava, said.

He indicated that the Colombian ex-presidential candidate does not yet have a specific agenda, but this would include a meeting with Peruvian president Alan García.

In declarations to Andina news agency, Pava recalled that Betancourt has began a tour around several Latin American countries, to thank for the support provided for her freeing, in the frame of a campaign that seeks to favor the release of FARC’s captives.

Betancourt, who is currently living in France after being rescued last July 2, started her Latin American tour on Monday in Ecuador, where she met with president Rafael Correa, who offered her to continue efforts for releasing FARC's hostages.

The Colombian former hostage arrived today in the city of Buenos Aires, where she is expected to meet with the Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and tomorrow Wednesday she will go to Santiago de Chile to meet with president Michelle Bachelet.

After visiting Peru, Betancourt will visit Brazil, Bolivia, and Venezuela, countries that are also part of this tour.

An expedition of local authorities verified the finding of a possible pre-Inca citadel at the Pachallama hill, located in the village of La Palma, province of Utcubamba (Peru’s Amazonas), after this was reported by people of the zone.

The group, which arrived last weekend, found stone circular dwellings along five hectares over a farming land located in the above-mentioned village.

In these dwelling places, there were also found big stones that would have been used by ancient people of the area to grind some seeds and wild plants.

The expedition has to face difficulties such as the slope of the Pachallama hill, due to wild nature and rain, in order to depart from Bagua Grande and go across the Pururco town.

The mayor of Jamalca, Ricardo Cabrera Bravo, said to Andina news agency that were inhabitants of La Palma who fitted out the area.

"They organized the work, provided with machetes they cleared the way until arrive in the place where it is possible to sight a beautiful natural landscape full of flora and fauna, besides a waterfall of approximately 500 meters", he said.

The professor Benedicto Perez Goicochea, who reported the discovery, said that cave paintings on a cliff were also found.

"The citadel arrives in an abyss that, we think, ancient inhabitants used as viewing-point and where they could see possible enemies", he added.

A total of 2,600 tourists will visit Lima’s Historical Centre Thursday, after the arrival of the Star Princess cruise ship to Callao’s port, in Peru.

The Municipality of Lima will welcome them with a “creole show” (typical Peruvian music) at Lima’s Main Square, accompanied of a traditional pisco sour and handicraft souvenirs.

Travelers will make a city tour with panoramic visits to the Lima’ Main Square, the Cathedral, churches and convents of Santo Domingo and San Francisco, Parque de la Muralla (Wall Park and Museum), among other tourist attractions.

They will arrive by groups to the Main Square in buses, and later they will go round the tourist places as well and enjoy the Peruvian gastronomy.

The giant “Star Princess” will depart from San Francisco port, the United States, for a 32-day journey through South America.

Lima has a rich and varied tourist offer for adventurers to enjoy during the upcoming holiday weekend - November 20, 21, 22 and 23 - on the occasion of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Lima’s governor Nelson Chui Mejía said Thursday. Governor Chui Mejía noted that visitors will have the opportunity to visit archaeological and cultural sites, go to sunny beaches, explore natural environments and enjoy local gastronomy.

For example, he mentioned that in northern Lima, which includes Huaral, Oyón, Huaura, Cajatambo and Barranca provinces, people can visit the ancient citadels of Caral and Bandurria, located near Huacho province.

"If tourists are planning to stay more than one day in the area, they can also tour the Lomas de Lachay national reserve or the beautiful cities of Chancay and Huaral," he added.

In addition, he recommended to visit the Krishna Eco Truly Park temple near Chacra y Mar beach in Chancay, as well as Las Shicras archaeological site in the Chancay valley, in Huaral.
As for the cuisine, visitors can taste salchicha huachana (a typical Peruvian sausage), cracklings, tamales, rice with duck, duck ceviche, local soups and varied dishes based on fish, shellfish and guinea pig.
In southern Lima, Chui Mejía recommended tourists to visit Azpitia, a traditional town known for its wines, piscos (a popular Peruvian drink distilled from grapes) and scenic natural landscapes.

In Lunahuaná, Canete, tourists will also have the chance to taste wine and farmhouse pisco as they get ready to enjoy rafting through the beautiful and narrow Lunahuana River.

Finally, in the central part of Lima (Canta, Huarochirí and Yauyos provinces), tourists can start planning a fantastic adventure journey to Palakala Waterfall and Zarate Forests while nature, mystic, and esoteric lovers are invited to visit Markahuasi.

In Canta, tourists can visit the town of Santa Rosa de Quives, which receives many visitors in August during Holy Week.

With the aim of promoting the tourist activity in the Peruvian department of Ica, hit by last year's earthquake, a series of cultural, artistic, and sport activities has been programmed on occasion of the 29th Tourist Week, the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur), reported Wednesday.

The head of Tourism of Dircetur-Ica, Julio Valenzuela, said that even though the tourist activity of the department has been recovered from earthquake, “it is necessary to continue boosting this sector, specially now that Peru is in the eyes of the world due to be a host country of important international summits”.

“We estimate that about 1,500 visitors will participate in the diverse activities scheduled for the tourist week, number that could be increased considering that APEC’s long holiday weekend begins on November 20th”, he said to Andina news agency. “Undoubtedly, this tourist week will be different with respect to last year’s because the earthquake was recent by then. Now, Ica’s business sector shows more enthusiasm to host this event”, he added.

The 29th Tourist Week of Ica began last Monday and will last until Sunday November 16th. Among the most important activities are the contest of typical costumes and gastronomic festivals, which will count on the participation of schools, restaurants and high education institutes.

Peru ranks among the most important tourist destinations in the world thanks to the worldwide recognition that it has achieved throughout the years, Peru's Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru) reported Wednesday.

On this occasion, Peru won four out of ten prizes awarded by the Latin American Travel Association (LATA) based in the United Kingdom.

PromPeru, which main goal is to promote Peru's exports and tourist attractions, was chosen as the Best Tourism Promotion Office in Latin America.

In addition, the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica Lodge, a hotel located in Peru’s Amazon Basin, was named the "Best Lodge in the Jungle”.

Peru’s Aqua Expeditions was also named the "Best Luxury Cruise" for its Amazon River voyages from Iquitos (Loreto) to the National Reserve of Pacaya – Samiria.

Meanwhile, Orient-Express Hotels, Trains and Cruises, which has hotels in Lima (Miraflores Park Hotel), Cusco (Hotel Monasterio), Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge) and the Colca Canyon in Arequipa (Las Pocitas del Colca), was named the Best Hotel Chain.

According to a recent census conducted by the National Institute of Natural Resources (Inrena) in the country’s southern regions, Peru has 447 Darwin's Rheas, flightless Andean birds in danger of extinction.

Inrena’s Biodiversity Conservation Directorate (DCB) said that the census was conducted in the departments of Puno, Tacna and Moquegua, between May and July this year, in an area of 13 square kilometers.

According to Inrena representative Miguel Lleellish, 43 percent of the birds were found in Moquegua.

More than 150 volunteers from three local towns, most of them professional forest rangers and residents, participated in the process.

The project is part of a joint work between Inrena, regional governments, municipalities, universities as well as public and private organizations.

Darwin's Rhea (Rhea pennata), also known as the Lesser Rhea, is the smaller of the two extant species of rhea. It stands at 90 to 100 centimeters (3 ft to 3 ft 4 in) tall, and has larger wings than other ratites, enabling it to run particularly well.

It can reach speeds of 60 km/hour, enabling it to outrun predators. The sharp claws on the toes are effective weapons.

Darwin's Rhea lives in areas of open scrub in the grasslands of Patagonia and on the Andean plateau, through the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. It is known locally by various names, depending on the location: suri, choique, ñandú petiso, or ñandú del norte.

The next meeting of micro and small businessmen of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), to be held on November 17, is an excellent opportunity for Peruvian MSEs to learn from the best experiences and continue growing, the president of the Coordinating Committee of Gamarra Entrepreneurs, Diógenes Alva, said Thursday.

“We will take part of this meeting, besides others linked to APEC 2008. It will be essential to share experiences with the 21 most important economies of the world, which regard Peru as a country of great potential and which development of the last years has attracted investors”, he said in a local TV station.

Alva indicated that recently, Gamarra entrepreneurs have participated in seminars and meetings held in countries such as China and Singapore, due to the economic summit.

“We take experiences from APEC countries, which should be implemented in conglomerates such as Gamarra, Villa El Salvador and Huaycán. They are innovative ideas that will be also presented on November 17 and I expect that the micro entrepreneurs can take them”, he said.

“We should not only considering neighboring countries. To sign FTAs with countries of other markets will allow us to be more competitive”, he added.

On the other hand, Alva asked the financial system to be more flexible issuing loans to the sector, in special now that there is a law promoting the formalization of the MSEs.

The service of hot-air-balloon rides over the Callejón de Huaylas will start in April of 2009, with the aim of improving the tourist offer in the Peruvian department of Ancash, the general manager of the company Globos del Peru, Luis Fernández, reported Wednesday.

He said the balloon, 28-meter diameter and 30-meter height, will have a capacity for seven passengers and will offer services only from April to November, because from December to March is rainy season in the zone, which makes balloon trips difficult.

“The investment demands around 110,000 dollars and includes the purchase of a hot air balloon, a van, offices in Huaraz and the respective equipment”, he said to Andina news agency.

Fernández estimated that 1-hour ride ticket would cost between 65 and 100 dollars and would include transfering the tourist from the hotel to the departure point.

“In fact, since now, some hotels and tourist operators already have reservations for balloon rides over the Callejón de Huaylas”, he said.

He also said that the hot air balloon will be one made by the Spanish firm Ultramagic, one of the largest manufacturers of hot air balloons and cold air inflatables in the world.

Thousands of Peruvian and foreign tourists arrive in Moquegua to venerate the Virgin and martyr Saint Fortunata in the most important religious festival of this Southern Andean department.

The festivities, which began a week ago, will end on October 14, main day of of this religious festival considered one of the most important in southern Peru.

As part of the activities, a fireworks and burning of castles show was scheduled tomorrow, Monday 13, at Moquegua's Main Square. On October 14, devotees will attend a mass and procession of the replica of the Virgin.

The more than ten thousand tourists who annually visit Moquegua during this festivity show great devotion to St. Fortunata, whose intact body remains in a special wooden box inside the Cathedral of Moquegua.

During the religious festival highlights the countless delegations of dancers arriving from several areas of the southern of the country, especially from Ilo and Tacna cities.

Santa Fortunata, Virgin and martyr, was born between the years 281 to 287 of our era. She died on October 14 when she only had 17 years old during the continuous persecution that Christians suffered by the Emperor Diocesan in the called "Era of Martyrs."

The first great Parade of Tourism in Cusco, created and organized by Cusco's Chamber of Commerce, Cusco Regional Chamber of Tourism (CARTUC) and the Peruvian Association of Cusco Travel Agencies (AATC), exceeded all expectations because it counted on the participation of more than a hundred entities.

Tomorrow, at noon, floats, cars, bands and musical groups will parade from Almudena square towards Cusco's main square. The event will finish with “Cusco’s Great Night".

This event is sponsored and supported by PromPerú, Cusco regional government, Office of Foreign Trade and Tourism, National Police, Santiago and Písac municipalities, Filigranas Peruanas, private companies and public entities.

The president of Cusco's Chamber of Commerce, Fernando Ruiz Caro, thanked all participants for the success of this activity, and emphasized that the activity helps to show the real Cusco: close, fraternal and festive.

In turn, Marco Ochoa, AATC president, highlighted the massive participation of the micro and small enterprises of the zone that will parade together with their institutions.

The Municipality of Caylloma, a province located in the southern Peruvian region of Arequipa, will celebrate World Tourism Day from September 21 – 27 with a series of artistic and cultural activities including a tourist parade.

Local mayor Jorge Cueva Tejada said these activities will also aim at encouraging people to vote for the Colca Valley in the New Seven Wonders of Nature Campaign.

A tourist parade with typical dances of Caylloma and of other Arequipa provinces will be held on September 26 through the main streets of the White City, Cueva stated.

In addition, local authorities will also organize the Colca Week which includes cultural and traditional activities to take place in the Main Square with the aim of attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.

During this week, people can appreciate the beauty of Colca Valley through an exhibition of paintings and can also taste typical local food.

Mayor Cueva said that during this week-long event, computers will be installed in the Arequipa’s Main Square so people can cast their vote for the Colca Valley.

On Sunday 27, several activities will be carried out in the square of Chivay, capital of Caylloma province, offering tourists a warm welcome with traditional dances and dishes.

The Colca Valley is located in southern Peru, province of Caylloma, over 100 km on NNW from Arequipa. The Colca Valley is a colorful Andean valley with towns founded in Spanish Colonial times and formerly inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas.

The first phase of the contest to name the seven natural wonders of the world entered the final stage, so Peruvian nominees such as Titicaca Lake and Amazon River need people’s support to be elected Natural Wonders, said today Julián Barra Catacora, executive president of the Binational Authority of Lake Titicaca (ALT).

He stated that Peru's attractions, Amazon River and Lake Titicaca, rank among the 30 first places according to the New 7 Wonders Foundation, organizer of this contest.

Barra said that 289 natural sites participate in this contest. Asia has the largest number of nominations, 63; followed by South America with 58, Europe with 57, Africa with 48, North America with 47 and Oceania with 16.

Only 35 of all the nominees have an official support committee, 16 of these belong to South America, seven to Asia, six to North America, five to Europe and one to Oceania. Africa has not regularized the registration of any candidate yet.

The president of ALT, who also chairs the official support committee for the candidature of Titicaca Lake, highlighted the progress of two other South American sites nominees: Iguazú Waterfalls (Argentina / Brazil) and the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), which have positioned in the first ten places.

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It sits 3,812 m (12,507 ft) above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America.

The Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers flowing into the ocean combined.

The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one fifth of the world's total river flow.

The Baños del Inca district, one of the most important tourist resort in Peru's northern highlands, celebrated Sunday its 49th anniversary of political creation and the Virgin of the Nativity festival which brought together thousands of worshippers from the Cajamarca region and elsewhere.

Celebrations began early morning with a 21-gun salute, followed by a Mass and Te Deum at the Virgin of the Nativity Church.

This and the other anniversary activities were attended by local mayor Julio Dávila Silva, political and military authorities, as well as civil society representatives.

Mayor Julio Dávila presided over the solemn ceremony held at the Municipality and in his speech he highlighted the district's rapid growth and development.

The Baños del Inca district is one of twelve districts of Cajamarca and is famous for its wonderful thermal baths where Atahuallpa, the last Inca Emperor, encamped with his army at the time of his arrest.

Today, the site offers a variety of buildings for bathing, facilities for saunas, swimming and an unusual heated boating lake.

The arrival of foreign tourists to the Andean city of Puno, in southern Peru, rose 28.77 percent in July compared to the same period of 2007, Peru’s Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism announced today.

Local director Porfirio Aguilar said the arrival of foreign tourists to Puno has seen a significant jump from 16, 908 in July 2007 to 21, 773 million in July this year.

Aguilar detailed there was an increase of 4, 865 visitors, a 28.77 percent rise compared to last year.

Aguilar attributed this growth to the election of Machu Picchu Inca citadel as one of the new seven wonders of the modern world, "which has also served to show the other wonders that Peru has."

"The eyes of the world are on Machu Picchu. In addition, Puno and Bolivia share the Lake Titicaca, considered the world’s highest navigable lake, hence, tourists traveling to Machu Picchu cannot miss the opportunity to our immense water mirror," he said.

Aguilar added that the largest number of foreign visitors come from the USA (13,064 tourists from Jan-July 2008), followed by France (12,917), the UK (10,507) and other European countries.

The director of the Executive Unit Naylamp: 111 - Lambayeque, Celso Sialer Távara, announced that two new site museums will open its doors before the end of this year in this country's zone, which will be included in the tourist offer that presents the northern department.

Sialer Távara said that these museums are Huaca Rajada Site Museum, located at Pomalca's district and Chotuna Site Museum, in Lambayeque's province.

"Presently, both cultural complexes are in a process of museographic implementation to make possible its opening on occasion of Lambayeque’s province anniversary that is commemorated on December 27, opening the doors to the national and international tourism”, he said.

In addition, he indicated that both museums will be incorporated to Lambayeque's tourist offer integrated by the cultural complexes Royal Tombs of Sipán, Bruning Museum, Túcume's Site Museum and Sicán Museum.

Train tickets from Cusco or Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu will cost less if new companies start operating on this train route currently operated by PeruRail, reported today Inka Rail.

PeruRail, partly owned by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd and their partners, has been running the railroad form Cusco to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) for nine years.

Inka Rail noted that after signing the concession contract in 1999, prices for the backpacker and vistadome service increased from $34 to $73 and from $55 to $113, respectively, in 2006.

However it mentioned that 25.7% and 31.5% price reductions in both services are expected this year.

A week ago, PeruRail denied any rise in ticket prices on the Cusco-Machu Picchu route as it was mentioned by Andean Railways, a company pushing for access to the rail route.

This Saturday, the Shrine of Saint Rose of Lima will open its doors from six o'clock in the morning to receive thousands of devotees and visitors who every year come together to commemorate the Day of the Patroness of Lima, Peru, the Americas and the Philippines.

The prior father of the sanctuary, Juan José Ungido, said that all street lamps, walls, railings and statues have been cleaned and painted inside and around the Temple to give it a bright look during this weekend's celebrations.
 

Saint Rose of Lima was the name bestowed upon a woman who dedicated her life to caring for the sick. Isabel Flores de Oliva was born in Lima in 1586 and died in 1617. Her character and good work earned her considerable fame even within her own lifetime and by the end of her own century she had become the first saint of the Americas and the patron saint of Lima.

Her shrine, in the historic centre of Lima, attracts a continual flow of pilgrims who come in hope of a miracle or a cure. On her day, pilgrims compose letters, detailing their needs, and leave them at the well in the garden of the hermitage, or in the shrine itself. The anniversary is a holiday celebrated throughout Peru, but especially in the city of Lima and the town of Santa Rosa de Quives.

More than 200 local pisco distilleries have already confirmed their participation in the 12th National Festival and 15th National Contest of Pisco, which will take place from September 12 to 14 at the Jockey Plaza shopping center in Lima, announced the president of the National Commission of Pisco (Conapisco), Johann Spitzer.

Spitzer said that at present there are 446 distilleries with the denomination of origin "Pisco" registered in Conapisco, of which 77% are located in the regions of Lima and Ica.

"The denomination of origin is a technical standard that upholds the uniqueness, contribution, tradition, history, climate, soil, roots, grape variety, and Peruvianess of Pisco. It is the seal of quality to which all pisco producers aspire," Spitzer said. 

He noted that the various versions of the festival and contest nationwide have been platforms for pisco producers of several generations to present their products to domestic buyers, such as supermarkets, hotels and restaurants.

In fact, he said the figures show that such promotion events have resulted in a significant growth in the production of Pisco.

In this regard, Spitzer noted that the production of pisco saw an accumulated growth of 139% between 2003 and 2007, and estimated that this year there will be a growth between 12% and 18%.

The 12th National Festival and 15th National Contest of Pisco is organised by the Ministry of Production and the National Commission of Pisco (Conapisco).

Polish archaeologist Mariusz Ziolkowskic, co-director of the Archaeological Project "Condesuyos", announced that the archaeological site of Maucallacta, located in the southern Peruvian region of Arequipa, would be open to public by the end of this month.

The architectural Inca complex of Maucallacta is located above the contemporary village of San Antonio (Administrative District of Pampacolca, Province of Castilla, Department of Arequipa) at approximately 3,700 meters (10,000 ft) above sea level.

It overlooks the neighboring valley and the nearest bigger city, Pampacolca, is located approximately 170 kilometers (110 miles) north-west of the city of Arequipa in the southern highlands of Peru.

This site was restored thanks to the Polish contribution and the support from local authorities such as district mayor Vicente Cárcamo Huamaní.

Maucallacta, which in Quechua language means "old town", is composed of more than two hundred stone buildings and tombs, an ushnu and three huge ceremonial platforms, made of stones and earth.

According to experts, this site is believed to be an important administrative, pilgrimage and religious center related to the volcano.

The Chiribaya Archaeological Museum, which houses 270 pieces of the Chiribaya culture that flourished on Peru’s southern coast between 800 and 1350 AD, was inaugurated in Arequipa, with the aim of becoming a new tourist attraction for the city.

The museum consists of nine rooms where you can see pieces as fishing and farming gear as well as interesting collection of ceramics, textiles and gold and silver work of more than thousand years old. 

José Jimenez Lazo, owner of the pieces, said that the archaeological legacy was inherited from his father, a doctor who lived since 1956 in the valley of Ilo (Moquegua), where he took an interest in the Chiribaya culture after receiving from the villagers some objects as a gift. 

"My father is not charged for the medical care to people and help pay their solidarity gave him pieces of their ancestors, which began to interest my father," he said.

Evidence of this culture can be found in Arica to the south and as far north as the Tambo valley in Arequipa.

Animal husbandry was important to them and research has shown that they bred a llama which produced a longer and finer wool than the best alpaca of today.

Their textiles are of camelid wool, exquisitely styled and displaying advanced techniques. Their ceramic ware is unique, decorated in geometric patterns whose meaning has not yet been revealed.

Agriculture was also very important to their economy. Maize, sweet potato, cassava, jiquima and molle were consumed in large quantities. Fruits included lucuma, guayaba and pacae.

A sample of the main traditional dishes and varied crafts of the department of Lambayeque (Peru) will be exhibited in a business round table, which will take place next October in the city of Loja (Ecuador).

The event, to be held from October 6 to 8, is organized by the Economic Development Management of the regional government of Lambayeque.

Authorities and entrepreneurs of Ecuador may taste Lambayeque’s traditional dishes like cebiche, arroz con pato (braised duck with coriander rice), arroz con cabrito (goat and rice), chinguirito, causa, espesado, among others.

They will also taste traditional beverages like chicha de jora (a corn-based drink) and algarrobina cocktail as well as the typical Lambayeque’s desserts.

The regional manager of Economic Development, Rosa Meléndez Malatesta, reported that the gastronomic journey will take place on October 8 at the facilities of the Hotel Libertador, one of the best in the Ecuadorian city. The dishes, he said, will be prepared by renowned restaurants.

Lambayeque’s handicraft products will be exhibited in stands installed at the Universidad Técnica Privada de Loja, venue of business round table.

During ten days, Lambayeque’s people will have the opportunity of appreciating hundreds of pieces discovered in the millennial city of Caral as well as in other places with more than 30 centuries of antiquity such as Aspero or Vichama. This is a traveling exhibition dedicated to Caral, which will be inaugurated in the campus of the Universidad San Martín in Chiclayo, with a free admission.

The pieces discovered in the considered South America’s oldest city is presented by second time outside of Lima. The first expo of this kind was presented in Cusco, and now it is planned an exhibition in Trujillo.

Representatives of the Archaeological Project Caral-Supe expressed that these tours in the interior of the country allow them to get experience in order to exhibit later the discoveries in other places of the continent. Among the countries that are considered to present this expo are Brazil, Argentine and Colombia.

The ancient city of Caral is located about 200 kilometers north of Lima, in the valley of Supe. It is considered, in special by the archaeologist Ruth Shady, as the origin place of the American civilization. The Radiocarbon dates show an antiquity of 5000 years, which makes it contemporary with Egypt’s civilization.

The municipality of Kimbiri district in Cusco will promote the 40.000 square meter archaeological site of Manco Pata which was discovered by local people in last December. First of all, the elaboration of studies in the area is planned to determine the concrete actions to promote this place as an important alternative for tourism, the municipality told Andina news agency.

"Since its discovery there are many people interested in visiting it, even from abroad. The objective is to promote the archeological site as a tourist attraction", said local authority Alex Lizaraso.

For this initiative we consider the use of gas royalties, if it is considered as a priority project in the participatory budget, otherwise we will seek foreign financing.

The municipality has estimated that the works will require an investment of between 500,000 and one million soles, from the initial studies to the end of the project.

Manco Pata was discovered on December 29 in the rural community of "Union Vista Alegre", in the village of Lobo Tahuantinsuyo, while clearing the area of brush.

Authorities explained that this fortress could be part of the lost citadel of Paititi the legendary lost city said to lie east of the Andes, hidden somewhere within the remote rain forests of southeast Peru, northern Bolivia, and southwest Brazil.
The place will be immediately declared "Cultural Intangible Heritage and ecotourism reserve of the town of Kimbiri and the VRAE" and will be promoted in the Cusco tourist circuit.

A spectacular waterfall believed to be among the highest in the country was found in the jungle province of Uctubamba, located in Peru’s Amazonas region, local explorer Obed Cabanillas Silva announced yesterday.

This waterfall is said to be higher than the magnificent Gocta Waterfall which is 771 meters (2529 feet) high and located in Chachapoyas, northern Peru.

Adventurers who wish to explore this natural spot should pass by the village of San Antonio and then take a three hours walk along a gorgeous hiking trail.

Cabanillas mentioned that on the way to the waterfall, explorers will find stone structures which are surrounded by lush vegetation and orchids.

Some local people knew about the existence of this waterfall but never wanted to give any information because they fear this place would be damaged.

The Colca Autonomous Authority (Autocolca) created a huge worldwide marketing campaign to promote Colca Canyon as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and motivate Peruvians, tourists and cyber surfers around the world to vote for this tourist place located in Arequipa, Peru.

The general manager of Autocolca, Juan José Luis Talavera Suarez, reported that Colca Canyon, located in the province of Caylloma, deserves that recognition award because it is one of the deepest and most beautiful canyons in Peru.

This campaign named "Cañon del Colca, maravilla natural del mundo" (Colca Canyon, Natural Wonder of the World) started several months ago and its main objective is to promote this tourist attraction through media, parades and informative and photographic exhibitions.

Talavera also said this campaign has been moved to the Congress and different exhibition halls.

"In Arequipa, we are presenting conferences, photographic and painting exhibitions. We have also carried out contests in different districts along the Colca Valley to promote this voting", he stated.

From all Peruvian cities there is one that has made of its Holy Week celebrations a flagship product: Huamanga. The fervor during these Christian holidays comes from the colonial times of Ayacucho city, where dozens of viceregal period churches are located.

The archeologist Raúl Mancilla, member of the National Institute of Culture regional office, explains that this city was founded to cover three aspects: the politician-military aspect, the economic one, and finally, but not less important, the religious aspect.

By walking across these Andean streets, it is possible to find architectural testimonies of the colonial tastes.

From the end of the 16th century until present, different uses and customs have been implemented in these religious buildings; even in a church of the town is possible to find paintings of Marx and Hegel next to Christ figure.

Nevertheless, the most outstanding of this place continues being the devotion of the viceregal period.

Five Peruvian candidates, of over 380 worldwide nominates, which participate at Natural Wonders of the World contest hold the first 77 places of the competition organized by the Foundation New 7 Wonders.

The first stage of the contest, where cybernauts of the whole world can vote for their favorites, will finish on December 31 this year, then a special committee will choose, among the best 77 places, 21 finalists which will enter to the final competition until July, 2010.

From the beginning of the competition, the Amazon, the biggest river of the world and whose waters starts at Peru, was positioned among the first places, and nowadays holds position eight.

Lake Titicaca, the highest in the world, holds position 22, while Machu Picchu Ecological Reserve ranks 42, Colca Canon 44, and Lomas de Lachay, 57.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will honor the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and the archaeological site of Tipón as world’s civil engineering landmarks in a ceremony to be held in Cusco.

The event will take place on Saturday July 26 at the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad of Cusco (UNSAAC) during the international forum: "Scientific Recognition for Machu Picchu and Tipón as civil engineering landmarks".

The forum will be attended by renowned scientists, engineers, researches such as Ruth Wright, Kenneth Wright, Henry Petroski, Aleksandar Vesic, Clifford Schexnayder, Jorge Florez Ochoa, David Ugarte, Luis Barreda Murillo and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra.

For more than 40 years the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has recognized historically significant achievements that embody the pioneering spirit and ingenuity of civil engineers.

In September 2006, ASCE conferred landmark status on two Incan sites in Peru—Machu Picchu and Tipon.

Perched on a ridge in southern Peru more than 1,500 ft (457 m) above a bend in the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu is believed to have been built in the 15th century at the height of the Incan empire.

Often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas, the site comprises buildings, parks, terraces, and fountains that are interconnected by numerous channels and form part of a complex water drainage system.

Tipon, also in southern Peru, is located approximately 14.3 mi (23 km) southeast of Cusco and is known for its fine terraces and elaborate canals and aqueducts.

In addition to the Incan ceremonial buildings and living quarters, the site features underground channels and aboveground irrigation systems that once supplied the surrounding area with water.

The Magical Water Tour in Lima’s Parque de la Reserva will reopen its doors on Saturday with a special show marking the first anniversary of operations, the municipality of Lima announced today.

The show, which starts on Saturday at 6 pm, will feature a concert by Creole singer Rosa Luz and musician Miki Gonzalez and his band, Yuyachkani. The show will last until 10 pm.

In addition, there will be new choreographies using water, laser light shows and a monumental lighting of the entire Park and the Central Lodge.

It will be a night in which people can spend pleasant moments with the family in the midst of Peru's Independence Day celebrations.

In this way, the Magical Water Tour reopens its doors after several days of maintenance.

The small village of Llachon, located on the shores of Lake Titicaca in southeastern Puno region, expects to receive about 12,000 tourists this year, local tourism expert Felipe Quispe Ramos said.

In his statements to Andina news agency, Quispe noted that in the past five years there has been a significant increase in the influx of tourists to this peninsula in Puno.

He mentioned that about six thousand people visited Llachon last year and pointed out that local people estimate that this number will double this season.

Llachon is a small village located in the peninsula of Capachica 46 miles away from the city of Puno (1 hour and 20 minutes drive). This community has 1,300 inhabitants spread out the peninsula and they belong to the ethnic group of Quechuas.

One of the main activities in Llachon is the promotion of community-based rural tourism which aims to promote rural economic development and regional co-operation.

In the last days, a team of archaeologists headed by Ruth Shady has discovered a number of anthropomorphic figures believed to be some five thousand years old near the district of Vegueta in the province of Huaura on the coast north of Lima.

These relics have been unearthed in the archeological site of Vichama, or "hidden city", a place that belongs to the same civilization of Caral and which is located 159 kilometers north of Lima. Caral is considered the oldest city of America with around 5000 years old.

The figures represent a woman nursing and a person of high social status. It was reported that Carbon 14 dating will soon determine how old these relics are.

This discovery occurs almost a year after the start of archaeological Works on this site headed by Dr. Ruth Shady.

These objects, along with others found at the scene, will be exhibited at the Communitarian Museum of Vegueta starting this weekend.

Machu Picchu’s election as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in July 2007, will lead to a 12.5 increase in the number of tourists visiting the Inca citadel this year, totaling over 900,000 thousand national and foreign visitors, minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedez Aráoz, estimated Monday.

Last year, 800,158 tourists visited Machu Picchu, a 15.7 percent rise compared to 2006, according to information by the National Institute of Culture (INC).

Some 68.5 percent of that amount, totaling 548,168 tourists was foreign tourists, mainly from the United States and European countries (France, Spain, Germany and England), while 31.5 percent was domestic tourists, indicated Aráoz.

In the first three months of 2008, Machu Picchu received 174,227 tourists, 16.2 percent more than the same period last year.

"Tourism in Peru has increased rapidly. Inbound tourism grew 11 percent, and domestic tourism 15 percent last year", minister Aráoz said after participating in the ceremony to commemorate one year of Machu Picchu's selection as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

She stated Machu Picchu is not only one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but has been nominated as a natural wonder in a global contest.

But it is not the only natural wonder Peru has, since we have the Amazon River, Titicaca Lake and Nazca Lines, that also deserve that nomination.

So, she asked all Peruvians to work harder to improve tourism and preserve our natural wonders.

Some eight thousand tourists, both domestic and foreign, are expected to visit the beach town of Máncora (Piura) during the national holidays; a hundred percent increase compared to last year’s number, estimated today the local Committee on Tourism Development.

Committee’s chairman Harry Shull told Andina news agency that the "great expectations" of local entrepreneurs is due to Peru's leading position in the world after holding the European Union, Latin America and Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"In 2007 we received around four thousand tourists during this season, but thanks to a series of tourism promotion campaigns launched during the summits, we expect to see this number double this year", Shull said.

In addition, he mentioned that every year the influx of tourists to this part of the country is increasing due to "improved security and because people and entrepreneurs has understood that we will attract more tourists by providing quality service".

"However we depend on what happens in the country when there are strikes, so we hope that those promoting demonstrations will cancel them because otherwise foreign tourists will be discouraged from visiting Peru," he said.

Mancora is located on the kilometer 1165 of the Panamerican Highway, 120 kilometers south of Ecuador-Peru coast border.

In an effort to train the municipal employees and managers of the tourist places of Nazca(Ica), Colca Valley (Arequipa), Ayacucho and Puno, the ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) developed training workshops regarding public use of cultural and natural heritage.

The workshops take part of Mincetur works on the National Plan of Tourism Quality (Caltur), with the purpose that tourist places can be managed with criteria of sustainable public use, count on services and suitable facilities, and constitute attractive and competitive products.

In each zone, the civil employees and managers of the tourist places who belong to the National Institute of Culture (INC) and National Institute of Natural Resources (Inrena) were trained in conceptual aspects of public use, sustainable tourism and levels of planning.

Four topics were developed: importance of the institutional management, management of the visitor experience, research projects management, conservation and valuation of monuments, and education for preservation.

The demand for international tourist packages grows, in the Peruvian market, at a rate of 12 percent a year boosted by all-inclusive packages, that is, housing, flight tickets, taxes and food, the general manager of Solways Colombia, Andrés Rincón, said Thursday.

"Lima concentrates 80 percent of the total demand, while provinces represent 20 percent, specifically cities such as Arequipa and Trujillo (La Libertad)", he said.

The most demanding destinations for Peruvians are the Colombian Caribbean, concentrating 25 percent of sales, followed by packages to Dominican Republic, Cuba, Riviera Maya (Mexico) and Miami (United States).

In addition, he said that other less common destinations, but still requested, are the European ones such as Rome and Venice (Italy), Spain, Germany and Russia.

Investment opportunities in Peru’s hotel industry amount to 1.5 billion dollars over the next three years (2009-2011 period) due to its tourist attractions and strategic position in the region, which makes it an operations center at a South American level, said today the HVS international consultancy.

"It's incredible what is happening in Peru since in recent years it has become a well visited place by tourists from around the world, but even more impressive is its potential as a tourist destination," said the president of HVS Argentina, Arturo Garcia.

He added that new investments would be made in hotel infrastructure projects including hotels, resorts, or entertainment centers, as well as joint projects with shared ownership.

"Investments will be first made in Lima due to its air connectivity; however, other projects will focus on southern cities like Cusco, Arequipa, Puno and Nazca, remaining as the third pole of development the northern part of the country," he said.

García mentioned that most investment projects will focus on both the corporate and inbound sectors due to its significant opportunities for progress and development.

The on-site museum construction of the Sipan archeological complex –where the tomb of the Moche’s Lord was discovered in 1987- will be concluded before the end of the year, with an investment of around 770 354 dollars.

Walter Alva, director of the Royal Tombs of the Sipan Museum, indicated to Andina news agency that works are being concluded with the Peru-Italy Counterpart Fund and the Executing Unit 111: Naylamp-Lambayeque.

In this compound, the new discoveries of this Lambayeque’s archeological complex will be exhibited, Alva said. "In these moments, we are elaborating the project for the museum implementation and our goal is that the onsite museum can be inaugurated before the end of the year", he added.

After Alva pointed out the number of visitors is maintained, the researcher indicated that last year Sipan was visited by 29 445 people, amount that represented an increase of 20 percent compared to 2006.

A project to promote sustainable rural tourism in the frontier zones of Peru and Ecuador based on its geographical potentialities will be carried out with support from the Italian government, informed the regional government of Lambayeque.

The project is called "Development of Cross-border Sustainable Rural Tourism in northern Peru and southern Ecuador" and will be applied in the departments of Piura, Tumbes, Cajamarca and Lambayeque in Peru, and El Oro, Loja and Zamora Chinchipe in Ecuador.

The project is the result of a meeting held by officials from Peru’s regional governments and representatives from Ecuador’s local governments. Lambayeque’s regional manager of economic development, Rosa Meléndez, stated that the project is one of the commitments they assumed during an internship carried out in Italy, which was organized by the government of said country and the organization CEPTII.

This event was focused on the experience to articulate the frontier zones to achieve its development through a main axle, which could be tourism, production, agriculture and culture among others.

The Libertador Hotel Chain announced it will start the remodelation of its Libertador Cusco Hotel, located in the historical center of the city occupying the fabulous "Casa de los Cuatro Bustos", where Francisco Pizarro, first spanish governor of Peru, used to live.

"According to the investments plan, this remodelation could be finished by September or October 2009, so as to meet super luxury hotel demand", said Libertador Perú commercial manager, Dietrich Bauer von Der Wense.

He stated that now a days hotel are not classified according to the number of stars but according to its luxury offer, that is luxury hotels or super luxury ones.

"We plan to enlarge the area of each room of the Libertador Cusco Hotel, this will probably affect the number of rooms it has, from the current 254 to a lower number".

In addition, Bauer von Der Wense said they paln to build open spaces inside the hotel and a spa.
This remodelation is part of a franchise agreement with US hotel chain Starwood Hotels & Worldwide Resorts and represents a total investment of 160 million dollars, taht also includes the construction of other two hotels in Urubamba (Cusco) and San Isidro (Lima).

Starwood Hotels & Worldwide Resorts owns and operates hotel and resort franchises such as Saint Regis, Luxury Collection, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and Element.

The Libertador Cusco Hotel was built on the foundations of the "Aclla Huasi", where the chosen virgins of the Inca lived. Some of its original walls still remain.

It was restored in 1976, to become the present Hotel Libertador Cusco.
Only three blocks from the hotel, you find the Main Square, where you can appreciate the majestic cathedral of Cusco. The hotel is located only 10 minutes from Cusco´s "Velasco Astete" International airport.

Traffic air by regular national flights in Peru reached one million 614,467 passengers between January and May 2008, an increase of 16.7 percent compared to the same period in 2007, Peru's General Direction of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) reported Tuesday.

According to DGAC, air traffic in Peru during the first months of the year has been fluctuating. It showed a growing tendency in January and February, however, the number dropped drastically in April.

Some 338,431 people traveled during May, 7.2 percent more than April which registered 315,505 passengers.
The airline that carried the most passengers between January and November last year was Lan Peru, which transported one million 51,109 passengers, representing 71 percent of the national market.

Aerocóndor ranks second with 240,589 passengers representing 14.90 percent of the market, followed by Star Perú with 204,589 passengers (12.69 percent).

LC Busre ranks fourth with 40,577 passengers, which represents 2.51 percent of the market. Taca Perú and Aero Transportes ATSA are next on the list with 30,353 and 16,241 respectively.

The Commission for the Promotion of Peruvian Exports and Tourism (PromPerú) will promote Peruvian tourist and gastronomic offer in the Workshop Ecuador to be held in the city of Quito from July 16 to 17.

This campaign aims to boost the varied Peruvian tourist offer to Ecuadorian market, update information on competitive markets, analyze the new trends of the Ecuadorian market and promote the city of Lima and the Peruvian cuisine.

In the beginning of June, the general manager of PromPeru, Mara Seminario, reported that in the coming months the entity will carry outborder caravans to Brazil, Ecuador and Chile to boost tourist destinations.

The above-mentioned activities aims that Peru seizes tourism promotion with its neighboring countries, where there is a great potential to develop, which it is also favored by the proximity of the cities.

For this reason, the border caravans will transport Peruvian tour operators, so they can take contact with their local counterparts and public from the neighboring countries to provide information about hotels, tourist attractions and services, among other aspects.

In an effort to draw more tourists to Arequipa, two hundred "casonas" (colonial houses) and 16 churches of the Historic Center of Arequipa will be lighted up and beautified thanks to a project launched by the municipality with the support of the private sector.

Municipality representative Francisco Ampuero Bejarano said they will ask for support from private enterprises to make this project come true and increase tourist flow by 30 percent.

"We hope to show tourists the beauty of our colonial houses at night, as well as the front of the churches which present several styles", he said.

The casonas and churches will attract the tourist attention, who will chose to stay more days in Arequipa to observe the architectonic beauty of the city.

The historic centre of Arequipa, built in volcanic sillar rock, represents an integration of European and native building techniques and characteristics, expressed in the admirable work of colonial masters and Criollo and Indian masons.

This combination of influences is illustrated by the city's robust walls, archways and vaults, courtyards and open spaces, and the intricate Baroque decoration of its facades.

In the last days, a team of archaeologists headed by Ruth Shady has discovered a number of anthropomorphic figures believed to be some five thousand years old near the district of Vegueta in the province of Huaura on the coast north of Lima.

These relics have been unearthed in the archeological site of Vichama, or "hidden city", a place that belongs to the same civilization of Caral and which is located 159 kilometers north of Lima. Caral is considered the oldest city of America with around 5000 years old.

The figures represent a woman nursing and a person of high social status. It was reported that Carbon 14 dating will soon determine how old these relics are.

This discovery occurs almost a year after the start of archaeological Works on this site headed by Dr. Ruth Shady. These objects, along with others found at the scene, will be exhibited at the Communitarian Museum of Vegueta starting this weekend.

Ichic Willcahuain archaeological complex dates back to 700 A.C and may have been built under the influence of the Wari Culture (based in the Ayacucho region) which encouraged its inhabitants to change their burial customs, said the head of the Regional Institute of Culture (INC), José Antonio Salazar Mejía.

Salazar explained that the age could be determined after carrying out the necessary works at the archaeological site, located 4 miles northeast Huaraz, Ancash (35 minutes by car or 3 hours on foot).

Salazar stressed that these remains are remarkable evidence for archaeology.

According to previous findings Chavin culture's funerals were subterranean and now with this new researches we can see a change.

The population used to live together with their ancestors and taking care of its dead people; "and now we can observe that the funerals of this culture were not sub terrain because they counted on mausoleums". The explanation is the the culture shared live and dead because their homes were very close to the ceremonial center, he added.

In an initiative to increase length of stay of tourists in the southern city of Arequipa, the regional government has launched a gastronomic project called "Route of the Palate", which offers a rich variety of traditional dishes served in 60 certified restaurants of the "White City".

Rocio Cervantes Mansilla, regional director of Foreign Trade and Tourism, said that the goal is to use the Arequipean gastronomy as a source of tourist attraction which will encourage visitors to stay more than two days enjoying local traditional dishes.

"The 'Route of the Palate' will promote the wide variety of Arequipean dishes such as rocoto relleno (stuffed hot peppers), potato cake, adobo (a meat stew made from either pork or chicken), and other dishes" she said. The new Andean food is another option in most Arequipean restaurants because it is highly demanded by tourists, especially Europeans who visit the White City, Cervantes Mansilla said.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) reported that Peru can expect about 3.3 million domestic tourist trips this year due to higher economic growth.

The minister Mercedes Aráoz added that domestic tourism grew 14 percent last year compared to 2006, with more than three million domestic tourist trips in 2007.

She pointed out that in Lima there are two million non-travellers, including men and women from 18 to 64 years of the A, B, and C socioeconomic levels, who represent a large target population who could travel to different parts of the country.

The Mincetur recalled that during 2007, 710,000 Peruvians considered "non travellers" became travellers.

Most of Peruvian tourists travel outside Lima (64 percent), their trips last on average six nights, and their per capita expenditure is over 324 soles (about 110 dollars).

"Domestic tourists are starting to stay in paid lodging establishments (hotel or hostal) and this percentage almost exceeds the use houses of relatives and friends".

To encourage domestic tourism in Peru, the Mincetur inaugurated yesterday the Sixth edition of the Tourism Fair Peru, at the Jockey Plaza Shopping Center.

The tourist flow in Peru would increase by twelve percent during this year's National Holidays because most people will take this four-day weekend (July 26 - 29) to go visit Peru's many tourist attractions, said the head of the Tourism Committee of the Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL), Alvaro Benavides.

He mentioned that the most popular destinations during these holidays will be the southern city of Arequipa, Peru's fabulous northern beaches, the enchanting jungle cities, the sunny highlands of Lima, and the coastal cities of Ica and Nazca.

Benavides predicted that the tourism sector would grow around nine percent this year as a result of the country's sustainable socioeconomic development.

Benavides also assured that long holiday weekends are vital to develop tourism opportunities which must include an attractive commercial offer in order to be successful.

The tourist attractions of the Inca trail of Salkantay, another important Pre-hispanic trail that leads to Machu Picchu from the northeast of Cusco, will be promoted thanks to an agreement between the National Institute of Culture (INC) and the Municipality of Mollepata.

The agreement establishes a series of guidelines to promote and protect this ancient trek under the supervision of the Municipality of Mollepata and INC-Cusco.

The Salkantay trek is a remote and ancient footpath in the same region of the Inca trail, but less traveled with more spectacular views.

It takes four to five days and passes through stunning scenery and fascinating towns such as Mollepata, Pampa, Salkantay, Lucmabamba, Llactapata and Aobamba.

This route involves travelling by a more northerly route from Cusco, via the tallest mountain in the Cordillera Vilcabamba - the peak of Salkantay.

Peru’s minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Aráoz, ruled out today that Peruvian tourist activity can be affected by fuel prices increases, and although two airlines decided to cancel national flights, it is not necessary to declare the commercial air sector in emergency.

"The tourism sector is not going to be affected, we will work intensively and invite other airline operators in better financial conditions to come to our country and offer these services", she said.

Star Perú and Aerocóndor airlines have cancelled their flights to Tacna, Arequipa, Chiclayo (Lambayeque), Juliaca (Puno), Piura y Trujillo (La Libertad) since these destines are not profitable anymore because of rising airplanes fuel costs (turbo jet).

The minister explained that currently it is complicated to subsidize this fuel through the Petroleum Derivative Fuel Prices Stabilization Fund , as the Peruvian Association of Air Carriers (APEA) has requested.

"I think a subsidy is an effort that must be done for the extreme poverty sectors. Unfortunately, the oil price is not just causing turbulence in the tourist sector, but also in other ones. And, in some cases there is a price speculation", she said.

She explained that government is specially concerned in this case and is working to solve the problem.

Last night the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) reported that Lan Perú will extend to Tumbes its Lima-Trujillo flights to meet the demand of the passangers willing to travel to this northern city.

Machu Picchu citadel in Cuzco was discovered by the German Augusto Berns 44 years before the North American historian Hiram Bingham arrived in the zone in 1911, according to the investigation of the historian Paolo Greer.

Greer explained that Burns bought some lands in a zone located in front of Machu Picchu citadel in 1867, where he worked cutting wood for a railway in a sawmill.

Greer stated that Berns counted on a Machu Picchu description and that in 1987 formed a group to take the Peruvian artifacts of the place, which was known as Huaca of Incas; this happening was permitted by the authorities of that time.

In turn, Machu Picchu Archaeological Park’s Head, Fernando Astete said that is not crazy to think that Berns could get to know the Peruvian citadel before Bingham because we know that a lot of people knew this place before him.

In an effort to enhance security at the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, two security cameras will be installed at strategic points of the historic sanctuary, announced park director Fernando Astete.

He mentioned that a public bid will be held to choose the project operator in the next days, and if everything goes well, the cameras would be installed by early August.

“These security cameras will allow monitoring what happens at the archaeological site in real time”, said Fernando Astete.

In additional, Astete mentioned that they are planning to install an additional camera at the starting point of the Inca trails which are frequented by some 500 people.

“We look forward to improve our service by using these cameras that won’t damage the archaeological site”, he highlighted.

The Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur) in the southern province of Ica plans to set up more natural lookout points to let tourists admire the enigmatic Nasca and Palpa Lines without having to overfly the area.

The head of Dircetur-Ica, Marta Morán, explained that the natural lookouts will be set up at strategic points that would not affect the natural landscape of the area.

"We currently have five natural lookout points to observe the enigmatic figures", mentioned Marta Morán.

"The goal is to set up more scenic lookouts so tourists who are afraid of flying or can't afford a flight tour can also admire the lines", she said.

Marta Morán pointed out that setting up more natural lookouts will help to increase the number of visitors which has been gradually reduced after a series of flight accidents ocurred in the past few months.

"Tourism certainly is a highly sensitive and vulnerable activity, bad service and safety issues can affect tourism by preventing tourists visiting certain areas. This is why we have to look for other choices to encourage tourists to visit and admire our heritage before leaving the country", Morán stated.

Pre-Inca remains represent 40 percent of Machu Picchu Archaeological Park (Cusco), which hosts the well-known Inca citadel, which last year was chosen one of New 7 Wonders of the World.

The director of this archeological park, Fernando Astete, explained that the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is only one of the 196 archeological complexes and sites of the zone which has an extension of 38,448 hectares.

Astete explained that this 40 percent corresponds to the Killke culture, which inhabited this zone before the naissance of the biggest empire of South America.

After confirming that the citadel of Machu Picchu was clearly Inca, Astete reported that this empire was built over Killke archaeological center.

"Usually, in some excavations where we find Inca remains we can also find Killke culture's remains under them, such as ceramics", he stated.

Astete detailed that most of the Killke settlements are located in the area between the entrance of the Archaeological Park and one kilometre away from the Inca citadel.

Killke architecture "is characterized because it is very similar to the Inca's, though the latter stands out for its very well-defined, geometric, and very good finish structures."

"Killke has neither the Inca's geometry nor its good finish, instead it is much more rustic. Its constructions are usually oval or semi-circular, not octagonal as the Inca's and are usually inaccessible", he said.

He added that in Machu Picchu Archaeological Park there are traces of another even older PreInca culture: the Chanapata, which was developed during the formative period, but its architectural evidence is minimal.

Studies by INC
A few months ago, the National Institute of Culture (INC) from Cuzco, started for the first time, archaeological research works on the Killke settlement at Machu Picchu Archaeological Park, located on the slopes of Piscacucho hill.

Most Killke settlements are located on the upper part of the hillslope, unlike the Inca's population centers, located at the bottom.

The Killke culture, which developed between 1,000 and 1,400 A.C, belonged to the regional states of Cusco, presumably conquered by the Incas.

More than 125 thousand national and foreign tourists arrived in the Peruvian department of Lambayeque between January and April this year, informed the head of the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Direcetur), María del Carmen Vargas Mundaca.

She highlighted that six or eight percent of the total corresponds to foreigners, and indicated that Lambayeque is perceived as a very warm city for tourists, with entrepreneurs who are able to improvements.

"There is a hotel which is in process for the ISO 9001 certification", she said.

Vargas Mundaca also indicated that Lambayeque has an interesting potential in gastronomy, nature's tourism, and a rich material and non-material heritage such as live cultures, dances added to its beautiful big houses, and properties that produce the admiration of visitors.

We are coordinating with the National Institute of Culture (INC) of Lambayeque and Lima to develop a working group with all authorities, so they can be informed about the preservation of the colonial historic heritage.

The Mountain Caracara, a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family, has shown changes in its behavior pattern which indicate it is being affected by Peru's change of climate in the highlands.

The caracara, a bird that usually lives between 3,500 - 5,000 meters (11,482 - 16,404 feet) above sea level, was venerated by the Incas.

Such was the respect the Incas had for the bird that its feathers were used in the headdress if Inca kings.

The Mountain Caracara has recently been found living at much lower altitudes and specialists are asking themselves what has brought the high-Andes bird closer to humans.

According to biologists in Peru, the majestic bird is relocating because of weather alterations and abrupt changes in the climate.

Specialists have noted that more of these birds can be seen at the Inca Citadel atop Machu Picchu, which is 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level.

Julio Ochoa, a biologist at Machu Picchu Archaeological Park has questioned why the Mountain Caracara (Phalcoboenus megalopterus), a bird that lives 3,500 - 5,000 meters above sea level is seen so frequently at Machu Picchu.

"These are visible consequence of climate change," said Ochoa.

"Many speak of this phenomenon as if it were something distant. This is a concrete case of the changes that are taking place."

The origin of the potato has become, well, a "hot potato" between neighbors Peru and Chile.

The spud dispute began Monday, when Chile's agriculture minister said 99 percent of the world's potatoes derive from spuds native to Chile.

Peru, where the potato is a source of national pride, bristled at the claim and said the comes from a part of the Andes near Lake Titicaca, most of which is located in modern-day Peru. The country claims to have some 3,000 varieties of potato.

The spud dispute is just the latest flare-up between the testy neighbors.

Chile won its neighbor's southern province in a war more than a century ago — a loss that still rankles Peruvians. Both nations also claim the grape brandy called Pisco as its own.

The simmering, so-called "Pisco War" flared up anew when Peru's agriculture minister called Chilean Pisco "bad" after Chile declared May 15 "National Pisco Day."

Now both nations are fighting over bragging rights to the potato.

Andres Contreras, a researcher at Chile's Austral University in Valdivia, said archaeological studies have found the first evidence of human consumption of potatoes dating back 14,000 years in southern Chile, long before evidence emerges of spud consumption in Peru.

But the head of Peru's National Institute for Agricultural Innovation, Juan Risi, called Chile's potatoes mere "grandchildren" of Peru's tubers.

"Peruvian potatoes that originated near lake Titicaca are the true potatoes, and their children spread throughout the Andes," Risi said.

Experts say the disputes reflect lingering historical tensions between the Andean neighbors.

The disputes are "a very superficial manifestation of this ongoing concern of national pride and wounded feelings over various problems in the past," said David Scott Palmer, a professor of Latin American politics at Boston University.

In an extensive article published on Sunday at the travel section, world known newspaper The New York Times highlighted the Peruvian seaboard as a privileged destination to ride waves.

In the article, written by journalist Julia Chaplin, she describes her personal impressions from a fascinating tour she made in our country where she visited beautiful surfing beaches such as Punta Rocas, Mancora Los Órganos, Chicama, Lobitos, among others.

Chaplin also pointed out the tourists arrival growth, attracted by good Peruvian waves that compared to the famous Malibu and Hawaii beaches have the advantage of not being jam-packed with surfers.

In addition, she said Peru enjoys a surfing boom which is seen in the young people dreams' of becoming surf stars.

Machu Picchu’s selection as one of the new Seven Wonders of the modern world in June 2007 has led to a 20 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting the Imperial city of Cusco so far this year, reported today the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur).

Last year, about 900 thousand tourists visited Cusco, a 20 percent rise compared to 2006, said the head of Cusco - Dircetur, Jean Paul Benavente.

Benavente highlighted that at the beginning of this year, tourist flow to Cusco was expected to rise by ten percent, but after Machu Picchu's selection as a wonder of the world, it jumped by 20 percent.

Domestic tourists accounted for eight percent of this number, while foreign visitors, mainly from the United States and European countries (France, Spain, Germany and England) represented the other 12 percent.

Benavente mentioned that such growth has been possible despite a series of protests and strikes that crippled the Andean city of Cusco and surrounding areas during last February.

Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing because of climate change, a key issue on the table of a Latin America-EU summit being held in Lima this week.

The glaciers making up the range -- declared a natural world heritage site by UNESCO -- have steadily been shrinking, said Marco Zapata, the head of the glaciology unit of Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources.

He explained that between 1948 and 1976, the Cordillera Blanca has diminished by nine meters, and between 1977 and now by around 20 meters.

The time left for tourists to see the spectacular zone is limited, and depends on temperature variations, he said.
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Zapata added: "It is known that the shrinking process of the glaciers is irreversible and nothing can be done."

A 1989 evaluation found that Peru had more than 3,000 glaciers in an area of 2,041 square kilometers. Just eight years later, the area had been cut by a quarter, to 1,595 square kilometers.

A clear example of what is happening can be seen on the Pastoruri mountain, a 5,240-meter-high peak that each year attracts 60,000 tourists. "It is turning into an ice-capped mountain, because the snow is rapidly shrinking," Zapata said.

In 1995, the perimeter at the snowline was 1.8 square kilometers. By last year, that had eroded to just 1.1 square kilometers.

Huascaran National Park, where the Cordillera Blanca is situated, contains 663 glaciers including the 6,768-meter-high Huascaran summit itself, along with 296 lakes and 41 rivers.

But Jean Ortiz, who heads the running of the park, said global warming was seriously changing the face of the reserve, where many high-altitude plants and animals were becoming rarer or had disappeared entirely.

"It's unusual to see with your own eyes deer, mountain cats, Andean cats, vicunas (a llama-like animal), Andean condors, partridges," he said.

The archaelogical site of Bandurria dating back 3200 BC (located in the province of Huaura, Lima) is considered the origin of ancient American civilization, said archaeologist Alejandro Chu Barrera, director of the Archaeological Project of Bandurria.

"Several radiocarbon datings done in the United states confirmed that Bandurria dates back from 3200 B.C., while Caral dates from 2900", said the archaeologist.

The expert mentioned that the main reason for the development of highly organized cultures along the Peruvian coast is explained in the availavility of marine resources which allowed to improve the population’s diet of the place.

Bandurria is located 140 kilometres from Lima and received this peculiar name because of a bird which inhabit this area. It was discovered by late 1973 but first excavations took place in 1977. It wasn't until July 2005 that the site begun to be excavated by a team of archeologists and students from San Marcos National University, led by archeologist Alejandro Chu.

A mission from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will be in Peru from April 20 to May 1, to assess the state of conservation at the Historical Center of Arequipa, one of its World Heritage sites.

The mayor of Arequipa, Simón Balbuena, announced that a UNESCO mission will be monitoring the condition of cultural-historical monuments at the Main Square and its surroundings in Arequipa

"This visit is not to ratify or reconsider the World Heritage Site status of Arequipa’s Historical Center", added Balbuena.

The UNESCO mission, which will include the participation of experts such as Spanish Nuria Sanz, Venezuelan Felipe Delmont and Mexican Luis Guerrero Baca, will visit Arequipa and meet local community representatives and government officials to evaluate an existing conservation plan that is well into the implementation stage.

500 million soles have been invested in improvement works of Arequipa’s tourist attractions as part of preparations for the APEC Working Groups meetings to be held in May.

Handicrafts in Peru generate annual sales of 200 million dollars, resources associated with tourism, the Handicraft Director of Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Madeleine Burns stated today.

"Each tourist who visits the country spends in average 100 dollars in handicrafts", she said after holding a meeting with the representatives of the sector in the Andean area.

All of them work to implement the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)’s recognition of excellence to crafts products.

"Tourists spend in average 100 dollars in handicrafts, but some of them even spend almost three million dollars. Handicrafts exports total 44 million dollars", she said.

Handicrafts products not only show off Peruvian motifs, but also inspirations of each one of the countries in which they are sold.

That is why some months ago, an investigation to determinate the route that these handicrafts followed was carried out, determining that the handicrafts were sold even in the lakes of Southern Chile.

"Craftsmen have to recognize its value, the importance of their culture and revalue their work", she pointed out.

Promotora de Cafe Colombia (Procafecol) which owns Juan Valdez coffee shops will enter Peru this year as part of its expansion plan in the region.

The Colombian chain pointed out that it reached an alliance in Peru to be presnet in some supermarkets with some tasting products an advertising material.

Procafecol also plans to open some coffee shops in Chile through an agreement with the Falabella Group, besides Argentina and Spain, the Colombian newspaper "El Espectador" reported today.

In the first quarter of 2008, Juan Valdez coffee shops duplicated its stores in Colombia, from 49 to 100 shops.

Besides entering to the Peruvian markets, this company also hopes to open seven coffees shops in Chile, four in Spain and 60 selling points in Argentina.

Around 53,000 domestic and foreign tourists will visit Cajamarca, La Libertad, Ayacucho and Huancayo, which will be promoted as tourist destinations during May long holidays, the Commission of the Peruvian Export and Tourism Promotion Agency (PromPerú), stated today.

There are two long holidays in May: May 1 to celebrate Labor Day and May 16 and 17, when the V Summit of Heads of State and Government of the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) will take place.

Tourism campaign promoted by Promperu lies in promoting these touristic destinations in the media.

The tourism director in La Libertad Elina Barturén said to Andina news agency that these cities will host around 14 thousand domestic and foreign tourists during the long holidays in May.

Huanchaco’s beaches, located at 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) from Trujillio, will be one of the most visited places. There, tourists can see the Totora Horses, which are boats for fishing used by the Mochicas and Chimus since ancient times.

The archeological place of The Sun and The Moon Huacas, Chan Chan Citadel, the historical center of Trujillo and others tourist attractiveness can also be visited by tourists.

Recent excavations and studies conducted by Cusco's National Institute of Culture (INC) in the Archaelogical Park of Sacsayhuamán allowed to discover structures and compounds helping to disclose Inca's religion aspects such as the worship to their ancestral mummies.

The works were done in the Huaca Inkil Tambo, an Inca historical center registered by the INC, which after several decades of being discovered has been the focus of meticulous archaeological excavations and studies during the last months.

The temple, known as "Inca Jail" (main part is composed by a conglomerate of carved big stones), was used as residency of mummies, sui generis figure, because it was neither a cementery or a mausoleum.

According to Washington Camacho, head of the Archeological Park of Sacsayhuamán, “the place is an important complex and its main function could have been to accommodate mummies of elite members or monarchs of the Tahuantinsuyo, because the main stone has carvings, among them five niches where human remains were possibly placed.

A group of scientists of the Geology, Mining and Metallurgical Institute of Peru (Ingement) will be specifically studying the impact of underground water flowing under the Chan Chan archaeological complex, the largest mud-brick citadel located in the northern region of La Libertad.

The Geoscience Director of Ingement, Víctor Carlotto, explained that the study aims at establishing the relation between the underground water channel and its possible impact on the infrastructure of the Chan Chan citadel.

The research is headed by Manuel Vilchez who is also in charge of the geophysical activities in the zone.

The decision to launch this study is mainly to preserve the vast mud city of Chan Chan, considered a cultural heritage and one of the main tourist attractions in La Libertad, northen Peru.

Chan Chan was declared a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1986 and is the largest mud-brick citadel in the Americas.

With more than 700 thousand votes, the Lake Junin, also known as the Lake of the Kings or Chinchaycocha, was chosen the first natural wonder of Junin - an Andean central region in Peru - in an online contest organized by the regional government.

The extraordinary beauty and invaluable flora richness of Lake Junin amazed a great number of Peruvian cybernauts who casted their votes during several weeks to chose the Seven Natural Wonders of Junin Region.

The Lake Junin or Chichaycocha is located at approximately 4,082 m (13,393 ft) above sea level. The lake is an important bird watching destination in the country and is also considered the second largest lake of Peru after Lake Titicaca in Puno.

The Alejandro Velasco Astete internacional airport, in the city of Cusco, now has a modern and comfortable VIP waiting room which offers a range of services and facilities including Internet access, a café-bar, shops and a tourist information office.

Jorge Carrillo Salas, general manager of VIP Lounge Cusco, bid winner company, said this section offers the highest standards of comfort and service in a contemporary design atmosphere ideal for the business and leisure travellers.

The new VIP section has been installed to welcome eight percent of the passengers passing through the airport of Cusco, especially travelers with high purchasing power who look for world-class facilities.

It has a capacity of 64 people and further facilities include smoking and non-smoking zones, a food court, and a nice variety of shops.

“Tourist operators and diverse companies are interested in participating in the project, which aim is to offer more comfort to passengers”, Carrillo pointed out.

The quality of Peruvian alpaca will be appreciated by the leaders of the V Summit of Heads of State and Government of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) that will be held in our country in May.

The announcement was made after the agreement signed between the Summit's organizing committee and Wayra, which is a manufacturer of alpaca textiles.

The Chairman of the Sponsorship Committee of the V Summit of Heads of State and Government of the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean (V EU-LAC Summit), Fortunato Quesada, emphasized the quality of the products made by Wayra, a company that in the last two years has significantly increased its exports.

Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) announced that Japanese businessmen have planned to build a space museum in Carancas, Puno (795 miles southeast of Lima), the region where a meteorite landed in September 2007.

Construction is to begin in April and $90 thousand are to be invested in the state of the art museum that will be able to withstand Puno's extreme weather conditions, said Hernando Núñez del Prado, director of institute affairs for the INGEMMET.

Aside from exhibiting pieces of the chondrite, the museum will give visitors information on aerospace science and astrophysics related to cosmic phenomenon.

Núñez del Prado explained the crater where the meteorite had landed would remain covered by a 20x20 meter piece of canvas to keep it from being affected by the heavy rainfall in Puno.

He also stated a law was being proposed to protect the country from "meteorite hunters".

Furthermore, National Geographic has announced it will present a documentary in four languages this year on the meteorite that landed in Puno, said Rocío Gómez Paredes, a natural resources manager fro the regional government of Puno.

On Sunday, Edwards Vizcarra, the mayor of Huari (a province in Ancash) will start a trip around different countries in Europe where he will show a video with the main tourist attractions of the town, aiming to increase the number of visitors and attract more private investment.

He told Andina news agency that the trip would include Italy (Rome, Torino, Bologña, Milano), Spain (Barcelona, Salamanca, Madrid) and France (Paris).

Vizcarra pointed out that the 18-minute video shows the Jacabamba waterfall, located nine kilometers northeast of Huari.

It also shows the Chavin de Huantar archaeological complex, the big and beautiful lakes of Conchucos - such as Purhuay and Reparin, and the Pre-Inca city of Marcajirca, among other attractions.

"This video has been recorded with the town’s own resources and was directed by the well-known Peruvian filmmaker, Jose Rios", said Vizcarra. "This is an invaluable audiovisual documentary which aims to promote our touristic richness".

The mayor stated the video would be shown in museums, through the media, and exhibited at different places. “We signed an agreement with a consortium of Italian museums, so the film can be shown in many cultural centers”, said the mayor.

Vizcarra said that during the trip, which will last until February 28, the new publication “Conchucos, Gold of the Andes” will be also presented, showing pictures of tourist attractions in the area.

The mayor pointed out that his trip was possible thanks to the support of the Antonio Raimondi Institute. The video was presented this morning at Universidad Católica's Cultural Center.

The broken skeletons were scattered like random pottery shards, rediscovered where they had fallen centuries ago.

Were these ancient people cut down in some long-forgotten battle? Did European-introduced diseases cause their demise? Were they casualties of some apocalyptic reckoning at this great walled citadel?

The "cloud warriors" of ancient Peru are slowly offering up their secrets -- and more questions.

Recent digs at this majestic site, once a stronghold of the Chachapoya civilization, have turned up scores of skeletons and thousands of artifacts, shedding new light on these myth-shrouded early Americans and one of the most remarkable, if least understood, of Peru's pre-Columbian cultures.

Among the arresting findings: the practice of incorporating the dead into defensive walls; the use of stone missiles to repel invaders; the discovery of gargoyle-like stone carvings; and the civilization's sudden collapse, possibly in a final, purifying conflagration.

Though almost everyone knows about the Inca and Machu Picchu, relatively few have heard of the Chachapoya or visited their domain, a vast swath of Amazon headlands and breathtaking cloud forests on the slopes of the Andes. This walled settlement, among the largest monuments of the ancient Americas, rivals the Incas' Machu Picchu in scale and grandeur.

Getting here requires a lengthy, bone-crunching journey on roads less traveled, near-vertical jeep tracks featuring better-not-to-look drops of 1,000 yards or more. Kuelap is in the middle of nowhere, and there is no midday buffet, five-star hotel or luxury locomotive -- amenities found at Machu Picchu, 600 miles to the southeast.

"You have to have an adventurous spirit to come to Kuelap," said Alice Cook, 25, a schoolteacher from Alaska who was hiking down after a day's visit. "It's not like just getting on the train and you're here."

The Chachapoya civilization is believed to have thrived from around 800 to about 1540, the last 70 years or so under the domination of their empire-minded neighbors, the Inca, and then the Spanish. The Chachapoya, historians say, were a loose confederation with settlements spread across a 25,000-square-mile swath of north-central Peru -- an area about the size of West Virginia -- and may have numbered 300,000 people or more at their height.

In preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU - LAC) Summit, the main streets in Peru's capital will be renovated and improved, announced the Mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda Lossio.

The mayor stated that among the avenues to be repaired are La Marina, Javier Prado, Angamos and Primavera.

He explained that several sections of each of the avenues would be repaved to make sure traffic flowed freely and that motorists did not have to deal with potholes.

He assured that effective detour routes would be placed into effect to avoid traffic jams and chaos during the construction period.

When asked about the avenues that would be repaired, the mayor stated that an extra lane would be added to Primavera Avenue.

According to Lima's mayor, plans for the renovation of the avenues have been completed and construction will begin shortly.

He also stated that the new highway, which is to join the district of Comas to Chorrillos will be operational by 2009.

MADRID, Spain-Peru's President Alan Garcia landed at Madrid's international airport Sunday for a three-day visit aimed at improving business and diplomatic links with Europe.

The Peruvian leader is due to meet with King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and business leaders.

Garcia was re-elected in April 2006 on a promise to improve his Andean country's economic fortunes.

Garcia's first 1985-90 term was plagued by hyperinflation and food shortages at the height of a brutal war against Maoist Shining Path guerrillas.

Peru's economy grew 8 percent in 2006, the eighth consecutive year of expansion for the Andean nation of 27 million people, and Garcia has forged ahead with a market-friendly agenda.

Last week Garcia told journalists that Spanish-Argentine oil giant Repsol YPF SA had found 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in Peru's Amazon jungle, enough to guarantee the country's needs for 40 years, he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush signed a U.S.-Peru free trade agreement with Garcia in December, paving the way for stronger bilateral economic ties.

Garcia is also likely to seek Spain's diplomatic support for his government's claim to draw Peru's sea boundary in waters claimed by southern neighbor Chile.

Peru asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday to adjudicate on the boundary, inflaming poor relations with its southern neighbor and angering Chile's President Michelle Bachelet.

Peru contends its maritime border with Chile has not been legally defined, while Chile says the border was set by treaties with Peru in 1952 and 1954. Peru argues the agreements dealt with fishing rights, not borders.

There is strong anti-Chilean sentiment in Peru because the country lost a large chunk of its southern territory to Chile in a war in 1879.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The broken skeletons were scattered like random pottery shards, rediscovered where they had fallen centuries ago.

Were these ancient people cut down in some long-forgotten battle? Did European-introduced diseases cause their demise? Were they casualties of some apocalyptic reckoning at this great walled citadel?

The "cloud warriors" of ancient Peru are slowly offering up their secrets - and more questions. Recent digs at this majestic site, once a stronghold of the Chachapoya civilization, have turned up scores of skeletons and thousands of artifacts, shedding new light on these myth-shrouded early Americans and one of the most remarkable, if least understood, of Peru's pre-Columbian cultures.

Among the arresting findings: the practice of incorporating the dead into defensive walls; the use of stone missiles to repel invaders; the discovery of gargoyle-like stone carvings; and the civilization's sudden collapse, possibly in a final, purifying conflagration.

Though almost everyone knows about the Inca and Machu Picchu, relatively few have heard of the Chachapoya or visited their domain, a vast swath of Amazon headlands and breathtaking cloud forests on the slopes of the Andes. This walled settlement, among the largest monuments of the ancient Americas, rivals the Incas' Machu Picchu in scale and grandeur.

To continue the tradition of promoting the Marinera, one of Peru's most elegant dances, the 48th National Northern Marinera contest is to take place in Trujillo from January 22 to 27.

As a representative of the contest, a young woman is chosen from among the daughters of the members of the "La Libertad” Club and is named the contest's queen. After having been prepared to be the contest's queen for one year, the young lady represents the organization during the contest.

This year's queen of the Festival is Trujillo’s María José Vélez Ganoza, a 20 year old that decided to participate in this contest to represent not only the organization, but also her hometown.

“I am in this contest for my hometown, because it is not only about representing the organizers, but also Trujillo, which has a lot of tradition and a rich culture”, Vélez told Andina news agency.

"Marinera is a faithful expression of Peru's northern culture", said Vélez as she invited everyone to visit Trujillo and attend this event. The festival's queen explained she would not participate in beauty pageants because she did not want to be part of that world. On the other hand, she acknowledged the importance of what Peru's María Julia Mantilla, Miss World 2004, has done so far for the country and Trujillo.

The Mansiche Arena in Trujillo is to be the stage for this National Marinera Contest, the most elegant couples dance in Peru. Different categories and choreographic styles are judged. Both dancers swirl while waving a white handkerchief and executing a number of characteristic steps.

The male dancer wears a poncho and a hat, and if riding horseback, he does so on a Peruvian Paso horse. The female dancer wears a beautiful typical regional dress.

A Peruvian journalist described on Friday the horror he felt being kidnapped by President Alberto Fujimori's security squad in 1992, hours after the former leader shut down Congress during a war against leftists.

Gustavo Gorriti, testifying at Fujimori's trial on human rights crimes, said 10 men with machine guns snatched him from his house in the middle of the night. He said he became terrified when he realized he had been taken to the offices of the Peruvian army's intelligence agency for interrogation.

"It was a place where very few people who went in came out alive," said Gorriti, who had criticized the former president's government prior to the kidnapping. "He had all the power of the state concentrated in his hands." Gorriti said of Fujimori, 69.

He said he was targeted because he had published stories tying Fujimori's spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, to corruption and drug traffickers.

Montesinos, now in prison, was widely known as Fujimori's most important aide. Fujimori used the threat of terrorism to consolidate power, closing Congress in April 1992 to pass tough laws targeting armed leftist groups.

Fujimori on Friday denied ordering the kidnapping of Gorriti. He has denied other charges that he violated human rights by instructing a government death squad to kill 25 people in two massacres during the 1990s, when Peru was battling the Maoist guerrilla group known as the Shining Path.

While in power from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori defeated the guerrillas and brought order to a chaotic economy. But critics said he violated human rights to end a 20-year war in which nearly 70,000 people died or disappeared.

In 1992, security forces seized 10 people from La Cantuta University, killed them and dumped their bodies in a shallow grave. In 1991, they gunned down 15 people at a barbecue in the Barrios Altos neighbourhood, among them an 8-year-old boy.

Fujimori could get up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of human rights crimes. Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced him to six years in prison for sending an aide to steal incriminating documents from Montesinos' house. Chile extradited Fujimori to Peru in September after seven years in exile, five of them in Japan, the country of his parents' birth.

Cusco’s Committee of Tourist Integrated Services (COSITUC) announced today that the cost of tourist tickets would be increased by 85 percent in July 2008.

The head of Cusco’s Tourist Ticket Office (OFEC), Fermín Díaz Angulo, specified that a normal ticket, which currently costs 70 soles, will now cost 130 soles and that student tickets, which cost 35 soles, would increase to 70.

It was reported that the money raised with the increased ticket prices would be invested in better conditions for the comfort of tourists as well as the establishment of other services such as medical insurance for accidents, permanent security during tours, emergency vehicles and medical centers.

The funds are to also be invested in rest areas for tourists, bathrooms, adequate security, promotion campaigns to encourage national tourism and funding for schools that wish to bring their students to the Inca Citadel.

According to Peru's COSITUC, forty percent of the money collected will be granted to district municipalities while twenty percent will be given to the communities where archaeological monuments and tourist attractions are located.

Thirty percent will be granted to Cusco’s National Institute of Culture (INC) and the remaining ten percent will be given to the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (DIRCETUR).

While Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori has admitted to having staged a coup on April 5, 1992, he has denied knowing of the existence of the Colina Group, a paramilitary death squad, as well as having any knowledge of kidnappings or torture.

During his trial, which continues to take place in a special courtroom at the DIROES facility in Lima, testimonies have been given that Alberto Fujimori knew exactly what was happening during his administration. One of these testimonies has come from his ex-wife Susana Higuchi.

After government prosecutor José Peláez Bardales read Higuchi's testimony, Peru’s former president denied the accusations made by his ex-wife, in which she assured that Fujimori had ordered that opponents be stopped "dead or alive" during the 1992 coup.

Fujimori also denied having ordered Vladimiro Montesinos to arrest businessman Samuel Dyer and journalist Samuel Gorriti, stating he had not seen or heard Dyer asking him for help as the businessman was held in the basement of a government building.

During proceedings, the court rejected Cesar Nakazaki's request to provide Alberto Fujimori with a laptop for the trial, stating, "it is not necessary or determinative for the defense".

The Grand Canyon, Mount Fuji and the Amazon rain forest are likely contenders in a global poll of millions of people to select the seven natural wonders of the world, organizers say.
Around 300 suggestions from six continents have come in so far. Starting in January 2009 people will be able to vote for their favorite sites by Internet, mobile phone or telephone, according to the non-profit foundation New7Wonders.
The organizers have turned to highlighting the most impressive natural wonders after their success earlier this year in the selection of the seven structural wonders, including India's Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Rome's Colosseum.
More than 100 million people participated in the first contest, which concluded in July. Also chosen as man-made wonders were Peru's Machu Picchu, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, the rock city of Petra in Jordan and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid.
Swiss-Canadian adventurer Bernard Weber, who started the foundation in 1999, said his aim is to "create respect and enthusiasm ... for the beauty of our planet."
The new wonders should be places with striking natural beauty, Weber said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"The closer we bring the beauty of our planet ... to the people, the more likely they will say, 'Oh, we have to do something to conserve it," Weber said.
It will take several years to complete the selection of natural wonders. The multistep process was launched in July with the public invited to make suggestions for sites to be considered. Suggestions are posted by continent on the Web site.
Internet users who nominate a site to be among the finalists must fill in a form with contact details for the authority responsible for the site, such as the park service in charge. New7Wonders organizers will then contact the authority to ask that an official committee be created to support the contest process.

Once the committee is created, the public can vote -- by Internet only -- to include the site among contest finalists. That voting will continue through the end of 2008.
In early 2009, the 77 sites that have received the most votes will go before a panel of experts, which will choose the 21 finalists.
People will then be able to vote via the Web, text message or phone on the final seven.
The seven winners will be announced in late 2010, Weber said.
The campaign is meant to be a popular campaign rather than a scientific exercise, he said.
"We're not telling people what to do, but we're trying to create a positive feeling and enthusiasm for these things so that eventually [people] will react," he said.

The Zurich, Switzerland-based foundation is run by about 20 people and is funded through income from broadcasting rights.
Among the suggestions for natural wonders already received are places like Mount Everest, Ireland's Cliffs of Moher, Russia's Lake Baikal, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, Egypt's Mount Sinai, Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, Tanzania's Serengeti National Park and Australia's Ayers Rock.
Weber said the massive interest in the first campaign for the seven wonders showed that people can be fascinated and motivated by more than just sports.
"There are ... parts in this world where culture is very alive and important for the society," he said.

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez will star in "La Cenerentola", a new production by Gioacchino Rossini which is to start next Sunday at Liceo Opera House in Barcelona, Spain.

Joan Font, artistic director for Els Comediants Theater Company, stated today in a press conference that the show would only be presented until January 20, 2008.

The last time Rossini’s "La Cenerentola" was played at the Liceo Opera House was in 1992. This time, Peru’s Juan Diego Florez has the main role as Don Ramiro, prince of Salem.

Florez, who could not attend the press conference in Barcelona, is the main character of a show that has seven singers, eight dancers and is accompanied by the Liceo Opera Chorus and Orchestra.

David Menéndez is to be Dandini, the prince's servant, Don Magnífico (Angelina's step-father) is played by Bruno de Simone, the step-sisters Clorinda and Tisbe are played by Cristina Obregón and Itxaro Menxaca and the role of Alidoro, philosopher and former tutor of the prince, will be sung by Simón Orfila.

In preparation for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum Peru is to host next year, the region of Piura will expand its hotels by 30 percent within the first semester of 2008, said César Trelles Lara, the region's president.

Trelles specified that over a dozen of Piura's biggest hotels, along with 50 other establishments, between three and four stars, have all joined to prepare expansion projects and improve the services they offer so the region's accommodations are up to par for APEC.

The regional expansion project has been organized to provide more accommodations for the national and foreign tourists that will come because of the international conference. Tourists will visit the different sites the city has to offer and benefit Piura's citizens.

"Piura has a lot of things to offer. For now we are preparing to be able to provide accommodations for the visitors. Hotels are being expanded thanks to private investments because this important event will allow Piura to open its doors to the world," said Trelles.

In preparation for APEC 2008, Peru's central government is to provide the region with 20 million soles to improve roads, buildings and other public areas.

The US Senate will vote next week on a free trade agreement the Bush administration negotiated with Peru, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader said on Friday.

“Sen. Reid intends to (begin debate) on Monday,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley said in an email. However, a vote on the pact is not expected before Wednesday, he said.

The House voted 285-132 earlier this month to approve the agreement, which locks in Peru’s duty-free access to the US market while phasing out Peru’s tariffs on US agricultural and manufactured goods. The Senate vote is the last step in the congressional approval process, setting the stage for President George W. Bush to sign the agreement into law by the end of the year.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, has told reporters he expects the Senate to approve the pact, giving the White House its first trade victory since Democrats took control of Congress this year.

Reid — who voted against Bush administration free trade agreements with Chile and Central American countries — is currently leading a bipartisan group of senators on a trip to Guatemala, Paraguay, Colombia and Mexico.

The purpose is to show the United States’ commitment to strengthening ties with the region, Manley said.

The strong House vote for Peru came after the Bush administration renegotiated the agreement to include stronger labor and environmental provisions demanded by Democrats.

Reid “acknowledges the important advancements acheived in protecting internationally recognized workers rights in the Peru FTA but still has concerns about FTAs in general, particularly with countries that have poor records in protecting worker rights,” Manley said.

The White House would like Congress to vote on a free trade agreement with Colombia after it finishes its work on the Peru pact. However, that agreement is much more controversial because many Democrats feel Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has not taken strong enough measures to stop murders of trade unionists and bring their killers to justice.

The Bush administration argues Uribe has already done much to improve the situation in Colombia and approving the free trade agreement would help consolidate those gains.

With a skillful display of surfing, Peru's Sofia Mulanovich came out on top once again in the ASP Women's World Tour Championship yesterday.

Sofia Mulanovich won the Roxy Pro in Hawaii, the seventh event of this 8-event World Championship and the second event in Vans Triple Crown of Surfing for women.

Although Mulanovich did not win the Mancora Peru Classic, the sixth event in the championship, she demonstrated that that she is still in the race to be the 2007 Women's World Champion for the second time by defeating the tough competition and winning the event at Sunset Beach.

Facing waves 10-20 feet high, some of the biggest ever for a women's contest, Mulanovich managed to take the event, receiving scores of 6.9 and 6.83 for her two best waves.

The Women's World Title is still up for grabs between the top three ranked women in the championship, Sofia Mulanovich, Brazilian Silvana Lima and Australian Stephanie Gilmore, who has a total of 5,868 points.

Now ranked number 2 in the World, Sofia's win at Sunset Beach, giving her a total of 5,767 points, has brought her closer to the world championship, which is to be disputed in the final event on December 8 at Honolua Bay, Maui.

One month after the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) charity went into mass production with its $188 laptop, the Peruvian government has signed a contract to purchase 260,000 units.

Nicholas Negroponte, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and founder of the project, announced the deal on Saturday. He also revealed Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim, had ordered 50,000 units for distribution in Mexico.

In November, the OLPC charity contracted Taiwan's Quanta Computer to start producing the green-and-white computer in its new Changshu manufacturing centre, which is located northwest of Shanghai.

The first countries to place mass orders for the rugged green and white laptops were Uruguay and Mongolia.

Ivan Krsti?, the director of security architecture for the OLPC project, said Uruguayan water and mobile phone utility companies have allowed the organisation to plant wireless access points on existing towers to facilitate the laptop's use.

For the first time in Peru's history, the media will not be allowed to be present at a judicial trial.

Peru's television reporters, radio commentators and newspaper journalists will not be in the same room as Alberto Fujimori during his trial and will not see the judiciary proceedings for Peru's former president live.

Reporters will have to cover this event by watching it on a television in a room that is near the courtroom where Alberto Fujimori will be tried. This will not allow reporters to appreciate everything that is happening in the courtroom, reported Peru's La Republica daily.

Peru's Supreme Court has established that the small room where Fujimori is to be tried will only be for family members, national and international observers, authorities and a few people from the general public. The room where the trial is to be held has a capacity of forty-eight people.

According to Peru's La Republica daily, not one journalist or reporter will be allowed in the room where the Justices and Fujimori will be. Furthermore, the news service reported that it was unknown who distributed the seating and under what criteria.

Twenty-eight seats were distributed in the following manner yesterday: nine for family members from the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta case, six to eight for Fujimori's family, five for congressional representatives from Fujimori's party, five for Human Rights NGOs and twelve for the general public.

Seating arrangements change on a daily basis and a different number of seats is allotted to each group every day.

The press has not been included in the seating arrangements. Photographers have been placed behind the forty-eight first seats while all other media watch the trial on closed-circuit television.

The sophisticated design and colorful artwork found in a 4,000-year-old temple unearthed near Peru's northern desert coast suggests that early civilization here was more complex than originally thought, archaeologists said.

Ventarron, a 7,000-square-foot site _ a bit larger than a basketball court _ with painted walls and a white-and-red mural of a deer hunt, points to an "advanced civilization," said the lead archaeologist who excavated the site last week.

"We have the use of a construction material that is not primitive," Walter Alva, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who headed the government-funded dig, said of the temple's mud bricks, which were made from local river sediments instead of rocks.

The pre-Incan structure's "harmonious" design is typical of later temples and demonstrates remarkable precision: it points due north, Alva said told The Associated Press by telephone.Alva, who led one of Peru's most famous archaeological digs uncovering the Moche Lords of Sipan tombs in the late 1980s, said results from carbon dating conducted in the U.S. show that the Ventarron temple was constructed 4,000 years ago.

Fragments of paint found on the walls and an almost completely intact inner mural show the civilization had "the concept of decoration," Alva said. "This discovery once again supports the rising of complexity early in Peru," said Kit Nelson, a Tulane University archaeology professor who specializes in early desert-dwelling cultures. The find "provides new early dates for the decorating of public architecture and the use of adobe bricks."

Robert Benfer, an archaeologist based at the University of Missouri-Columbia who has studied early Peruvian civilization for more than 30 years, said that many early temples were painted and had murals, but that most were not preserved.

"We're beginning to think they're more common than we used to think. It's all the luck of preservation," Benfer said in a telephone interview with the AP.

Alva said bones of Amazonian parrots and monkeys were found on the site, 405 miles north of the capital, Lima, indicating that Ventarron's society traded with counterparts in Peru's distant jungle. The oldest known city in the Americas is Caral, also near the Peruvian coast, which researchers date to 2627 B.C.

Less than two weeks before Peru's former president, Alberto Fujimori is to begin trial for human rights violations, his wife Satomi Kataoka has broken her silence and affirmed that her husband is not guilty and that she would fight for Fujimori's innocence.

In a television interview, an emotional Kataoka stated she would give her life and fight to prove Alberto Fujimori's innocence.

Despite her emotional affirmations, the Japanese businesswoman has not set foot on Peruvian soil since the former president was extradited to Peru. She has told her husband to continue fighting for his rights and freedom.

"He is a man with strong principles, he's kind and modest, he's so sensitive that he couldn't be described as a man that committed fraud or organized crime," said Fujimori's wife. "I think that's why a great deal of poor people in Peru support him, because he isn't lying."

Despite the fact that Fujimori's lawyer, Cesar Nakasaki has claimed that he requested the trial be postponed, Peru's former president's trial for human rights violations has been set to begin on November 26.

His former adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos has been called as a witness in the trial. The Supreme Court has established that Montesinos does not have the right to remain silent and must testify.

The Mejia Lakes National Sanctuary and Irrigation Iberia, in Arequipa, receive enthusiastic support and technical assistance from the government of Holland.

This article examines natural resource conservation and environmental protection activities funded by the Dutch Embassy in Peru. Our interest is to educate people and institutions so that we can cooperate on improving the quality of life and the quality of place where we live.

The predominant methods of production and patterns of consumption are in no way sustainable. Every day the conflict between economic progress and environmental protection seems to grow more acute. We are destroying the natural environment, using it as if it were an inexhaustible resource, in spite of scientific evidence proving the irreparable damage we are causing. Spreading the word regarding the importance of the environment and the country's resources is a to humanize the processes of development and growth. As the processes of globalization continue, international concern over the environment, cultural diversity and civil society has grown steadily.

The main objective of Holland's policy of cooperation in development is to aid in the fight against poverty. To invest in people means to raise their productive capacities, to improve their ability to meet their basic needs and to help them play a more participatory role in political decision-making.

Starting this year, the Dutch Ministry of Development Cooperation has decided to reorient its assistance strategy, as well as the focus of its cooperation policies and activities. In the case of Peru, the cooperation program will concentrate on environmental protection over the next few years, while current projects and other commitments run their course. The central objective of the Embassy's environmental program is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the country's natural resources. The specific objectives of the program will be directed toward forest conservation, support for the management of protected areas, the promotion of renewable energy, respect for the identity and territory of the indigenous communities and, finally, capacity-building for Peruvian institutions working on environmental issues.

Princess Beatrice, one of the daughters of Andrew Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York arrived to Alejandro Velasco Astete airport in Cusco, Peru today at 11 a.m. She was accompanied by 4 people, believed to be bodyguards and friends.

A tourist bus picked up Princess Beatrice and took her to a hotel located in the center of the historic city that was anciently the capital of the Inca empire. It was reported that the Princess was visiting Cusco to see the ancient Inca citadel, Machu Picchu.

Princess Beatrice's mother, Sarah Ferguson visited Machu Picchu in 2005. This year the the ancient fortress has received visitors such as Olivia Newton John, Cameron Díaz and Bill Gates.

After a spectacular performance and display of skilled surfing, Peruvian surfer Anali Gomez won the chance to take part in the main event of the ASP Women's World Tour which is to be held in Mancora, Peru this week.

All day yesterday, 12 local Peruvian girls intensely fought for the spot which would allow them the chance to take part in an ASP World Tour event and go up against the best surfers in the world. "We started the day with 12 girls vying for a spot in the event, and although the conditions were somewhat inconsistent, we saw some great surfing," ASP Head Judge Richard Porta said.

Upstart Anali Gomez is the second Peruvian in history in an ASP Women's World Tour event and will face off against Silvana Lima from Brazil and Claire Bevilacqua from Australia in Heat 3 of the first round of the Mancora Peru Classic.

Unfortunately, Anali and former ASP Women’s World Champ Sofia Mulanovich will have to wait at least until tomorrow to kick off the event. The competition had been scheduled to begin today but event organizers at the Mancora Peru Classic called competition off because of small waves and inconsistent conditions.

"The surf has dropped a bit in size and we’re looking at some fairly lengthy lulls between sets so we’ll be calling competition off for today," ASP Head Judge Richard Porta said. "It’s the first day of the waiting period and we’re looking at a possible bump in size over the course of the week so we’ll be back tomorrow to make the call at 7am."

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has not decided whether to vote for a free trade agreement with Peru, a spokesman for the New York senator said on Tuesday.

"Senator Clinton is still reviewing the agreement," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said in an e-mail.

Congress is nearing final action on the agreement, which the Bush administration concluded nearly two years ago.

The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee will vote on Wednesday on the Peru agreement, setting the stage for votes in the House and the Senate in coming weeks.

U.S. business groups have hoped a big vote in favor of the Peru agreement would help clear the way for more controversial trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

As her party's front-runner, Clinton's decision could influence how many other Democrats view the Peru pact.

Clinton has called for the South Korean agreement to be renegotiated because of its auto provisions, which many Democrats believe are tilted in favor of Seoul.

She has also called for all U.S. trade agreements to be reviewed every five years.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is carrying out a project to help some 80,000 people in Peru affected by an earthquake which caused widespread death and destruction there in August.

The quake affected some 370,000 residents in the central coast of the country, exacerbating conditions caused by months of low temperatures which had resulted in loss of crops, cattle and other means of subsistence.

The $7 million, nine-month operation aims to prevent a deterioration of the nutritional status of the victims, especially children up to two years of age, women and the elderly. It also has a food-for-work component that will help affected residents reconstruct their homes and productive infrastructure, WFP said in a news release.

“Although many people continue to face precarious living and working conditions, food assistance is arriving for those who need it most,” said Guy Gauvreau, WFP's Representative in Peru.

In the first hours after the earthquake, WFP began an immediate response operation which provided some $500,000 worth of assistance in the first two months to 25,000 people.

The new effort is funded by donors as well as the UN's own Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which was set up to close the resource gap that can hamper emergency relief efforts in their early stages.

Two Japanese mining firms will invest up to 1.7 billion dollars in jointly developing copper production bases in Peru and Chile to secure supplies amid growing demand worldwide, a report said Saturday.

Nippon Mining and Metals Co. and Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. plan to build the facilities by 2011 to produce up to 250,000 tonnes of copper ore a year, the leading business newspaper Nikkei reported.

The project will be undertaken by Pan Pacific Copper Co., a joint copper smelting venture set up by the two firms last year.

It will be the biggest nonferrous metal mining endeavor by Japanese companies, the report said.

Copper is a main raw material for electrical wires, cellular phones, personal computers and automotive electronics.

Pan Pacific Copper will develop mines wholly owned by the two firms -- one in Quechua in the Peruvian province of Cusco and the other in Caserones in northern Chile.

In Quechua, production facilities will be built as early as 2010 to produce 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes a year. The entire output will be shipped to Japan to be smelted into copper bullion, which will be mostly supplied to domestic users, the report said.

It added that copper ore production at the Caserones mine would begin in 2011. The annual ore output of 110,000 to 150,000 tonnes will be processed into bullion at a smelting plant to be set up there for sales worldwide.

Pan Pacific Copper, which also produces copper ore at other mines, would boost its annual procurement to 350,000 tonnes when the new mines go into full swing, the daily said.

Japan's copper bullion consumption stands at roughly 1.25 million tonnes a year, Nikkei said.

Worldwide consumption of copper amounted to about 17 million tonnes in 2006, up two percent from 2005, it added.

Pan Pacific Copper shares 40 percent of the domestic market worth one trillion yen (8.5 billion dollars).

Eight hospitals belonging to the Murciano Health Service in Spain, announced that they were to donate two tons of medical supplies and medicine to the victims of Peru's magnitude-8 earthquake on August 15.

This effort was begun by the Health Care General Directorate, when a shipment of supplies was donated by Santa María del Rosell de Cartagena Hospital last September. It was reported that the shipment was brought to Peru with the help of Iberia airlines.

Several other hospitals have joined in the effort to help those affected by the earthquake. Hospitals such as; Virgen de la Arrixaca, Reina Sofía and Morales Meseguer de Murcia, as well as Virgen del Castillo de Yecla, Rafael Méndez de Lorca, Comarcal del Noroeste and Los Arcos de San Javier have gotten supplies together to send to Peru before October 23.

Medication being sent includes flu shots, vaccines for rotavirus and hepatitis B as well as immune serums and pain killers. Among the medical supplies being sent are eyedroppers, catheters, syringes, gauze pads, bandages and other first aid equipment.

Donations are being sent to Peru through José Luis González, a delegate of Peru's embassy in Madrid and the Iberia "Mano a Mano" aid department.

In this era of global interdependence, the international response to the recent devastating earthquake in Peru provides a good example of a coordinated effort to deal with a disaster.

That coordination can be seen between U.S. agencies and departments responding to the crisis, among governments around the world that responded with quick aid, and between governments and nongovernmental groups focused on disaster assistance.

Relief efforts kicked into gear immediately after an 8.0-magnitude quake struck the coast of Peru on August 15, killing more than 500 people, injuring more than 1,800 and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

The quake and several powerful aftershocks destroyed more than 58,000 homes, according to the Peruvian government, forcing many of the survivors in a vast disaster area surrounding the cities of Pisco and Ica to live in the streets.

Officials said the quake had damaged 103 hospitals and destroyed 14 of them. Damage to roads and other infrastructure left remote mountain communities all but inaccessible.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) quickly sprang into action.

A day after the quake, U.S. Ambassador to Peru P. Michael McKinley declared a disaster based on its effects. That prompted USAID to fund the local purchase and transport of emergency relief supplies to the most seriously affected areas. (See related article.)

The agency also deployed a six-person assessment team that, acting jointly with State Department personnel, began monitoring conditions and providing regular updates.

Between September 11 and 13, USAID airlifted from Miami 800 rolls of plastic sheeting to help meet shelter needs. The sheeting was used in a program, funded through USAID and carried out by private relief agencies including CARE, Caritas Internationalis and World Vision, to provide temporary shelter to as many as 4,500 families in four seriously affected provinces.

Those groups also set out to provide water, sanitation and hygiene support where such facilities had been crippled. The Peruvian Corps of Voluntary Firefighters, long a party to a technical assistance and training relationship with USAID, assisted with program implementation.

By September 14, the humanitarian funding provided by USAID had risen to more than $2.5 million.

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense contributed another $600,000 in assistance, bringing the total U.S. effort to nearly $3.2 million. Defense Department medical teams provided critical health services in the affected areas, as well as supplies and air support.

On the international front, the U.N. Development Program took charge of a U.N. emergency team, following departure of the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination team initially on the scene. The International Organization for Migration distributed 5,000 winterized tents for the homeless.

Many individual nations and groups of nations played their role in the coordinated relief effort as well.

The European Commission, for example, provided an early 2 million euros (about 2.8 million dollars) in aid, then earmarked another 6 million euros (8.4 million dollars) on September 20.

"There are still more than 250,000 people who … remain displaced without appropriate shelter, or are relocated in temporary shelters with limited access to basic water and sanitation facilities. And they need our aid," said Louis Michel, the European Commissioner in charge of humanitarian aid and development.

The United Kingdom announced on August 30 that it would contribute 750,000 pounds (about 1.5 million dollars), beyond its shares of a fund assembled by the United Nations and of the EC donation.

A range of nongovernmental organizations, many religion-based, also helped.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints provided needed supplies to the stricken area. An air shipment from the church's headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, included approximately 80 tons of food, medicine, surgical supplies, hygiene kits and other items.

Aid will continue, said church official Russell Nelson, "because the hearts of the members want to help."

More than a month after the quake, Rick Miller, who coordinates Southern Baptist relief efforts in the area, reported that the Peruvians still "need help with debris removal before they can even begin to rebuild their homes." He deemed continued private relief efforts critical.

Miller noted that his denomination’s help included a contribution from its World Hunger Fund that established community kitchens in 50 locations. Food kits of rice, noodles, lentils and oil are being supplemented locally with potatoes and chicken or fish -- enough to feed 5,000 people for up to two months.

Besides agencies like Oxfam International, an umbrella group for 13 nongovernmental organizations providing traditional assistance, other groups filled their own specialized niches. The Richmond Fellowship Peru, for example, set up a program to provide psychological aid to survivors suffering from post traumatic stress. The Canadian Animal Assistance Team and Amazon Cares joined forces to provide veterinarians and technicians for animals affected by the earthquake.

Congress moved a step closer Tuesday to making Peru the first country to join in a free trade agreement with the U.S. since Democrats took over Congress at the beginning of the year.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., at a hearing of his committee, hailed the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement as the first to include "meaningful, and fully enforceable, labor and environmental stan-dards." Farming and manufacturing representatives also praised the agreement, and the AFL-CIO’s chief international economist, while not endorsing the deal, said it was an improvement over past trade agreements.

The United States currently buys about $5.9 billion worth of Peruvian products a year, and sells about $2.9 billion worth in Peru. When the agreement is implemented, about 80 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial products and two-thirds of farm exports would immediately enter Peru duty-free.

A majority of Democrats and their key labor and environmental group allies have long been wary of free trade deals, saying they lead to the flight of U.S. jobs abroad, exploitation of foreign workers and depravation of foreign environ-ments.

But the equation changed last May when House Democrats, led by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., negotiated a deal with the administration guaranteeing that labor rights and the environment would be core elements in future trade accords.

Baucus said that as a result, Peruvian workers would be assured the right to organize and bargain collectively and Peruvian children would stay in school rather than work in sweatshops.

Thea Mei Lee, the AFL-CIO economist, said that while the agreement does not address all its worker rights’ con-cerns, it was “an enormous improvement” over past Bush administration agreements with Chile, Singapore, Morocco and others.

She said that AFL-CIO unions were on both sides on the Peru agreement, and it was putting its priorities into oppos-ing two other pending free trade agreements, with Colombia and South Korea.

Senate Democratic leaders have indicated that the Peru agreement could reach the Senate floor by mid to late Octo-ber. Another agreement with Panama could be dealt with this year as well, while the Colombia and South Korea deals are more problematic — Colombia because of human rights issues and South Korea because of its restrictions on U.S. auto and other imports.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, top Republican on the Finance Committee, cited estimates that the Peru agreement would result in a 25 percent boost in U.S. exports and 8 percent growth in Peruvian exports.

David Winkles, member of the American Farm Bureau Federation trade advisory committee, told the panel that U.S. agriculture exports to Peru, currently around $223 million a year, could jump by more than $700 million.

But Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said in an interview that it would also “displace millions of peasant farmers in Peru.” She said many labor and environmental groups with ties to Democrats are “basi-cally infuriated that Democrats are going to consider passing more Bush NAFTA deals,” referring to the North Ameri-can Free Trade Agreement. “They are putting a new roof on a condemned building.”

Several at the hearing, including Lee and former Clinton administration trade chief Mickey Kantor, stressed that Americans will only support free trade if there is clear evidence that the administration is enforcing promised labor and environmental standards.

"What we have right now are the right words on paper,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. “That’s not enough."

Ecologists have photographed a little-known nomadic tribe deep in Peru's Amazon, a sighting that could intensify debate about the presence of isolated Indians as oil firms line up to explore the jungle.

Carrying arrows and living in palm-leaf huts on the banks of the Las Piedras river, the tribe was glimpsed last week by researchers flying over the Alto Purus national park near the Brazilian border to look for illegal loggers.


"We saw them by chance. There were three huts and about 21 Indians -- children, women and young people," said Ricardo Hon, a forest scientist at the National Institute of Natural Resources.

Hon said an indigenous group using the same kind of huts was seen in the region in the 1980s, and advocacy groups said they appeared to be part of the Mascho Piro tribe.

The sighting of the indigenous group comes as Peru's government is encouraging foreign companies to look for oil in the rainforest.
Environmental and Indian rights groups firmly oppose the exploration in the remote jungle area about 550 miles east of Lima, the South American country's coastal capital.

Indigenous people who have shunned contact with the rest of society are believed to live within some of the dozens of parcels being auctioned across the country for petroleum prospecting, some of them in the Amazon.

"The Peruvian government is actively promoting oil and gas exploration in areas where uncontacted tribes live," said David Hill, a researcher with London-based advocacy group Survival International.

The organization estimates that up to 15 isolated tribes live in Peru, the most after Brazil and Papua in Indonesia.

Peru's state oil company PetroPeru says it considers tribes that shy away from outsiders to be safe as they live in protected reserve areas, which are excluded from petroleum auctions. But its president, Daniel Saba, was criticized earlier this year for saying the notion of hidden tribes was "absurd."

Rights groups say nomadic tribes travel in and out of national parks depending on the season, and encroaching loggers or oil company workers could expose them to deadly diseases. In the past, disease halved many Amazon tribal populations.

Documenting how many isolated groups exist is notoriously difficult because some tribes have hidden deeper in the forest or moved to new locations after brief encounters with outsiders.

"Quite a few groups have probably made a conscious choice to retreat and not build long-term relations with newcomers," said Suzanne Oakdale, an anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico.

"Often, 'uncontacted tribes' means uncontacted by a government institution, but the groups have long and complicated histories with other people," she said.

Canadian volunteers are going to Peru to help survivors of the magnitude 8.0 earthquake that devastated the central coast of the South American country. But these medical specialists will tend to often-overlooked survivors: pets.

More than 500 people were killed and 1,000 injured when the quake levelled buildings, highways and 34,000 homes on Aug. 15.

The Canadian Animal Assistance Team (CAAT) is sending 31 volunteer veterinarians and technicians to the country next week to treat Peruvians' wounded animal companions.

Vancouver technician Donna Lasser founded CAAT in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and sent 82 volunteers to Louisiana to provide pet care in the fall of 2005.

Two teams are now headed to the Peruvian communities of Ica and Pisca for a week each.

"We're not involved in retrieval or rescue, but once the pets have been rescued we're there for triage, we put them back together," said Dr. Bill Ignacio of Granville Island Veterinary Hospital. "What we are hoping to do is get these animals back to their families."

For advocates of free trade, Peru offers a glimmer of hope.

Negotiators are ironing out a few kinks, but Bush administration officials and congressional staffers expect a free-trade agreement with Peru to go before Congress later this month. It could become the first bilateral agreement to be approved by a Democratic-controlled Congress since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in 1993.

"I'm all in favor of momentum," said Bill Reinsch of the National Foreign Trade Council, a business group that promotes open trade. "I'm going to take as many as I can get."

An agreement with Panama is expected to go to Congress soon after the Peru pact, but higher-stakes deals are still stuck, as Democrats block agreements with Colombia and South Korea.

The Doha round of world trade talks shows few signs of life. The once-promising Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative is a fading memory, and Democrats have refused to renew a special presidential trade-promotion authority, TPA, making it hard to sign more pacts.

This has prompted administration officials to issue dire warnings.

"Members of Congress need to understand that a `no' vote on any one of these (free-trade agreements) will not create a single job in the United States or sell a single pound of meat or a single piece of medical equipment or software," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told an "FTA rally" last Monday (Sept. 10) on Capitol Hill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was less diplomatic.

"You switch the control of Congress and what do you get?" he asked an audience last week at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Expiration of TPA, no Peru, no Panama, no Colombia, no Korea. Elections have consequences."

A decade ago, the Americas were supposed to be a showcase for trade liberalization. But differences over agricultural subsidies and rifts between liberal and conservative currents have stalled trade talks, experts say.

Trade negotiations between the European Union and Latin American nations have made little progress. Grand schemes of South American integration have produced lofty declarations but few tangible results. On top of all this, Asian countries are busy eliminating barriers to commerce among one another, which experts warn will put the Americas at a further disadvantage on the world stage.

A few years ago, the Bush administration was forging ahead on free trade, signing deals with such countries as Chile, Australia, Singapore and much of Central America, plus the Dominican Republic.

U.S. officials forecast that more than 90 percent of the production of the Americas would come under a free-trade umbrella once deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia were finished.

But Democrats said the Bush administration had ignored their concerns about labor and environmental issues. So when Democrats took over Congress last January, Schwab negotiated with key members such as Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a new framework that included tougher labor and environment language and fewer protections for patented medicines.

Still, Congress took no action before its summer recess. Colombia, the closest U.S. ally in South America and the recipient of more than $5 billion in U.S. aid, was criticized for the killings of labor activists by armed groups.

To satisfy the Democrats, Peru agreed to change its labor and environmental regulations. Violations can be subject to punitive tariffs.

"This mechanism will ensure that the labor and environmental provisions are not merely paper tigers," Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said at a hearing where he stated his support for the deal. "I intend to make sure that the administration enforces them vigorously."

Eyeing tougher deals down the road, the Bush administration is pushing the Peru deal hard, casting it as a way to reward moderate leftist President Alan Garcia.

"This is a time to step it up," said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who took a delegation of nine lawmakers to Peru, Colombia and Panama last week. "It's good for exports, good for the economy and good for leaving a solid record for the future as to how we treat our friends and how we treat our allies."

Gutierrez argues that U.S. exports have risen faster to countries that have signed free-trade agreements with the United States. He points out that the United States is running a trade surplus with five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic after enacting CAFTA, as the free-trade agreement with those nations is called.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, warned that failure to pass the Peru deal would "empower leaders like (Venezuelan President) Hugo Chavez who are antagonistic to the United States."

Still, many Democrats aren't impressed. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said "the Peru FTA continues our nation's failed trade policy" and criticized the deals as "job killing."

So far, Democrats aren't giving any sign that they're proceeding on pacts with Colombia, the second most populous nation in South America, or South Korea, a trillion-dollar economy. The AFL-CIO, which has strong lobbying clout among Democrats, is neutral on the Peru deal but "very much opposed" to Colombia and South Korea, said Thea Lee, the labor organization's policy director.

Colombia isn't doing enough on the human rights front, Lee said, with only 37 convictions in 2,200 union deaths since 1991. Korea, she said, places too many non-market barriers to U.S. manufactured goods, especially autos.

Douglas Eugene "Gene" Savoy, an explorer who discovered more than 40 lost cities in Peru and led long-distance sailing adventures to learn more about ancient cultures, has died. He was 80.

Savoy died of natural causes Tuesday at his Reno home, his family said Saturday.

Dubbed the "real Indiana Jones" by People magazine, Savoy was credited with finding four of Peru's most important archaeological sites, including Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Incas from the Spanish Conquistadors.

Hiram Bingham considered Machu Picchu to be the site of Vilcabamba after he discovered it in 1911 in the Peruvian Andes. But scientific consensus now points toward Espiritu Pampa as the Incas' last stronghold; Bingham also discovered that site but Savoy's excavation work in the mid-1960s found it to be a much larger settlement than originally realized.

In the next 40 years in the jungles of Peru, Savoy discovered more than 40 stone cities of a mysterious pre-Inca civilization known as the Chachapoyas. Among them were Gran Pajaten, Gran Vilaya and Gran Saposoa.

"Scientists thought the existence of these cities and settlements in the Peruvian rainforest was all a myth until my father found them," his son Sean Savoy said. "His discoveries opened up a whole new area of jungle archaeology that didn't exist before."

He said his father suffered hepatitis, was bitten by snakes and chased by guerrilla soldiers during his explorations.

Savoy also took to the sea to test his theories that the Incas, Aztecs and other ancient civilizations had contact with each other. From 1977 to 1982, he used a 60-foot schooner to research possible trade routes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Savoy wrote dozens of books, including 1970's "Antisuyo: The Search for the Lost Cities of the Amazon" about his early discoveries in Peru, and 1974's "On the Trail of the Feathered Serpent" about some of his sea journeys.

But the bulk of his books and articles concerned another consuming passion: religion.

As founder of a new theology known as "Cosolargy," he established the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent. He taught that the Second Coming of Christ had already become a living reality through a miraculous celestial event.

Savoy was born in Bellingham, Wash., and served as a Navy gunner during World War II. He later was a journalist and newspaper editor in Portland, Ore.

He moved to Reno in 1971 and founded the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club based in that city. The nonprofit organization sponsored many of his explorations.

Among other awards, he was honored with medals from the Peruvian Senate and the Peruvian Ministry of Industry and Tourism in the late 1980s. The city of Reno proclaimed "Gene Savoy Day" in October 1996.

Survivors include his children, Gene Jr., Sean and Sylvia Jamila Savoy, and three granddaughters.

The 7th Latin American Travel Trade Mart – BIT Peru 2007 – will be held in the JW Marriott Hotel Lima, on September 17 and 18. This year, the event will launch the Luxury Collection & Incentives business area, thus becoming the first South American event aimed at promoting this kind of tourism to and within the region. BIT Peru 2007 has already over 60 main buyers from Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as from Peru, and the participation of around 50 sellers from Argentina (Les Amis, Luxury Turismo); Chile (Sky Airline, CL Mundo, Park Travel, Villarrica Park Lake Hotel, Imperio Suites Hotel, Euro Rent a Car, Programa Patagonia); Brasil (EMBRATUR/Comité Descubra Brasil, Gipsy Tours, Casa Grande Hotel Resort Spa, Guarujá CVB,) Bolivia (CANOTUR, Eba Transtur, Queen Travel, Turisbus, Millenarian Tourism Travel, Gloria Tours, Cade Tours, Todo Turismo), Colombia (Hotel Santa Mónica) and Perú (Orient-Express, JW Marriott Hotel Lima, Inkaterra Machu Picchhu Hotel, Hatuchay Tower Machu Picchu Hotel, Picoaga Hotel; Thunderbird Hoteles Las Américas, Lima Tours, Inbound Peru, Amazon Rainforest Lodge, Inkari Tours, Mountain Lodges of Peru, Globos de los Andes).

Peru's economy expanded for a 24th straight quarter in the April-through-June period on increased government and consumer spending.

Gross domestic product grew 7.6 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, in line with the 7.5 percent median forecast from eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In the first half of the year, Peru's GDP rose 7.7 percent, the National Statistics Institute said today in an e-mailed statement.

As Peru heads toward a six straight year of growth averaging 5.6 percent, revenue from a surge in metals prices has prompted the government to expand building projects for roads, bridges and public housing. Job creation and rising wages are also spurring demand for homes and cars.

``The economy is dynamic and stands out regionally,'' Andres Milla, head of SAB Credibolsa, Peru's largest brokerage, said in an interview. ``We're growing faster than 7 percent due to not only high metals prices but also rapidly rising consumer demand, with industry and construction posting double-digit growth.''

Construction rose by one-fifth, while electricity rose 11 percent, manufacturing grew 10.5 percent and retail sales rose 7.5 percent, the institute said. Copper rose 15 percent, zinc rose by one-quarter, and natural gas jumped by one-half.
``The Peruvian strong growth story has carried on unscathed,'' Luis Arcentales, an economist in New York at Morgan Stanley, wrote in an Aug. 27 report. ``The impact in terms of growth from the tragic earthquake that hit Peru's Ica region is likely to be limited.''

Earthquake Reconstruction
Companies could speed up construction and energy projects to help rebuild the south coast after the country's deadliest earthquake in 30 years killed 519 and left 80,000 homeless on Aug. 15, Jaime Caceres, president of Peru's biggest business association, Confiep, told state news agency Andina.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia yesterday urged businesses to bring forward investment plans in a bid to match last year's 8 percent economic growth.

Endesa SA, Spain's largest power company, will expand installed capacity in Peru, chairman Manuel Pizarro told reporters in Lima after meeting with Garcia.

The Peruvian sol was unchanged at 3.1655 soles to the dollar. The sol has gained 0.9 percent this year.

Peru's National Statistics Institute (INEI) reported that visits to Machu Picchu increased by 13.1 percent during the month of May.

47,192 tourists, foreign and native, visited "The Lost City of the Incas" in Peru. When compared to the number of visitors Machu Picchu had in May 2006, a 13.1 percent increase can be seen.

Peru's INEI reported that this is the sixth consecutive month in which tourism to the Inca Citadel has increased. INEI informed that this growth can be attributed to the mass amount of publicity and campaigns, national and international, that have been organized encouraging tourists to visit Machu Picchu.

The ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are considered by some, to be the most beautiful ancient sites in the Americas. Machu Picchu, meaning Old Peak in Quechua, is an Inca city located about 70 km northwest of Cusco.

Machu Picchu is 2,430 m.a.s.l (7,970 f.a.s.l), atop a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru.

Congress will give priority treatment to approval of a trade pact with Peru when it reconvenes in September, the head of the House Ways and Means Committee said Monday.

"It is a priority when we return to the Congress in September," Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, told reporters after meeting with President Alan Garcia.

Rangel was accompanied on his visit to Lima, Peru by Democratic Reps. Sander Levin from Michigan and Allyson Schwartz from Pennsylvania.

Rangel said he was bringing "the total support" of the leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate for "for moving this free trade agreement forward."

Peru and U.S. trade negotiators agreed on a trade pact in April 2006 and it was ratified by Peru's Congress two months later. But its approval has been held up in the Democrat-controlled Congress, where some lawmakers worry that pending trade deals with Peru and other countries could jeopardize American jobs.

Peru has been working to appease Democratic congressmen about their doubts over what they see as a lack of protection for Peruvian workers.

Rangel said he had been favorably impressed with Garcia's commitment to labor rights.

Yale has agreed to turn over to Peru an inventory of artifacts that explorer Hiram Bingham III carted back with him to New Haven after excavating Machu Picchu, the "lost" city of the Incas, in the Andean mountains nearly a century ago.

The breakthrough, which may ultimately help decide who gets to keep the ancient Incan artifacts, was reached this summer under Peru's new president, who appears willing to settle the dispute without resorting to the lawsuit threatened by his predecessor.

Peru's housing minister is expected to lead a delegation of Peruvians to New Haven next month to continue talks with Yale.

"Why should we pursue a lawsuit?" said Vladimír Kocerha, a spokesman for the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, D.C. "Things are progressing. We are talking to them. They are talking to us."

At stake are about 300 museum-quality pieces - skeletons, ceramic pots and jewelry - that Bingham dug up on his historic expedition to Machu Picchu in 1912. The trove awakened the Western world to the wonders of an ancient, highly advanced civilization. A history professor at Yale, Bingham promised to ship his Incan finds back to Peru when he was done studying them, but not all the objects came home as promised.

Peru began to press for the return of its artifacts - a symbol of national identity and pride - after Alejandro Toledo, Peru's first ethnically indigenous president, took office in 2001. For years, Toledo's administration negotiated with Yale but as the end of his term approached in late 2005 Peru threatened to sue, evoking the shameful legacy of European colonial rule in South America. Peru's current president, Alan Garcia, took office last summer before any legal papers were filed.

This spring, Yale President Richard Levin wrote to Garcia suggesting they find a compromise. The response was encouraging. In early June, Garcia appointed his housing minister, Hernán Garrido-Lecca, a Harvard-educated investment banker, to handle the matter.

Later that month Yale's chief counsel visited Peru and Yale agreed to prepare an inventory of the items Bingham excavated. The list should be ready to share with Peru by the end of the year, said Tom Conroy, a Yale spokesman.

Though Yale repeatedly offered to show the artifacts jointly with Peru, Yale refused to acknowledge that Peru had full ownership, fearing restrictions that would be placed on research on the bones and other material, the New York Times has reported. The National Geographic Society, which funded Bingham's 1912 expedition, remains firmly on Peru's side in demanding the repatriation of the artifacts.

Most of Bingham's finds were languishing in storage at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History until they were rediscovered by a husband-and-wife anthropology team at the university, Richard Burger and Lucy Salazar. The couple put together a traveling exhibit, "Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas," that came home to New Haven permanently in 2005, just as the dispute with Peru was coming to a head.

A new solution proposed by Yale would put the exhibition back on the road to raise money to build a museum in Cuzco, former capital of the Inca Empire. Yale would then transfer the artifacts there permanently, while maintaining rights to do research on lesser-quality pieces, the New York Times Magazine reported in June. Yale declined to elaborate on that possibility on Monday.

The UN's culture body has removed the lofty Inca ruins of Machu Picchu from its list of endangered world heritage sites, after Peru vowed to regulate tourism on the mountaintop.

Besides lifting its "technical objections" to Machu Picchu, UNESCO praised Peru for how well it has preserved its top tourist attraction, Peru's National Institute of Culture director Cecilia Bakula told reporters yesterday.

She said the decision by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was taken at a World Heritage meeting in New Zealand.

Built in the 1500s atop a 2,440-metre mountain in the Peruvian Andes by Inca emperor Pachacutec, Machu Picchu served as a ceremonial centre and astronomical observatory until it was discovered in 1911.

Now Peru's top tourist attraction, the site was chosen July 7 as one of the new seven wonders of the world by an internet vote in Lisbon organised by a Swiss foundation, which UNESCO disavowed for lacking "broader vision" on heritage.

A UNESCO mission to Machu Picchu in April found that progress had been made in the site's preservation and maintenance, after earlier deeming its walls and foundations at risk from too many visitors trampling about.

Some 2,000 tourists visit the site every day, but it's feared the number could grow to 5,000 now that it has been declared a world wonder. A town at the foot of the mountain, Aguas Calientes, has also been expanding, creating additional dangers to the site.

On UNESCO's earlier objections, the National Institute of Culture drew up a managing plan for Machu Picchu regulating the flow of tourists both to the site and to Aguas Calientes in order to ease stress and erosion atop and on the side of the mountain.

Peru's Institute of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy recently released a map of Machu Picchu showing 10 areas at risk, where huge granite stones "are very fractured and in danger of crumbling without adequate maintenance." It called for a conservation plan.

The other six new wonders chosen in Lisbon include the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal of India, the Colosseum in Rome, the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico.

LAN Peru is launching a direct service between Peru and Europe. Flights between Lima and Madrid start on August 7.

There will be three weekly flights from Lima on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, while from Madrid there will be direct flights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The carrier currently serves a range of destinations in Latin America, plus Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and most recently La Paz and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. It offers 12 destinations within Peru.

LAN Peru will operate the Lima-Madrid route with Boeing 767s. It has also announced it will add 32 Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft to the airline’s fleet between 2011 and 2016. LAN will purchase 26 aircraft and acquire six more via leasing contracts.

Peru and Mexico have agreed to extend their current Economic Agreement, due to end on Dec. 31 this year, until June 30, 2008, Peru's Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Luis Garcia said on Monday.

The agreement was reached by Garcia and his Mexican counterpart, Beatriz Leycegui, at a meeting in Lima last week.

Business people in both countries have been informed of the extension, which was intended to boost continued flow of bilateral trade, said Garcia.

Meanwhile, talks on a bilateral free trade treaty are set to be reopened in September in Mexico City, said the trade minister.

"Peru considers it essential to restart these talks, which were suspected in October, in a bid to open up markets for Peru's products in Latin America," Garcia said.

Peru's free trade agreement would cover the whole of North America after the success of trade deals with Mexico and it has already begun negotiations with Canada and a treaty with the United States is currently awaiting approval by Peru's Congress.

LISBON, Portugal - The Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum, India's Taj Mahal and three architectural marvels from Latin America were among the new seven wonders of the world chosen in a global poll released on Saturday.
 
Jordan's Petra was the seventh winner. Peru's Machu Picchu, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid also made the cut.
 
About 100 million votes were cast by the Internet and cellphone text messages, said New7Wonders, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll.

The seven beat out 14 other nominated landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island in the Pacific, the Statue of Liberty, the Acropolis, Russia's Kremlin and Australia's Sydney Opera House.

The pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, were assured of retaining their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete.

The campaign to name new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. Almost 200 nominations came in, and the list was narrowed to the 21 most-voted by the start of 2006. Organizers admit there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite.

 A Peruvian in national costume held up Machu Picchu's award to the sky and bowed to the crowd with his hands clasped, eliciting one of the biggest cheers from the audience of 50,000 people at a soccer stadium in Portugal's capital, Lisbon.

Many jeered when the Statue of Liberty was announced as one of the candidates. Portugal was widely opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Another Swiss adventurer, Bertrand Piccard, pilot of the first hot-air balloon to fly nonstop around the world, announced one of the winners - then launched into an appeal for people to combat climate change and stand up for human rights before being ushered off the stage.

 The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and Petra had been among the leading candidates since January, while the Statue of Christ Redeemer received a surge in votes more recently.

 The Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House were near the bottom of the list from the start.

  Also among the losing candidates were Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.

  Weber's Switzerland-based foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.

The traditional seven wonders were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Middle East. That list was derived from lists of marvels compiled by ancient Greek observers, the best known being Antipater of Sidon, a writer in the 2nd century B.C.

President George W. Bush on Monday urged the Democrat-held US Congress to ratify the US-Peru free trade pact before lawmakers go on their August recess.

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"We've got trade agreements that we've reached with Peru, and Panama and Colombia. It's really important for the United States Congress to pass these agreements," he said at a forum on US relations with Latin America.

"I'd like to see the Peruvian deal done by the beginning of August. They've got time to get the bill done," he added.

In late June, the United States and Peru agreed to amendments to the April 2006 US-Peru trade deal, offering guarantees of labor rights and environmental protection, as sought by the Democrats.

Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered the human skeleton of what they conclude is the earliest confirmed gunshot victim in the New World.

Digging in an Inca cemetery in the suburbs of Lima, they came on well-preserved remains of an individual with holes less than an inch in diameter in the back and front of the skull. Forensic scientists in Connecticut said the position of the round holes and some minuscule iron particles showed that the person most likely was shot and killed by a Spanish musket ball.

Ceramics and other artifacts in the 72 examined graves established the approximate time of the burials, archaeologists said, and this indicated that these were casualties of combat between Inca warriors and Spanish invaders, who seized the Andean empire in 1532. Spanish chronicles describe a pitched battle, a last stand of the Incas, that was fought around 1536.

Conquistadors were equipped with some of the first effective firearms, which had been developed recently in Europe, military historians say.

The National Geographic Society announced Tuesday the discovery of the gunshot victim by the independent Peruvian archaeologists Guillermo Cock and Elena Goycochea, who have conducted research at the Puruchuco cemetery for years. A NOVA-National Geographic television program on the research is scheduled for Tuesday.

In a telephone interview Monday, Cock said that at least 35 of the excavated skeletons bore evidence of violent injuries: cheekbones crushed by heavy blows, broken hands and limbs, a smashed chest. Some had presumably fallen in hand-to-hand combat or been trampled by Spanish horses, another instrument of warfare new to the Americas.

No similar evidence of a death by gunshot this early has been found elsewhere in the Americas, Cock said. The musket shot appeared to have entered the back of the man's skull, punching a piece of bone from outside to inside, and emerged through the face.

"The individual may have been escaping from the Europeans," the archaeologist said.

These particular graves attracted the attention of the excavators because they were shallow and the bodies appeared to have been interred hastily. They were not ritually wrapped in shrouds and placed in a crouched position facing northeast, as was customary in Inca burials.

Forensic experts at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut, confirmed the violent nature of the deaths. Albert Harper, executive director of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the university, said, "We tried to rule out all kinds of causes of the hole - a rock from a slingshot, spear, sledgehammer."

An examination of the skull with a scanning electron microscope detected the otherwise invisible iron traces, Harper said, sealing the verdict of death by a musket ball fired from perhaps 30 meters, or 100 feet.

China was the largest supplier of information technology (IT) products to Peru in 2006, contributing 41.4 percent of the nation's imports, the Lima Chamber of Commerce said yesterday.
Peru's IT product imports from China last year was worth US$171.2 million, it said.
IT product imports have registered a major growth in the last few years from US$214.5 million a year in 2002 to 415.2 million in 2006.
Last year, the imports from China represents 60 percent of the value generated by the IT industry. The market will grow swiftly to US$700 million, the chamber estimated.
The United States, the second largest supplier to Peru, provided US$50.3 million of IT products, or 12.1 percent of Peru's total imports. More than half of Peru's IT imports comes from Asian countries, the statement said.
The chamber said that it is important for Peru to fulfill the requirements of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) set out by the World Trade Organization, which includes tariff reductions for IT products.
To meet ITA rules, a nation must reduce tariffs, taxes and custom charge to zero for a list of approved products.
"Peru has not yet signed the agreement but it will do so as part of its commitments signed in its free trade agreement with the United States," the Chamber said.
The main IT products imported to Peru include word processor parts and accessories, which represented US$102.7 million of goods in 2006, up 53.6 percent from a year earlier. Laptop purchases rose 67 percent to US$47.9 million, while silicon chips rose 71.7 percent to US$20.9 million.

The Achuar people live along the Corrientes River in the Amazon Basin of northeastern Peru near Ecuador. It is there that Los Angeles-based Occidental produced oil for 25 years starting in 1975.
Occidental sold its concession to Argentine-based Pluspetrol by 2000, which continues to produce oil there.

Attorneys who represent the Achuar said in a Thursday conference call with the press that pollution caused by Occidental until 2000 and Occidental's poorly designed pollution control systems that remain in place leave culpable the fourth-largest US oil and gas company.

Three nonprofit groups on Thursday issued a 60-page report called "Legacy of Harm" that draws from its 2006 study of the region. Those groups are Amazon Watch and EarthRights International which are US-based, and Lima-based Racimos de Ungurahui.

"Oxy has extracted petroleum from our ancestral territory, contaminating and destroying it," said Andres Sandi Mucushua, president of the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River. "We have seen our rivers, farms, and animals sicken and we have become ill and died from the contamination."

Richard S. Kline, vice president for communications for Occidental, told Reuters the company has been "a responsible steward of the environment where our employees work and live" and left Peru almost eight years ago.

"When we were in Peru, the operations were consistent with Peruvian government requirements and consistent with internationally recognized standards for oil and gas operations," Kline said.

"We have no scientific data of any adverse impact of our operations in Peru," said Kline.

Marco Simons, legal director for EarthRights International, which will represent the Achuar if a suit is filed, said Occidental has until next week to respond to claims laid out in the report before legal action is taken.

Simons said a suit, if one is filed, would be filed in Los Angeles in either state or federal court.

About 8,600 in five Achuar communities claim that Occidental's lack of pollution controls have caused them to have dangerously high levels of toxins lead and cadmium.

Last November, Pluspetrol said it would invest $200 million, mainly for environmental projects, in the Amazon basin after a 13-day blockade of its oil wells by the Achuar in protest of pollution. Pluspetrol said it was losing more than $2 million a day because of shut oil production.

Pluspetrol is not included in the threat to sue Occidental because of that agreement. Simons said the Achuar will watch to see if Pluspetrol lives up to its pledge.

For decades, Lima's wealthy elite has been ditching the three-pisco-sour lunch to surf the long, perfect waves as high as 10 feet along the Pacific coast.

But now the tides are changing, with the sport's popularity transcending class lines due to a greater availability of cheap boards and a homegrown 2004 world surfing champion who has sparked a wave-riding fever.

Unemployed Web designer Christian Escobar paid $80 for a used board — a fraction of the $350 pricetag for a new one — and stores it with fishermen near the pebbled Costa Verde beach instead of hauling it back to his poor neighborhood in Lima, more than an hour away by a rickety city bus.

"I've seen people from money, people who are poor," said Escobar, fresh from catching some late afternoon waves. "But whatever, the thing is to have fun."

Unlike surfing hotspots such as Australia, Hawaii and Costa Rica, whose waves depend on the season, the breaks along Peru's 1,500-mile desert coast hit all year long, fed by the mighty Humboldt Current and uninterrupted by any land masses. That has brought fame to the northern Chicama beach, home to the world's longest waves and a top destination for die-hard surfers worldwide — even before the Beach Boys harmonized about the "shores of Peru" in their 1962 hit "Surfin' Safari."

Many rich board-toting Limenos stick to the exclusive beach clubs south of the capital, or the thatched-roof resorts on the northern coast near Ecuador, where the waves are bigger and the water warmer.

The gritty Costa Verde beach, running below five Lima neighborhoods, has become more popular with middle- and lower-class surfers who take advantage of its small but powerful waves to learn the sport.

"Everyone wants to have fun, you know? Rich people and poor people," said Joseph Silva, a 22-year-old night cook from a poor district in eastern Lima who has been surfing the Costa Verde for three years on a used board. "It's an expensive sport, but there is something for everyone."

Some Peruvians insist surfing was born in this Andean country with the pre-Inca Chimu civilization, which lived near Chicama. In fact, fishermen from the beach town of Huanchaco, 300 miles north of Lima, still ride the waves back to shore with the day's catch on the same long reed kayaks called "caballitos," or "little horses," used by the Chimu.

Yet it is one of Peru's wealthier citizens who is credited with making the sport a national pastime.

Carlos Dogny, the son of a sugar magnate, became enamored with surfing while studying in Hawaii in the 1930s, and religiously escaped Lima's dreary seven-month winter in search of his own "Endless Summer" — some 30 years before the famed Bruce Brown surfing documentary was released.

Dogny and a good friend took to the waves during Peru's December-April summer on two heavy longboards he had shipped to Lima from San Francisco.

In 1942, they founded the Waikiki Club, at the time a wooden shack bathroom on Costa Verde where they kept their boards.

Today, the club has 600 members and includes a restaurant, two swimming pools and squash and tennis courts. But it's not open to everyone: new members must be recommended by a current member, pay a $5,000 initiation fee and be male, although a member's wife and daughters become automatic members.

Victor Curo, a 66-year-old former potato farmer from the highlands who has cared for surfboards at the Waikiki since he was 20, said that when he took the job, "People from poor neighborhoods didn't even know about the Costa Verde."

Now, "the whole world rides," Curo said, as he tapped a 10-pound fiberglass board and recalled the Herculean task of hauling 130-pound wooden longboards out beyond the waves for members. "It's changed a lot."

Mostly, he said, surfing here changed because of Sofia Mulanovich, who learned to surf at Waikiki when she was 9 and went on to become the 2004 women's world surfing champion. Following her win, dozens of informal surf schools opened up along Lima's coast, charging as little as $10 for a one-hour lesson.

"It's more fashionable now," said Rocio Larranaga, who has taught surfing at Waikiki for 12 years. She says her students now come from all over Lima — a sprawling metropolis whose only border not surrounded by slums is the Pacific Ocean.

Pedro Gomez, a textile industry student from the middle-class Barranco district who has been surfing the Costa Verde for a year on a used $20 board, said he prefers to go to his neighborhood beach, even if it's only steps away from where the Waikiki was founded.

"Near the Waikiki you can see people like me, people from the 'barrio,'" said Gomez. "But in the water we're all equal."

With the purpose of bringing down Lima’s staggeringly high air pollution levels, Peru’s Citizen Defense organ (in Spanish: Defensoría del Pueblo) will launch a campaign in April which aims to look for alternative solutions to diminish this dangerous health risk primarily created by Lima’s high number of old motorized vehicles.

Carlos Alza Barco, responsible for the protection of public services and environment, informed they will summon public transportation companies, public and private authorities, institutions as well as regular citizens to attack this problem.

“The Defensoría del Pueblo launches this initiative because we are talking about the health and the life of our population”, he said.

Although technical revisions of older vehicles are planned, at the present time they would be worthless because the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima and the Lidercon Peru, the company in charge of conducting the inspections, do not have the legal means and authority to issue fines or take cars off the streets.

Alza Barco requested an “urgent meeting” between all parties involved in order to find a suitable solution. “We are not trying to ‘judicialize’ this subject”, he added.

Xstrata Copper has made an important resource expansion in its Las Bambas copper district and confirms a substantial mineral resource at the Antapaccay copper deposit, both in southern Peru. Antapaccay is 9 km from Xstrata Copper's Tintaya copper mine. Since acquiring the project in August 2004, Xstrata Copper has drilled a total of 156,000 m at Las Bambas. Based on initial successes, the company plans to conduct a further 85,000 m of drilling in 2007, mainly on the initial three mineralized systems.

Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain: "The successful results of the 2006 exploration programme at Las Bambas, together with the publication of a substantial mineral resource so close to existing infrastructure at Tintaya, has confirmed southern Peru as a significant strategic region for Xstrata. The identification of one billion tonnes of combined mineral resources in the region at attractive grades, with substantial further exploration potential and a strong existing operating and infrastructure base, places us in an ideal position to pursue rapid, profitable growth in southern Peru."

The 2006 exploration programme at Las Bambas, which included 100,000 m of drilling, established an indicated and inferred resource of 508 Mt at 1.14% Cu using a 0.5% cut-off grade. This represents an increase of 69% over the mineral resource of 300 Mt at 1.1% Cu published in March 2006. In addition, the new resource includes estimated average grades for molybdenum of 220 ppm Mo and for gold of 0.11 g/t Au.

Included in this mineral resource, which covers three mineralized systems (Chalcobamba, Ferrobamba and Sulfobamba), are 377 Mt grading 1.27% Cu, 214 ppm Mo and 0.13 g/t Au at the Ferrobamba deposit. Of this, 239 Mt at 1.36% Cu, 220 ppm Mo and 0.14 g/t Au is contained in skarn mineralization. "The presence of substantial volumes of high grade skarn-style copper mineralization, with significant grades of molybdenum and gold, supplemented with large, lower grade copper porphyry mineralization, confirms the significant potential of Las Bambas district," Sartain said.

Xstrata Copper acquired the Antapaccay copper-gold prospect through its acquisition of the Tintaya copper mine from BHP Billiton in June 2006. Historically more than 90,000 m have been drilled at Antapaccay, which consists of two adjacent mineral structures: Antapaccay North and Antapaccay South. Following detailed evaluation of work undertaken to date, Xstrata Copper has been able to establish a total mineral resource of 472 Mt at 0.74% Cu.

"The Antapaccay deposit holds the potential to increase production and extend the life of our Tintaya assets, which are located only 9 km away," commented Sartain. The Tintaya operations comprise an open pit, a processing plant producing copper concentrate, a heap leaching operation and a SX-EW plant producing copper cathodes and substantial transport and administrative infrastructure. The operation achieved record mining and mill processing rates during the second half of 2006. During 2007, Xstrata Copper will conduct 40,000 m of drilling to confirm and upgrade the Antapaccay resource as part of a prefeasibility study into the development of the project.

A line of 13 stone towers that top a coastal hillside in Peru are in fact the Western Hemisphere's oldest solar observatory, researchers said on Thursday.

The site, called the Thirteen Towers of Chankillo, precisely spans the annual rising and setting arcs of the sun when viewed from two specially constructed observation points.

"Thousands of people could have gathered to watch impressive solar events. These events could have been manipulated for a political agenda," said Ivan Ghezzi, who made the discovery while a graduate student at Yale University and who is now archeological director of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (National Institute for Culture) in Peru.

For instance, at the time of the summer solstice in June, the longest day of the year, the sun rises just to the left of the northernmost tower, Ghezzi said in a telephone interview.

Chankillo is a large ceremonial center laid out over several square miles (kilometers). It has a heavily fortified hilltop structure, thick walls and parapets. But no one quite understood a 300-yard-long (meter-long) line of towers that sits on a nearby hill like spines on a dragon's back.

Writing in the journal Science, Ghezzi and colleagues said they figured it out.

"Since the 19th century there was speculation that the 13-tower array could be lunar demarcation -- but no one followed up on it," Ghezzi said. He tested the idea while studying military structures at the site, which dates to the fourth century BC.

"We were there. We had extraordinary support from the Peruvian government, Earthwatch and Yale University. We said, 'Let's study it while we are here."'

SEEKING VERIFICATION

But it took him several years to contact Clive Ruggles, a leading British authority on archeoastronomy, for verification.

"In the five-hour drive to the towers I could see that he was a little skeptical," Ghezzi said. "When he got there and made a few measurements he realized that from the points we were showing him, the alignments worked out perfectly."

Ruggles, of the University of Leicester, said often such claims do not pan out. But this one did.

"The fact that, as seen from these two points, the towers just span the solar rising and setting arcs provides the clearest possible indication that they were built specifically to facilitate sunrise and sunset observations throughout the seasonal year," he said in a statement.

Ghezzi said little is known of the people who built Chankillo. They pre-date the Incas by centuries.

But he is not surprised that such an ancient observatory should be discovered.

"Peru is one of the unexplored archeological frontiers in the world," he said.

He is also not surprised by the sophistication.

"The astronomical knowledge behind Chankillo could have been maintained by much simpler means," Ghezzi said.

"This kind of knowledge is essential for survival -- to navigate, to follow animals and be able to come back to the place of your origin, to keep track of seasons. We have to find other reasons to explain why a group of people would go to such great lengths as to construct such monumental towers on top of a hill."

But there is much evidence to show the Incas used the sun's movements for political demonstrations of power.

Sirens wailed, church bells rang and a sea of confetti fluttered through Lima's historical central plaza at the stroke of noon Thursday, alerting Peruvians to synchronize their watches at the start of a nationwide campaign to promote punctuality.

It's a "horrible, dreadful, harmful custom," Garcia said as the nationally televised ceremony kicked off the campaign, "La Hora sin Demora," or "Time without Delay."

The Forum for National Consensus, a government-led council of business and citizens' groups responsible for the effort, is asking schools, businesses and government institutions to stop tolerating "hora peruana," or "Peruvian time" — which usually means an hour late.

Peruvian officials proposed the initiative last month, saying that Peruvians' constant lateness reflects a negative attitude toward work and hurts national productivity.

Short of hoping latecomers will be shamed into mending their ways, the campaign offers no rewards for compliance and no penalties for tardiness.

In a country where weddings, funerals, meals and business meetings rarely begin on time, Garcia says tardiness not only demonstrates bad manners, but presents a setback for Peru.

"To be punctual is to respect your neighbor," he said. "When we lose time, Peru loses time."

Alistair Williamson, 29, a technology consultant from London at the ceremony, applauded the campaign, saying "a lot of Latin American countries lose business" due to lateness.

Former President Alejandro Toledo showed up so late to events — sometimes by two hours — that Peruvians coined the phrase "Cabana time," referring to his native mountain village.

Toledo even showed up late to Garcia's inauguration last July by taking 45 minutes to travel four blocks from the National Palace through swarms of supporters while dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries waited in Congress.

The government could face an uphill battle to make sure 27 million Peruvians keep an eye on their watches: An invitation to the 11 a.m. ceremony was delivered by messenger to The Associated Press at 1:30 p.m., well after the ceremony had ended.

The Peru LNG project, the largest industrial project ever to be undertaken in the history of Peru, officially launched today by awarding to Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CB&I) the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a natural gas liquefaction plant valued in excess of US $1.5 billion. The Notice To Proceed authorization represents a commitment by the international project consortium (consisting of Hunt Oil Company of the United States, SK Corporation of Korea and Repsol YPF of Spain) to move forward with their direct investments to develop the Peru LNG gas export project. Hunt Oil Company will serve as operator of the project.

Peru LNG is a key component in Peru's overall energy plan. Natural gas resources in excess of local demand will be exported as a sustainable commodity for more than two decades with exports expected to commence in mid 2010.

The total cost for the project, including the liquefaction plant, related marine and pipeline facilities and development and financing costs, aggregates approximately $3.8 billion and is the largest foreign direct investment in Peru's history. It has the strong support of the Peruvian government, as it will be an important engine of economic growth and jobs in Peru. Once in operation, Peru LNG is expected to generate roughly $800 million annually of hard currency export revenues. During the construction phase, 35,000 direct and indirect jobs will be generated.

Financing for the project is expected to come from a variety of sources, including the Inter-American Development Bank, with which Peru LNG signed an $800 million mandate letter in July 2006.

"The PLNG project continues to be on schedule with the strong support we are getting from the Peruvian government as well as the confidence we have in the country's stability," said Steve Suellentrop, president of PLNG, "and we anticipate project completion in the first half of 2010 as originally planned."

The EPC contract awarded to CB&I for the LNG plant and marine facilities, valued in excess of $1.5 billion, represents the largest single investment of the project. The entire project is expected to take four years to complete.

CB&I is one of the world's leading EPC companies. The company recently constructed a LNG import facility in the Dominican Republic, hiring and training 90 percent of its workforce from the local population and completing the project without a single recordable injury or lost work day.

"We feel confident that CB&I is the very best company with which we could contract to build the facilities associated with this important project," said Suellentrop. "We look forward to the rapid expansion of the Peru LNG project in the days and months ahead," he said.

On the heavily forested eastern slope of the Andes, Peruvian farmers have discovered a massive ruin of an ancient civilization. The rectangular, block-like structure — nicknamed Huaca La Penitenciaria or Penitentiary Ruins — is reminiscent of Inca architectural style, but a large frieze across its front is the signature of the Chachapoya — the so-called Cloud People of ancient Peru. Its unusual size and shape promise to shed new light on the relationship between the Chachapoya and the Inca warriors who destroyed their civilization.

"We are dealing with a startlingly large, functionally specialized structure that we do not understand at all," said archaeologist Warren Church of Columbus State University in Georgia, who was not involved in the find. "It is enormous, and to find it where we find it is really strange."

The unusual conjunction of traits, as well as its location at a lower elevation and much further east than the Chachapoya empire was previously known to sprawl, hint that it might have been built by forced Chachapoya labor under the direction of Inca rulers, said Keith Muscutt, a Chachapoya expert who described the find last week at a meeting in San Francisco of the Institute for Andean Studies

For at least 600 years, until the late 15th century, the Chachapoya amassed an extensive empire in the high Andes, building large cities, controlling complex trading routes and practicing a little-understood form of shamanism.

Nobody knows where the Chachapoya came from, but starting about 1,300 years ago, they began to spread through an area known as the "Ceja de Selva," or Eyebrow of the Jungle, reaching a population of about 500,000. They are renowned for their mountaintop citadels, such as Kuelap and Gran Pajaten.

Their downfall began around 1470, when the Inca began a war of conquest against them, resulting in their subjugation. Soon after, the Spanish came and conquered the Inca. Ultimately, infectious diseases brought by the Europeans killed as many as 98 percent of the Cloud People.

The Penitentiary Ruins were discovered and named by three local farmers: Octavio, Merlin and Edison Anazco. They conveyed the news to Muscutt, an assistant dean at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was in the area on a project for the Discovery Channel.

The site was accessible only by mule trail, "a big gruesome trail, very steep," Muscutt said. "The animals were often up to their bellies in mud."

The ruins sit on a plateau called La Meseta between the Rio Verde and Rio Huabayacu. It is about two days by foot to the nearest village, La Morada.

The ruins are heavily overgrown by the cloud forest, complete with spider monkeys, jaguars and other nocturnal predators. Muscutt estimated that 98 percent of the ruin is heavily overgrown with trees, vines and moss.

Muscutt performed no clearing or excavation at the site, but he was able to obtain rough measurements of the ruins. The site is dominated by a large ceremonial platform about 200 feet wide, 100 feet deep and 24 feet high. It is made of dry stone or "pirca" — essentially cut stone piled in courses with no binding to hold it together.

Because there have been many large earthquakes in the area, Muscutt said, it must have some kind of internal structure to keep it from collapsing. He could find no openings other than drains, however.

In front of the platform is a large plaza, approximately 200 feet wide and 300 feet long. The top of the platform bears the remains of several square and round buildings and what appears to be a watchtower. The plaza also has the remains of some buildings that appear to have been later additions.

"One of the things that I find extraordinary about this building is that it is clearly a civil, ceremonial building," Muscutt said. Despite its blocky appearance, "It is not a fortress. It doesn't have parapets, doesn't have a moat, doesn't have a perimeter wall. There is no evidence of warfare at all."

Also notable is the apparent lack of nearby dwellings where builders or occupants would have lived.

"It strikes me that the Inca were the only people powerful enough and with the wherewithal to insert people into this place to erect this thing in short order, then pull them out again," Church said.

President Alan Garcia on Tuesday suggested an unorthodox use for the coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine: Why not toss it in a salad?

"I insist that it can be consumed directly and elegantly in salad," Garcia told foreign correspondents at the Government Palace.

Garcia's comments put him in the company of leftist presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who have publicly promoted mixing the high-calcium leaf into everything from toothpaste to soft drinks.

Coca has for centuries been considered a medicinal and ceremonial plant in Andean culture, and Garcia said it should not be vilified as useful solely for producing the illegal narcotic.

Garcia said Gaston Acurio, one of Peru's best known chefs, recently served several coca-based dishes for an event at the Government Palace.

"He offered us some tamales and pies made with coca flour. He offered us a coca liqueur cocktail," Garcia said. "Could eating coca leaf be harmful? No, absolutely not."

A recent report by a Peruvian anti-drug group questioned coca's potential benefits to people, however, saying some studies showed that its nutrients cannot be absorbed by the human body.

For years, Washington has pressed Andean nations including Peru -- the world's second largest source of cocaine after Colombia -- to fight production of the illegal drug. The U.S. Embassy declined to react to Garcia's comments.

Garcia pledged during an October meeting in Washington with President Bush to continue a policy of manual eradication of illegal coca crops and to pursue development programs to replace coca with alternative crops.

Peru permits cultivation of about 25,000 acres of coca for chewing and for sale to companies that produce pharmaceutical cocaine, package coca tea or produce extracts used in soft drinks.

But experts say more than 90 percent of Peruvian coca is grown illegally to fuel the cocaine trade.

President Alan Garcia announced on Wednesday that Peru will end this year with nearly 23 billion US dollars in exports, and confirmed that 2007 will have better results.

In a statement to foreign press, Garcia also announced that he will visit Japan and Australia next year in the framework of a government strategy to seek export markets and strengthen economic ties with Asia.

The statesman noted that 2006 has been a good year, but the next one will be better, since exports will amount to 26 or 27 billion dollars, which will double those reported in 2005. Garcia said that capital reserves will reach 17 billion dollars when ending this year, and social investment will increase to 43 percent in 2007.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia described relations between his government and Cuba as friendly and respectful and expressed regret at the health problems suffered by President Fidel Castro.

The Peruvian dignitary referred to his relations with Presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) positively and used extremely warm terms about Ecuadorian President-elect Rafael Correa.

Our relations with Cuba are friendly and of coexistence. We are really sorry for the illness of President Fidel Castro, a historic figure for Latin America and we hope he recovers, Garcia remarked in response to a question by Prensa Latina.

Another feature of our bilateral relations, he said, is the respect for both countries political differences.

The Cuban people may do what it wants, I don t believe either in military or journalistic interventions within other countries internal policy, the head of state stressed.

He ratified the decision to balance relations with Venezuela after overcoming a bilateral conflict and highlighted he has no doubts of President Chavez good wishes.

Peru's economy from July through September grew at the fastest rate in 44 quarters, bolstered by silver and natural gas output and a construction surge.

Gross domestic product expanded 8.4 percent in the third quarter compared with 5.8 percent in the second quarter and 6.9 percent in the first three months of the year, the National Statistics Institute said in an e-mailed statement. Peru increased silver output 7.4 percent, while natural gas jumped a fifth and construction grew 16 percent.

Peru, the world's largest silver producer, is benefiting from a 68 percent jump in the price of silver in the past 12 months. Exports will rise 29 percent this year to an estimated $22 billion as the Andean country seeks to diversify commodity- dominated exports by lining up more markets for textiles and agricultural produce in Southeast Asia and Europe, according to the central bank.

``Peru is doing very well, mainly due to the favorable external environment,'' Santiago Maggi, chief investment officer for Miami-based investment fund Bulltick Securities Corp., said in a phone interview. ``Peru's government continues to do the right thing.''

Beer Sales

Copper output rose 1.2 percent, and gold production fell 5.5 percent on a 21 percent decline at Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp.'s Yanacocha mine. Zinc slid 1 percent.

Manufacturing expanded 8 percent, buoyed by a 10.5 percent increase in consumer goods such as foods and beverages. New car sales rose by a third.

``Economic growth this year has been quite impressive,'' Robert Priday, chief executive at SAB Miller Plc's Peruvian unit Cervecerias Unidas Backus & Johnston SAA, said in an interview. ``It's had a multiplying effect on the volumes we've had. Our growth has been significant.''

Construction, the second-largest source of jobs in Peru, grew 16 percent. Agriculture increased 13 percent as cotton harvests nearly doubled, coffee jumped by two-thirds and sugarcane rose 14 percent.

``The Peruvian economy is on fire,'' Morgan Stanley analyst Gray Newman wrote in a Nov. 20 weekly report. ``It's not just an outgrowth of high commodities. Growth has been overwhelmingly driven by non-primary sectors, which are more closely linked to domestic demand.''

The sol gained 0.2 percent 3.2165 soles to the U.S. dollar even after the central bank bought $90 million on the exchange market yesterday in a bid to prevent currency swings. The sol has gained 5 percent so far this year.

The Inter-American Development Bank today approved a $50 million loan for the Decentralized Rural Transportation Program (PTRD for its acronym in Spanish) in Peru.

The objective of the program is to increase rural population accessibility of public, economic, and social services by improving local road systems.

To accomplish this aim, the program will primarily improve the decentralized public infrastructure supply and maintenance of rural roads and promote the development of productive infrastructure-related initiatives.

When the loan operation was presented to the IDB Board of Directors, President Luis Alberto Moreno highlighted its importance for Perú and the Bank’s future operations given that “it will have a great impact on people’s living conditions and will generate opportunities for the majority of the population.”

The World Bank will provide $50 million in co-financing for the program, and local counterpart resources will total $50 million .

The process of identifying and selecting the high number of simple, low-cost works will be performed by local communities and local authorities, using the Participatory Provincial Road Plans. This mechanism will facilitate program execution by promoting a sense of ownership among the authorities and the communities.

This 20-year loan will be executed by Peru’s Ministry of Transportation and Communication through Provías Descentralizado.

The IDB also approved a non-reimbursable technical cooperation for $1.5 million from the Japan Special Fund, within the Poverty Reduction Program, to implement the Local Development Window (VDL for its acronym in Spanish) component. VDL, which was launched as a pilot during the second program of rural roads, identifies productive opportunities and facilitates access to markets in order to exploit existing potential and develop entrepreneurship in rural communities so as to help alleviate rural poverty.

This technical cooperation will expand the geographical area covered by the VDL and will help the Peruvian government and local population capitalize on the opportunities and benefits directed to the large majority of those in the service area of the network of roads rehabilitated and maintained by prior Rural Road Programs and their successor, the PTRD. This cooperation recognizes that the provision of basic economic infrastructure, in this case rural roads, is a necessary condition to improve the quality of life of less privileged social sectors.

The abovementioned loan will also have the support of the Gender Mainstreaming Trust Fund through a technical cooperation to enhance a gender perspective in rural roads programs.

Since 1995, IDB provided $140 million in financing to support the rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads, through two lending operations. The projects resulted in successful demonstrations of the effectiveness of citizens' participation in the planning and execution of projects and the deployment of microenterprises for road construction and maintenance.

The current loan will consolidate the process started in 1995 and will expand it nationwide. The possibility of addressing other types of rural transport infrastructure, such as airfields and piers, as well as incorporating certain aspects of regulation governing services that use this infrastructure, will also be examined.

Water cascading from Peru's Andes mountains toward the Amazon could be harnessed into electricity for power-hungry Brazil, freeing Latin America's largest nation from natural gas producers like Bolivia and Venezuela, Peruvian President Alan García said, November 10.

Addressing some of São Paulo's most influential business and industry executives, García said Brazil and Peru should boost bilateral energy and economic ties even though the two nations are members of separate South American economic blocs.

Without mentioning Bolivia and Venezuela by name, García suggested the far-left governments of both nations represent a threat to Brazil's future economic growth because of their tight state-imposed control over vast natural gas resources that will eventually go dry anyway.

"The gas can run out or they can turn off the tap," García said in a speech to members of the São Paulo Federation of Industries. But, he added, "water never stops flowing."

Brazil meets 50 percent of its natural gas needs for power generation from Bolivia, but Bolivian President Evo Morales is nationalizing the industry, pushing for higher prices from Brazil and Bolivian control of natural gas installations owned by Brazil's state-owned oil company.

While Brazil doesn't get any natural gas now from Venezuela, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wants to supply Brazil through the construction of a US$ 20 billion pipeline through the Amazon that experts say could cost much more. Environmentalists also call it a potential ecological disaster.

Venezuela has South America's largest petroleum and natural gas reserves, while Bolivia is second on the continent for natural gas reserves.

García didn't outline any specific projects, but said it makes economic and political sense for Brazil to think about using Peru to meet some of its long-term energy needs.

With Brazilian investment for new hydroelectric plants near the Andes, García said, "I could light up all of northwestern Brazil and give (the jungle industrial center of) Manaus all the energy it needs, instead of building a strange US$ 20 billion natural gas pipeline."

A Brazilian firm is already a key player in the construction of an US$ 810 million paved highway that will link Peru's Pacific coast to Brazil's Amazon, making it logical for Brazil to invest more in Peru, García said.

García also announced that Peru will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with Petróleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state petroleum company, for Peruvian oil and gas drilling projects and the construction of a petrochemical plant in Peru.

And in a dig at Bolivia without saying that country's name, García said Petrobras operations in Peru would never suffer a sudden nationalization similar to what happened to the company in Bolivia.

"I extend my hand to Petrobras and give my word that things won't change," García told reporters after his speech.

Peru belongs to the Andean Community of Nations while Brazil is a member of the Mercosur trade bloc. Venezuela recently dropped out of the Andean Community in favor of Mercosur because Chávez opposed trade deals signed by Peru and Colombia with the United States.

Some analysts have expressed concern that Chávez will use membership in Mercosur as a political platform to criticize US trade policies. With the possible entry of Bolivia into Mercosur, the group could tilt even further to the left.

While the center-left Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has friendly relations with Chávez, he also gets along with US President George W. Bush. Chávez, meanwhile, openly opposed García's campaign for the Peruvian presidency this year.

Without naming Chávez, García insisted the Andean Community is still a strong trade player and joked that "it might be better for Brazil to switch to the Andean Community before it's too late."

García told reporters he doesn't need to reconcile with Chávez because he has nothing against him or Venezuela.

"We navigate independently, and think differently - thankfully," he said with a smile.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab applauded the recent actions by Colombia and Peru to lift their BSE-related bans on United States beef and beef product imports.

“These openings represent progress in our efforts to re-open global markets for U.S. beef,” said Johanns. “American producers are proud of our safe, high-quality beef products, and we value the opportunity to deliver our products to consumers in South America and around the world.”

“We are very pleased to see the Peruvian and Colombian markets re-opened to U.S. beef and beef products. We look to other trading partners to similarly make trade decisions in accordance with science-based international standards,” said Schwab.

In 2003, the United States exported a combined total of more than $4 million worth of beef and beef products to Colombia and Peru. The re-opening of these two markets restores two-thirds of the market access for United States beef and beef products in South America.

Peru's exports rose in September to the second-highest monthly total as copper, gold and zinc sales surged.

Exports rose 42 percent from a year earlier to $2.1 billion, the most since a record $2.3 billion in July, foreign trade promotion agency Prompex said in an e-mailed statement today. Copper exports more than doubled to $722 million, while gold exports rose by a quarter to $362 million and zinc sales tripled to $160 million.

Peru's exports, led by mining, fishmeal, oil and gas, are likely to increase by about 35 percent to $23 billion this year on soaring commodity prices, spurring a 6.6 percent economic expansion, according to the Foreign Trade Ministry.

``Export growth is faster than we expected this year,'' Prompex director Juan Carlos Mathews said in a phone interview. ``Metals prices account for the bulk of growth, but we're also seeing more demand for fishing produce and agricultural exports such as premium coffee.''

Fishing jumped by 80 percent to $114 million, and coffee sales rose by one-half to $58 million, while oil and gas sales fell by 5 percent to $140 million.

Textile sales fell 6 percent to $102 million, while agricultural exports were unchanged at $94 million on uncertainty over whether the U.S. Congress will vote in favor a U.S.-Peru free-trade agreement in November, Mathews said.

The U.S., Peru's largest trading partner, boosted purchases by 8 percent to $4 billion through the first nine months, while China increased purchases by 18 percent to $1.6 billion. Switzerland doubled buying, while Canada increased purchases by 62 percent and Japan by 80 percent.

The Peruvian currency the sol was little changed at 3.2245 soles to the U.S. dollar, near a 7 1/2-year high after the central bank bought $100 million on the exchange market yesterday.

Chile and Peru yesterday signed an agreement to exchange information on social policy and create a two-nation Social Integration Council, the Chilean government said.
The deal was signed by Chile's Planning and Cooperation Minister Clarisa Hardy and Peru's Women and Social Development Minister Virginia Borra, who is visiting Chile with a delegation of Peruvian ministers.
The agreement mainly covers anti-poverty initiatives for vulnerable groups, including minors, pensioners, disabled people, indigenous people and women.
Chile is considering extending the social information sharing practice to other nations in the region, Hardy said.
The two nations will also undertake joint research projects, exchange experts, and offer internships in the two nations' development-related ministries, the ministers said.

Spain's Telefonica will invest $1 billion in networks and infrastructure in Peru between 2006 and 2009, company President Cesar Alierta said on Wednesday.

Telefonica, which controls Telefonica del Peru, dominates the fixed-line market in the Andean nation.

"We have huge expectations in this country and we're thinking of investing $1 billion in network development and telecoms infrastructure," Alierta told reporters outside government palace in Lima.


Telefonica made the investment pledge as it faces a contract renegotiation with the Peruvian government following efforts by lawmakers to force the company to cut its charges.

Legislators and the government of President Alan Garcia argue that Telefonica charges too much for telephone services in a country where half the population lives on $1 a day and where phone lines are scarce outside Peru's main cities.

Alierta described the initial renegotiation talks as "constructive" and "positive" but declined to comment further.

Shares in Telefonica, which moved into Peru in the mid-1990s with the privatization of two local state telecoms operators, rose 1.5 percent to $54.91 in Lima in afternoon trading.

Peru's consumer prices rose a lower-than-expected 0.03 percent in September, as food prices remained steady, the government said on Sunday.

Four Lima-based economists polled by Reuters predicted a 0.14 percent rise in consumer prices, forecasting an increase in the cost of food and beverages despite a fall in local fuel costs last month.

The government, which published the inflation figure in its gazette El Peruano, did not detail consumer prices by sector. The government will publish full September inflation figures on Monday.

The slight increase in September CPI compared with a 0.14 percent rise in consumer prices in August and deflation of 0.09 percent in September last year.

Peru's inflation target set by the central bank is 2.5 percent for this year, above 1.5 percent inflation in 2005.

Aleida Guevara, the daughter of mythical Argentine-Cuban guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara, concluded her nine-day visit to Peru on Thursday, having received proof of solidarity from various local social and political sectors.

During her stay in the Andean country, the pediatrician toured San Pablo leper colony, where her father collaborated in 1952, when he undertook a trip around the subcontinent with his friend Alberto Granados.

As part of her tour in the Iquitos jungle area, Aleida was declared illustrious daughter of San Pablo and Belen, and met with groups of supporters of the Cuban Revolution and updated them about the Caribbean island´s reality.

She also visited Cusco, considered an honor for any Latin American, where she received that city´s medal, and a postmortem Machupicchu decoration to her father by the local National Institute of Culture.

Guevara then went to Bolivia, where her father was assassinated by CIA order in October 1967, to participate in a meeting of solidarity with Cuba in that neighbor of Peru.

The Peruvian government has reversed a decision to allow flights over the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu after an outcry from environmental groups.

Peru's Transport and Communications ministry has declared the area around the site a no-fly zone.

Environmentalists said a number of rare animals and plants would have been severely affected by the low-flying helicopter tours.
Machu Picchu, a world heritage site, is Peru's biggest tourist attraction.
Little more than a week after a licence was granted for helicopter tours over South America's most famous ruin, it was taken away again.

The Transport and Communications Ministry was forced to reverse its decision after complaints from environmentalists and archaeologists.

After a short meeting with Peru's departments of Culture and Natural Resources, the ministry declared a flight restriction in the whole area surrounding Machu Picchu.

Several leading environmentalists said the flights would have caused irreparable damage to the ruins and rare wildlife, such as spectacled bears and vicunas, would have been scared away.
Such flights had been allowed during the 1990s but were banned shortly afterwards.

World wonder

Peru's Institute of Natural Resources said those flights led to the disappearance of a rare species of orchid and the Andean Condor from the area.
Machu Picchu is one of the best-preserved pre-Columbian ruins on the continent.
But experts say the Unesco World Heritage Site is being slowly damaged by the hordes of tourists which visit it every year.
Meanwhile, the Peruvian government says its investing in a campaign to make Machu Picchu one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives will likely delay a vote on a free trade pact with Peru until after the November 7 congressional election, U.S. trade experts said on Wednesday.

"I think the political reality is that Peru will not move in September," said Christopher Wenk, international trade policy director for the National Association of Manufacturers.

The agreement locks in Peru's current duty-free access to the U.S. market, while phasing out tariffs and other barriers to U.S. exports to the Andean nation. Without the agreement, Peru's trade benefits would expire at the end of the year.

The two countries finished negotiations in December 2005 after about 18 months of hard bargaining.

Democrats, who hope to capture control of the House in the November election, have long pushed for stronger labor provisions in U.S. free trade pacts and complain the Bush administration ignored former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo's offer to include those in the accord with Peru.

The Peru agreement could trigger controversy if House Republicans push for a vote this month, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics.

"I think it's much more likely to come up in the 'lame duck' session (after the election) and get passed then without a lot of fuss," Hufbauer said.

A separate free trade agreement with Colombia will probably generate more opposition, but Congress won't vote on that until next year at the earliest, he said.

Wenk and Hufbauer agreed the Bush administration would face a tougher time winning approval of free trade agreements if Democrats take control of the House.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, said the administration was still consulting with House leaders about the "appropriate timing" of a vote on the Peru agreement. The first step would be for USTR to send a bill to Congress to implement the pact and there has been no decision on when to do that, Spicer said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has said he would push for a Senate vote on the Peru agreement this month.

Trade bills are generally less controversial in the Senate, but both chambers must approve any trade agreement.

A senior Chinese military leader on Friday pledged to further expand China-Peru military exchanges and cooperation.
Liang Guanglie, member of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when meeting with Felipe Conde, commanding general of the Air Force of Peruvian Armed Forces.

"The two armed forces have kept frequent high-level exchange visits and friendly cooperation in recent years," Liang told Conde, who arrived in Beijing on Thursday.

China will make joint efforts with Peru to strengthen exchanges between the two air forces, and gradually expand to various fields and levels, said Liang, who is also Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Liang also spoke highly of the bilateral relations, saying the two countries have shared a deepening political trust since the establishment of diplomatic ties 35 years ago. The two sides have made substantial progress in many fields.

Liang expressed his appreciation for Peru's adherence to the one-China policy.

Conde said the Peruvian armed forces are willing to continue to enhance cooperation with the Chinese army and he hoped to see closer exchanges between the two sides in the future.

PLA Air Force Commander Qiao Qingchen attended the meeting.

At the invitation of Qiao, Conde is paying a nine-day official goodwill visit to China from Thursday. Besides Beijing, he will also visit Xi'an, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

As the Peruvian government announced austerity federal budget cuts Monday, mining companies are trying to finalize a “voluntary” windfall profits program to pay for local Peruvian social programs.

Peru’s President Alan Garcia Friday signed the Decree of Urgency 021, which mandates that all agencies and boards of the nation’s executive, legislation and judicial branches immediately cut their expenses. Local and regional governments are also being held to the budget cuts.

Meanwhile, mining companies met Monday in an attempt to finalize a proposal for a voluntary windfall payment for social programs. A spokesman for Newmont Mining told Mineweb Monday that he had not yet been informed of the outcome of the latest meeting.

During his July 28 inuaguration speech, Peruvian President Alan Garcia pledged to impose higher taxes on mining and commercial fishing. Peru, which is the world’s fourth largest copper and fifth largest gold producer, is trying to negotiated bigger tax payments from the mining industry. During his campaign, Garcia pledged to make the state a partner in all oil, mining and fishing contracts. However, Garcia subsequently reversed his position on trying to increase taxes on miners, noting that a number of foreign mining companies have tax stability agreements in place that would prohibit raising taxes.

Nevertheless, in a television interview earlier this month, Energy and Mines Minister Juan Valdivia said that the proposed windfall payments are to be used for social programs. The voluntary payments would go to a trust fund that would be managed by companies, communities and the government.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura Chief Executive Roque Benavides recently told a local newspaper that the payments were being negotiated under pressure. A number of large mining companies don’t pay a royalty introduced in 2004 because they are protected by tax-stability agreements. These companies include Newmont Mining’s Minera Yanacocha and Antamina, a joint venture of BHP Billiton and Falconbridge.

The government is opposing deducting the windfall payments from taxes already owed by the companies. The miners wish to establish a special fund that would be managed by the private sector and local communities. The companies are also discussing whether the contribution will be a one-time event or paid yearly. Objections have also been raised in the private sector over the fact spending for social programs in Peru are not tax deductible. For instance, miners have assumed the government’s role in remote, rural areas, and have had to build schools and hospitals without being able to deduct those expenditures.

Meanwhile, protests by local communities against mining have grown in number and size as foreign mining companies report record metals prices and record profits. For instance, in Peru’s Department of Pasco, northeast of Lima, Gov. Victor Espinoza Soto recently complained that 1,180 houses and dwelling in the community are at risk for collapse due to increased mining operations in the area.

He warned that 160 homes have already sustained heavy damage from increased mining activity. In addition to the housing problems, Espinoza accused mining and smelting activities of contributing to the high levels of lead in the blood samples of children, delaying payments of mining exemptions, and claimed miners are neglecting their social responsibility.
Espinoza is seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo to find a solution to his complaints.

Ecuador's civil defense authorities on Monday received five tons of humanitarian aid items provided by Peru to help those hit by the eruption of the Tungurahua Volcano.

The aid items, which included canned food, tents and bedding, came after the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry made a request last week following the disasterous volcanic eruption which left seven people dead, 13 injured, more than 3,000 displaced, as well as many people missing.

The eruption also destroyed 40,000 hectares of crops and affected a million people across the country. The Eucadorian government has declared a state of emergency in regions of Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Bolivar and Chimborazo.

It marked the culmination of a stunning political comeback for Garcia, whose populist, disgraced 1985-1990 government, plagued by corruption and insurgencies, also sent Peru to financial ruin.

Garcia now says he has embraced moderation on the economic front -- like Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- but remains committed to achieving social change in a country in which half the population of 27 million lives in abject poverty.

Garcia, who was sworn in before delegations from Europe, the United States and Asia as well as Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, said he wanted to make Peru "a country that is on poor people's side."

Creating jobs and guaranteeing workers' rights would go a long way toward achieving that, Garcia said as he presented a cabinet led by Jorge del Castillo.

It was time, Garcia said, "to put things right, make the (economic) data stop seeming impersonal, ... so that all Peruvians can experience justice."

Garcia, the leader of Peru's oldest party, known by its Spanish-language acronym APRA, succeeded economist Alejandro Toledo, who was Peru's first democratically elected indigenous president.

The new president is hoping he can improve on the record of his first government, when hyperinflation hit annual heights of 7,600 percent and Lima was reviled by international lenders when Garcia threatened to link Peru's debt servicing to its export earnings. All of that, as the Maoist Shining Path rebels gained ground.

Thursday, Garcia broke with the past by unveiling a cabinet in which only six of the 15 members are from his ruling party.

Garcia allotted the defense ministry post to Allan Wagner, the current secretary general of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), an economic community grouping together Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Pilar Mazetti, who was health minister under Toledo, was named to the interior ministry post.

Analysts say Garcia should not face rough waters in the legislature because conservatives, at least for now, are comfortable and feel represented in his cabinet. Populist and nationalist fervor that heated up the campaign trail largely petered out since Garcia defeated Ollanta Humala on June 4 with 52.6 percent of the vote.

He is said to be keen to boost the country's economic integration with regional heavyweights Brazil and Chile.

Before taking his oath, Garcia met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Peru's grim social situation -- from grinding poverty to widespread social protests in recent years -- at least has had some good news, as economic growth is running at about five percent a year.

Toledo, 50, a political conservative, told The Washington Times this month that leftist-populist leaders such as presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Morales of Bolivia have risen to power because they "promise to give people fish instead of teaching them how to fish."

He said the United States and other governments, by helping to alleviate poverty in Latin America, could bolster the region's democratic institutions.

"People here need to see the interconnection between poverty and democratic government, how good policies can help create jobs for the greater benefit of the people," said Toledo.

Latin American politicians have long said -- only half-jokingly -- that if you want to get attention and help from Washington, it often pays more to be hostile to the United States than to be its friend. Over the next two weeks, the old saying will be put to a big test in Washington.

Judging from what Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo told me in an interview earlier this week, if President Bush fails to get congressional approval of a recently signed U.S.-Peru free-trade agreement before Congress goes on its summer recess July 28, it will be a case study proving that the United States does not reward its friends.

Toledo, who will hand over power to left-of-center President-elect Alan García on July 28, was quick to point out that Peru has followed the road of political openness and free market reforms for its own good and not to please Washington. Yet, few countries in Latin America have shared more values and policies with Washington in recent years than Peru, he added.

"If you only draw attention when you are hostile to the United States, it's not worth being a [U.S.] partner,"Toledo said. "We have already crossed 95 percent of the river, and we only need an extra 5 percent to reach the other shore. The agreement was approved by 79 to 14 votes in the Peruvian Congress. Now, it's up to the U.S. Congress to approve it."

A lot is at stake:

• If Congress doesn't approve the deal by the end of its current session, it will be difficult to consider it after the summer recess. As the midterm election campaign heats up amid a growing isolationist sentiment in several U.S. states, Congress would be unlikely to take up the issue in the weeks preceding the Nov. 7 elections.

• If Congress fails to approve the trade deal before Nov. 7, it will be harder to pass the deal through the next Congress. There could be a new Democratic majority in Congress with close ties to antifree-trade U.S. labor unions. And, even if Democrats fail to recover the House, Bush will be a lame-duck president, with even less clout in Congress.

• By Dec. 31, Peru and its Andean neighbors will lose their trade benefits under the 1991 Andean Trade Preference Act, which provides Andean countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market. If Peru doesn't have a free-trade deal and ATPA is not extended, as seems likely, many investors will move their export-oriented factories to Chile, Central America, Mexico or other countries with free-trade deals with the United States.

• Although García has reluctantly supported the free-trade deal, some of his political adversaries speculate that he may not push it if it's not in place by the time he takes office. García -- who led a leftist-populist government in the 1980s -- could seek to lead the Andean bloc's fight for a U.S. extension of ATPA preferences, rather than pushing for U.S. approval of the bilateral Peru-U.S. free-trade deal, they say.

• If Peru's export-led growth of the past five years -- which has helped reduce poverty from 54 percent to 48 percent -- begins to drop because of higher tariffs to the U.S. market, it may be tempted to get closer to neighboring Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

In the recent elections, Venezuelan-backed leftist-nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala won the first-round vote by a comfortable margin.

Although it sounds far-fetched, Toledo told me that if the free-trade deal is ratified by the U.S. Congress, Peru could grow at twice the nearly 7 percent rate of last year in 10 years. Over the next decade, it could generate 5.7 million new jobs in Peru, he said. Asked whether Bush promised to help lobby Congress when the two met on Tuesday, he said, "Absolutely."

U.S. trade officials will concentrate on getting Congress to approve trade agreements with Oman, Peru and Vietnam in the run-up to mid-term elections this autumn, a U.S. trade official said Tuesday.

Though U.S. and Colombian trade negotiators are just days away from wrapping up a free trade agreement, time is running short to get that deal ratified this year, the official told reporters on condition he not be named.

"We are going to get as much as we can done in July," the official said, adding that both the Peru and the Vietnam agreements could clear committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate this month.
The Senate approved the free-trade agreement with Oman before the July 4 recess with a wider margin than some of the other recent trade votes, like the one with Central America. The U.S. trade official said the House would likely vote to approve the agreement as early as next week.

Oman's labor law reform over the weekend - via royal decree - to bolster union protections and hike penalties on forced labor, should help smooth Democratic concerns over labor standards in the Gulf country, the official said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is talking with Democrats on House intelligence and foreign policy committees, urging them to support the Oman agreement because the government there has been a military ally, the official said.

"At the end of the day, the substance both on the labor side of the trade agreement itself and the geopolitical case for the agreement will win out," the official said.

Last month, the Peruvian Congress ratified the free trade agreement with the U.S., which the Bush administration signed with former President Alejandro Toledo last year. The legislation was passed with a comfortable margin; 79 votes in favor, 14 against, with 7 Congressmen not voting. It received full support from legislators from President-elect Alan Garcia's Aprista party bloc.

The Bush administration argues Peru, like Oman, should be rewarded for seeking closer ties with the U.S. at a time when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is seeking to expand his influence. Nonetheless, the Peru agreement is expected to encounter more problems than the deal with tiny Oman, with opponents citing concerns over Peru's labor laws.

The administration is hoping to get Congress to grant Vietnam permanent normal trade status, so it can join the World Trade Organization. That agreement has broad bipartisan support, but is stuck in line behind Oman and Peru.

The official said the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement is going through the final checks before negotiations come to a close. Under the rules of President George W. Bush's trade promotion authority, the administration must notify Congress 90 days before signing an agreement. This puts signing the deal off until October at the earliest, only a couple of weeks before the November elections, the official noted. The agreement could be considered in a lame-duck session following the election, he added.

Hundreds of villagers march side by side along the wind-blasted Andean plain, closing in on their prey: herds of nervous, fast-moving vicunas, the smaller, wilder cousins of llamas and alpacas.

Chanting and shaking a rope with colorful streamers, they encircle the shaggy-coated animals and push them into a corral in a ritual that was known to the ancient Inca, but nearly abandoned in the 20th century. Dancers gyrate, making tinny sounds by clapping unscrewed scissors.

For decades, poachers seeking the world's most valuable wool simply shot vicunas rather than struggle to trap the elusive animals that can run 50kph, and by 1964 their numbers had dwindled to just 12,000.

Today, these vicunas are captured, shorn and released once a year in Peru's national chaccu, a roundup that is both a renewed expression of indigenous culture and a triumph for an international campaign to save the previously endangered animals. Community members conduct smaller-scale chaccus throughout the May to September dry season, but the national chaccu is coupled with a three-day cultural festival.

"The vicunas are no longer in danger of extinction, and we are protecting them and reinforcing their presence," said Wilder Trejo, president of the National Council of South American Camelids.
Hundreds of thousands of the animals once ranged throughout the Andes mountains from Ecuador to Argentina. They were considered sacred by the Inca Empire, which fell after the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1532.
Famed for its smoothness, warmth and light weight, the vicuna wool is untangled and sold by the Lucanas peasant community to exporters for US$625 a kilogram, said Miguel Penafiel, president of the hilly community in Ayacucho state, 410km southeast of Lima.

While market prices vary, vicuna fiber is the most expensive wool in the world, far more pricey than cashmere, which sells for US$70 a kilogram.

For centuries, hunters killed the elusive animal for its wool and leather rather than shear it live.

Peru‘s Congress overwhelmingly voted to ratify a free trade pact with the United States early Wednesday following a six-hour debate that was interrupted by a small group of recently elected nationalist lawmakers who burst onto the legislative floor in a show of opposition.

The ratification received the full backing of President-elect Alan Garcia‘s 28-member Aprista party bloc.

About two hours into the debate, several legislators-elect from Humala‘s nationalist alliance punched and kicked their way past security guards to enter the Congress floor, pumping their fists in the air, waving placards and chanting anti-free trade slogans.

Humala‘s fledgling nationalist movement captured 45 congressional seats, but recently lost at least three of them to defections by politicians who said Humala — an admirer of Peru‘s 1968-75 leftist dictatorship of Gen. Juan Velasco — had veered too far to the left.

Humala maintains the free trade deal, which still lacks a nod from the U.S. Congress, would flood Peru with subsidized U.S. agricultural goods, making it impossible for local producers to compete.

Ultraconservative Congressman Rafael Rey said that opposition to the pact has little to do with the deal, and everything to do with opposition to the United States.

Peru and the United States, alongside Colombia and Ecuador, entered into talks in May 2004 for a deal to lower trade barriers.

Colombia also reached an accord with Washington earlier this year that must still be ratified.

Alan Garcia staged a remarkable comeback in Peru's runoff election, beating a fiery nationalist backed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to regain control of the country 16 years after his first presidential term ended in economic ruin and rebel violence.

"I want our party this time to demonstrate to the Peruvian people, who have called it to the highest responsibilities, that it will not convert the state into booty," Garcia said, referring to widespread corruption that marked his first term from 1985-90, when tens of thousands of party members landed state jobs.

Garcia said voters in Sunday's runoff had sent an overwhelming message to Chavez, the anti-American leader of Venezuela. They rejected the "strategy of expansion of a militaristic, retrograde model that he has tried to impose in South America," Garcia said.

Chavez had endorsed Ollanta Humala, a political upstart many Peruvians saw as dangerous to democracy. He extended his regional influence last year with the election of a loyal ally, Evo Morales, as Bolivia's president. Like Morales, Humala had pledged to punish a corrupt political establishment and redistribute wealth to his country's poor Indian and mestizo majority.

Garcia, 57, held an insurmountable lead of 53.5% against 46.5% for Humala with 91% of the vote counted, Peru's national electoral authority said Monday.

The margin was expected to shrink, however, as Humala's support is strongest in rural areas where vote reporting is slower. Unofficial partial ballot counts by two respected polling companies and a citizen's watchdog group all gave Garcia more than 52% of the vote.

Humala, 43, who burst onto the political scene in 2000 while leading a small-scale military rebellion against then-president Alberto Fujimori's foundering corruption-riddled regime, appeared to accept defeat Sunday night. He said his fledging nationalist movement, formed in December, recognized the partial results and "saluted" Garcia and his party.

But his spokeswoman, Cynthia Montes, insisted he had not acknowledged Garcia's victory. Humala was emphatic Monday morning, telling reporters: "We are waiting for the results. I am going to wait. I feel like the winner. We have won. We have changed the political scenario of the nation."

Humala won a first round of voting on April 9 among 20 candidates. Garcia qualified with a razor-thin victory over the third-place candidate.

Garcia left office in disgrace in 1990 with Peru nearly bankrupt and battered by the devastating Shining Path insurgency. He fled into exile two years later when Fujimori tried to arrest him, returning in 2001 after the Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations on corruption charges against him had expired.

Garcia then made a spectacular run for the presidency in Peru's previous election, winning a spot in the runoff and narrowly losing to current President Alejandro Toledo, who is barred by law from seeking a consecutive term.

Seething ethnic and class resentments deeply divide this Andean nation, and Garcia acknowledged that one of his main challenges will be to rid the political class of corruption.

Garcia won majorities in the capital, Lima, where a third of Peru's 16 million voters live, and along the more developed northern coast.

But he lost badly in almost all of Peru's southern and central highland states and in the country's jungle interior — populated by poor Quechua-speaking Indians and mixed-race mestizos, long neglected by the nation's political elite.

Many Peruvians feel they have not benefited from economic growth that averaged 5.5% in the past four years, when the poverty rate dropped just two percentage points to 52%.

"The results highlight that Peru is a remarkably torn country, along social, ethnic and regional lines," said Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. "Garcia's task is formidable. Nearly half the country that voted against him did so with anger, and over half of those who voted for him did so grudgingly."

In Humala's comments Sunday night, he did not sound like a losing candidate. He pledged to continue his push for state control of oil and gas resources, punish a corrupt the political establishment and redistribute the wealth.

"Tomorrow we begin the great national transformation of Peru, the recuperation of our dignity tied to the rescue of our natural resources to put the economy at the service of the people," Humala told reporters in nationally televised remarks.

Humala's party won the largest voting bloc in Peru's 120-member Congress in April 9 elections. It has 45 seats, compared with 36 for Garcia's party.

He already has his eye on regional and municipal elections in November that "will complement the power map of Peru," said Fernando Tuesta, director of the polling unit for Lima's Catholic University and the former chief of Peru's national vote-counting office.

Chavez was sharply criticized in Peru for meddling in the presidential campaign, prompting a diplomatic spat in which both countries have withdrawn their ambassadors.

Garcia adroitly turned the race into a referendum on Chavez, depicting Humala as an aspiring despot who would fall into lockstep with the Venezuelan's populist economics and Cuba-friendly anti-Americanism. Chavez in turn called Garcia "a genuine thief, a demagogue, a liar."

An unpublished poll by a leading Peruvian pollster shows that presidential candidate Alan Garcia has retained his lead over nationalist Ollanta Humala before the June 4 runoff vote, an official with the polling company said Thursday.

Polls can't be released within Peru in the week before the elections, although various pollsters are conducting surveys for private clients.

The pollster has confirmed that Garcia's lead has widened slightly against Humala, although the pollster said that the difference from the last published results wasn't significant.

The pollster said that results were basically "stable" compared with the last polls published Sunday.

Pollsters say there is likely a hidden vote for Humala, and that from 18% to 20% of Peruvians only make up their minds which way to vote at the last moment.

Peru's stock market indexes and the local currency, the sol, gained Thursday on rumors of polls showing the stability of support for Garcia, who is considered more market friendly than Humala.

The new president will take office on July 28 for a five-year term.

Peru's government asked China to start talks on an agreement aimed at increasing trade in minerals, agriculture products and machinery, the country's trade minister Alfredo Ferrero said.

Ferrero made the request to China's Commerce Minister Bo Xilai on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of trade ministers representing Pacific Rim countries in Ho Chi Minh City. Peru exports minerals such as copper and farm products including fruit to China and buys machinery from the Asian nation.

``We don't have an official response yet,'' Ferrero said in an interview today at the meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation representatives. ``We would like to have an initial agreement covering products that would not be so sensitive and then work towards a more extensive agreement on more sensitive products such as textiles.''

China, where the economy grew 10.3 percent in the first quarter, is increasing trade with Latin American countries to feed its demand for commodities such as copper, iron ore and soybeans. Sales in China of copper wire and pipe helped to boost prices for copper on the London Metal Exchange by 142 percent in the past year.

In November, China and Peru's neighbor, Chile, signed an agreement to end duties on most of their trade.

Peru's former President Alan Garcia proposed more foreign investment to spur 7 percent annual growth, in a debate ahead of the country's presidential run-off vote next month.
If elected, his government would seek to renegotiate oil and mining contracts to raise royalties, Garcia said during the hour-and-a-half debate. His government would encourage investment in ports, roads, agriculture and natural gas processing plants, he said.

Garcia, 56, and Nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala, 43, are counting on the debate to draw backing from the 25 percent of Peru's 15 million voters who say they're undecided.

``I would propose that foreign capital leaves a little more money in the hands of Peruvians, not drive it away'' Garcia said in a broadcast by state television TNP. ``Policies like those of Evo Morales will merely create more unemployment and division.''

Bolivia's President Morales, who seized oil and gasfields on May 1 and gave foreign companies 180 days to renegotiate contracts, has publicly expressed backing for Humala's candidacy.

Humala pledged to call a constitutional assembly to redraft the country's charter, block a free-trade agreement with the U.S. and rewrite oil and gas contracts to give the Peruvian State control over the country's natural resources,

``The State is bound by foreign interests,'' Humala said. ``We need to leave the past behind and build the future, an alternative to the neo-liberal model.''

Garcia led Humala by 56 percent to 44 percent of valid votes in a May 10-12 survey by Lima-based polling firm Apoyo Opinion y Mercado. The poll of 2,000 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

The second-round vote will be held June 4.

Ex-President Alan Garcia maintained his lead over retired army commander Ollanta Humala in the race for Peru's presidency, a poll showed on Sunday.

Garcia, who is seen as the more business-friendly candidate despite his 1985-1990 government that left Peru in economic ruin, has 56 percent of voter support in the June 4 run-off, versus 44 percent for Humala, the Apoyo poll said.

The poll, which was commissioned by one of Peru's most-watched TV stations, America, was unchanged compared to a week ago.

Humala and Garcia held a televised debate on Sunday night that political analysts said neither candidate won.

A quick poll on America's Web site (http://www.americatv.com.pe) gave victory to Garcia.

Both candidates promise jobs and a better life for the half of Peruvians who are poor and both pledge to rewrite contracts with foreign investors and redistribute more of Peru's mining-generated wealth.

But many voters are uninspired by the candidates.

Middle-class Peruvians see Humala, who is most popular among the Andean and jungle poor, as a radical whose nationalist platform could endanger the country's $75 billion economy.

But many have not forgotten Garcia's first presidential term, which produced hyperinflation, food shortages and rising rebel Shining Path violence. Garcia's supporters say he has learned from his mistakes.

The candidacy of Humala, who won the first round in April but failed to achieve the 50 percent level of voter support to win outright, has been hurt by the strong support of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez because the anti-U.S. leader is generally unpopular in Peru, analysts say.

The poll's methodology was not immediately available but Apoyo typically has a margin of error of 2.2 percent.

A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic Society reported Tuesday.
The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed, archaeologists reported.

The burial was at a site called El Brujo on Peru's north coast near Trujillo.

They said the woman was part of the Moche culture which thrived in the area between A.D. 1 and A.D. 700. The mummy was dated about A.D. 450.

The presence of gold jewelry and other fine items indicates the mummy was that of an important person, but anthropologist John Verano of Tulane University, said the researchers are puzzled by the presence of war clubs, which are not usually found with females.

The woman had complex tattoos, distinct from others of the Moche, covering both arms and other areas. Bone scarring indicated the woman had given birth at least once. The cause of her death was not apparent.

Verano said she would have been considered an adult in her prime. Some Moche people reached their 60s and 70s.

The grave also contained headdresses, jewelry made of gold and semiprecious stones, war clubs, spear throwers, gold sewing needles, weaving tools and raw cotton.

"Perhaps she was a female warrior, or maybe the war clubs and spear throwers were symbols of power that were funeral gifts from men," Verano said. In the thousands of Moche tombs previously exposed, no female warrior has been identified.

Representatives of the two Peruvian political parties, which candidates will face-off in the June 4 runoff election, are meeting Tuesday to define details for Sunday´s broadcast debate between Ollanta Humala and Alan Garcia.

After several weeks of negotiations, UPP´s Humala (Union for Peru) and APRA´s Garcia will finally debate their very different takes on what their government should do for the next five years.

APRA legislator Jorge del Castillo is due to meet today at the National Election Jury’s Electoral Ethic Pact with Carlos Torres, UPP aspirant as second vice president.

The issues remain to be defined, as do technical matters such as place and moderator, but despite disagreements, the teams believe these will be resolved this week.

Brussels, Bolivian President Evo Morales ratified in this capital on Tuesday his government willingness to negotiate, but not to compensate the companies affected by the nationalization of the country´s natural resources, ordered on May 1.

This capital was the last stop of Morales´ continental tour, where he rejected new pressures against the measure from Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Goucht, who said it was a mistake.

Morales said his government favors that the nationalized companies continue operating in the country, but he said there is nothing to compensate, because we are not expelling anyone, we did not expropriate anything.

We only recovered what is is of the Bolivian people. That is the State´s and the State will manage it, he emphasized.

Criticism derived from the notice to Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Bank (BBVA) Pension Fund and Zurich Financial Service to return to the State the oil companies they were managing.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said on Monday that his country will continue trade talks with the European Union (EU), even without Bolivia's participation.

Toledo, who was on a private visit to Spain after attending an EU-Latin American summit in Vienna, made the remarks in the southern city of Fuengirloa.

He hoped that Bolivian President Evo Morales will continue to be part of the negotiations between the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and the EU, Toledo told reporters following a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Toledo added that he had persuaded Morales to begin talks with the EU, saying, "I think we are going forward and the decision is taken."

However, he added the trade talks "will go ahead in any case" without Bolivia's participation.

"But, if for whatever reason Bolivia decides not to continue, the EU president... the commissioners and (we) ourselves have agreed that the trade talks... will go ahead."

He said Europeans "know that the road to integration is not free of obstacles, and has reached this point by sorting out difficulties... (Latin Americans want) to learn from their experience, even though they cannot be translated literally."

On the just-concluded summit between Latin American countries and the EU, Toledo said "a historic step" had been taken in Vienna.

The road to a trade deal between the CAN and the EU has begun thanks to the Vienna declaration, which included a commitment to achieve a trade agreement, he said.

Here's one of the biggest ironies of Latin America's current history: Alan García, the populist-leftist former Peruvian president who suspended his country's foreign debt payments and nationalized the banking industry in the mid-1980s, may become the leading regional critic of Venezuela's firebrand socialist, President Hugo Chávez.

If somebody had forecast this only a few months ago, it would have been seen by most political analysts as a joke.

Indeed, García, the leading candidate for Peru's June 4 runoff elections, is a persuasive speaker -- his critics call him a snake-oil salesman -- who has long been seen as the quintessential Latin American populist.

At the beginning of his 1985-90 term, he lashed out against the Peruvian oligarchy and the International Monetary Fund, gaining wild applause at home. But investors fled the country, the economy collapsed, inflation rose to 7,500 percent a year and unemployment soared. When García left office, he had a 5 percent approval rate, and had to flee the country amid a barrage of corruption charges.

When I interviewed García for an hour last week for a soon-to-be-televised interview, I could barely believe what I was hearing: García is not only trying to bring about a political resurrection as a moderate who cites Chile's pro-free market leftist government as one of his top role models, but is using his extraordinary oratory skills to lash out against what he calls the ''Chávez imperialism'' in Latin America.

Chávez has an ''obsessive'' compulsion for the limelight and a habit ''of meddling and imposing his outdated model on us, a model that is only supported by the amount of money he has,'' García told me. ``Without the millions of dollars in oil revenues that he has, I don't think he could talk the way he does.

On Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Peru released a statement that it was revoking presidential candidate Ollanta Humala's visa.

The candidate called the revocation of his U.S. visa interfering in Peru's presidential election.

Embassy officials said the U.S. State Department revoked the visa to Humala in January 2005 after an armed assault to the police station of the Peruvian city Andahuaylas was carried out by Humala's brother, Antauro, who demanded the resignation of President Alejandro Toledo.

In that assault, in which four policemen and two civilians died, Humala's brother presented him as "the intellectual author" of the that operation, though Humala was in France in that time.

Antauro has surrendered to the authorities and he is jailed now.

Embassy officials said a certain immigration law prohibits anybody's entrance to U.S. soil who is related to those committing terrorist activities or attempts against democratic governments, although the candidate has no accusations against him but a summons as a "witness" only.

The embassy said they informed Humala in a timely and properly way, but he denies it and maintains that the embassy did not inform him.

However, U.S. Ambassador to Lima James Curtis Struble said a presidential candidate can request a new visa, but Humala told the press he will not pursue another one.

Humala who claims his U.S. visa was good for 10 years, hoped to travel to the United States to hold meetings with officials of the Organization of American States, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, among other financial organizations.

He said that if elected, he will keep good ties with the United States as long as "its interests don't collide with our interests," such as national rights over biodiversity, the penalty-free sowing of coca, and a trade treaty under other terms, unlike the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which he criticizes.

After Humala made these statements in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa, a day later he met with Bolivian President Evo Morales in Bolivia.

Social democrat Alan Garcia will face nationalist Ollanta Humala in a runoff for Peru's presidency, according to a ballot tally Sunday from the April 9 vote.

Despite lack of an official announcement, writer Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the harshest critics of Garcia's 1985-1990 presidency, asked voters to back him over Humala, whose presidency he said would be a "catastrophe".
Center-right presidential candidate Lourdes Flores was in third place and continued to dispute the drawn-out vote count from the elections two weeks ago.

Garcia and Humala returned to campaigning around the South American country in anticipation of the runoff vote, which could be held as early as May 28.
With more than 99 percent of the votes counted, Humala was the winner with 31 percent of the votes, not close to the majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Garcia holds 24.33 percent and Flores, 23.62 -- a difference of just 85,543 votes, believed too many for Flores to possibly catch up. The earlier presidency of Garcia, 56, was infamous as one of the most corrupt in Peru's history, as a period of hyperinflation, and a time during which the violent Shining Path rebels had free rein. He campaigned this year on promises that he has learned his lessons.
Humala, 43, is a leftist populist and a cashiered military officer who has been accused of human rights abuses in battling Peru's rebels.

Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America's best-respected writers, asked social democrat Garcia and rightist Flores to put their differences aside to beat Humala. -----Military authoritarianism
"So that Peru not sink once again into the swamp of military authoritarianism represented by Ollanta Humala, there is no path other than an immediate alliance," Vargas Llosa said in an article published in Peru's national daily El Comercio.
Vargas Llosa himself was narrowly beaten in 1990 by disgraced president Alberto Fujimori, now awaiting extradition in Chile on corruption and human rights charges.

"If Garcia and Flores cannot unite, whichever one goes to the runoff will be defeated by the soldier who claims as mentors and role models Venezuelan commander (President) Hugo Chavez and the late dictator of Peru, general Juan Velasco Alvarado," another leftist military leader (1968-1975) Vargas Llosa wrote.

Meanwhile, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of ousted president Alberto Fujimori, who won a seat in Parliament in the recent election, told a local newspaper that she would raise her father's case for debate in the Legislature with the goal of having charges against him annulled.

Alberto Fujimori, 67, president from 1990-2000, fled the country on corruption charges and is currently under detention in Chile as Peru seeks his extradition.

In one of the most significant archaeological and anthropological finds in recent history, Robert Benfer, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has discovered the earliest astronomical alignments and sculptures in the round, which is a sculpture designed to be viewed from many directions and angles, in the New World in Buena Vista, Peru.

The Temple of the Fox, an ancient structure in the Chillon Valley that dates back to 2200 B.C., contains sculptures of unprecedented artistic style that can be associated with the agricultural calendar and Andean myth.

"There hasn't been an archaeological finding like this since the early 1980s," Benfer said. "The Temple of the Fox is 1,000 years older than anything of its kind found before. It's also significant because it suggests people organized their lives around Andean constellations and provides evidence of the beginning of flood-plain agriculture."

In temples such as the one Benfer uncovered, the Andeans constructed offering chambers, used them for ceremonies and then built new chambers above the old. Benfer said this protected the Buena Vista site from looters, who came within one inch of the musician statuary while searching for gold and silver in the ancient temple. The well-preserved offering chamber holds ancient pieces of cotton and burned twigs, and Benfer's team used the twigs to radio-carbon-date the various components of the excavation site.

At the entrance to the Temple of the Fox, Benfer unearthed a mural of a fox incised inside a painted llama. He said the mural depicts the significance of the fox in Andean myth and astronomy. The fox taught the ancient Andean civilizations how to cultivate and irrigate plants and, according to Andean myth, is reincarnated by drops of water. Today, the constellation of the fox also is associated with water, and farmers use the call of the fox to predict rainfall.

While excavating the temple and sculptures, Benfer discovered several astronomical alignments at the Buena Vista site that suggest Andeans used astronomical signs and constellations to guide their agricultural activities. The lines incorporate points at the temple entrance, at the offering chamber, on sculptures, and on surrounding ridges that align with the rising and setting sun on days of astronomical significance, such as the equinox and solstices. For example, from west to east, the offering chamber aligns with a modified rock on an eastern ridge, forming a 114-degree azimuth and pointing toward the rising sun on December 21, which is the southern hemisphere's summer solstice. This date begins the season where flood waters rise, El Niño weather patterns are predicted and plants should be planted. On March 21, when flood waters recede, this same line points to the rising Andean constellation of the Fox. In addition, among the ancient statues Benfer excavated in Buena Vista is a personified disk that frowns at the sunset on June 21, the day marking the beginning of the harvest. 

Benfer has been working at this site in Peru for the past four years but only discovered the Temple of the Fox in June 2004; the frowning disk was unearthed in June 2005. He said no one could have predicted to find something so old, but he added that other Andean temple sites he has studied contain perfect 114-degree alignments and similar astronomical features, which act as additional evidence to support his findings.

Archaeological and anthropological field school students, including several MU students, have assisted Benfer with his research. His trips to Peru have been funded by the MU Research Board, field schools in the U.S. and Peru, and, most recently, National Geographic. Benfer said he plans to return to Peru to continue the excavation of the Buena Vista site as early as this summer. He and other investigators on his team will present their findings at the annual meetings of the Society for American Archaeology in San Juan, Puerto Rico, next week.

Leftist Ollanto Humala is leading Peru's presidential race, with conservative Lourdes Flores and ex-president Alan Garcia competing to qualify for a run-off against the front-runner, partial results showed.
Humala, a populist former army officer, garnered 27.8 percent, Flores took 26.3 percent and Garcia had 25.6 percent, according to an official count of just over half the valid ballots on Monday.
But projections, which pollsters said were more representative, gave Humala a far stronger lead with about 30 percent of the votes, as much as six points ahead of his two main rivals, who were virtually tied in second place.
With none of the hopefuls getting the 50 percent needed to win outright, the election was certain to be decided in a second round between the two top vote-getters.
To chants of "Humala president," the front-runner flashed a victory sign and told cheering supporters who gathered outside his party headquarters that "the great transformation of Peru," was launched with Sunday's voting.
Virtually unknown in political circles until recently, Humala has seen his popularity surge in just weeks. A tough-talking nationalist who admires Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez, he has become a controversial figure in Peru, loved by some, hated by others.
As he voted with his wife Nadine at a Lima university Sunday, several hundred protesters hurled eggs, plastic bottles and insults. Police used shields to protect him as he left the building to chants of "assassin, criminal".
Allegations that surfaced during the electoral campaign accuse Humala of responsibility for the torture and "disappearance" of leftist government opponents in 1992. The former lieutenant-colonel denies the claims.
Humala battled insurgents in the 1990s, and led a failed military rebellion against then president Alberto Fujimori in 2000.
All three leading candidates have pledged to fight for social justice, but it is Humala who appears to have stirred the imagination of the millions of impoverished Peruvians who often feel they have not shared in the country's economic growth.
Humala, 43, has called for a redistribution of wealth and exemplary punishments for crooked politicians he says have poisoned the country. He wants to tighten state controls over the gas and mining industries and opposes the US-financed eradication of coca, a medicinal herb from which cocaine is extracted.
His rivals portray him as a dictator in the making who would plunge Peru into total chaos.
Flores, for her part, is backed by the business community, and has battled claims she is the candidate of wealthy Peruvians. A staunch Roman Catholic who opposes abortion, Flores, 46, had already made two unsuccessful bids for the presidency.
Julio Sanchez, 44, a doctor who voted in Lima's middle-class San Isidro neighborhood, made it clear he wasn't impressed by any of the candidates.
He said Humala's popularity was cause for concern as the last thing Peru needs is "an improvised candidat