Starting later this week, the Peruvian city of Huaraz will begin hosting their yearly extreme sport festival. This festival, known as the Andismo Festival, will begin on Wednesday and go until the 2nd of June.

This annual event generally includes a variety of different extreme sporting events, as well as different cultural events. However, the most well-known event of the festival is the aerothon, a three part marathon that incorporates biking, cross country skiing, and paragliding.
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The city of Moyobama in northern Peru recently broke a world record by hosting largest Peruvian folkdance ever recorded. In fact, this new record has officially been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Over 1,585 couples turned out to perform the traditional dance of their city, the pandilla, during the Feast of San Juan this past Saturday. The dance began early in the morning and lasted for two whole hours, followed by the annual pilgrimage to the nearby hotsprings for the Blessed Bath of San Juan. (more…)

A group of scientists based out of Lima are investigating the possibility of growing a certain strain of Peruvian potato on Mars. The scientists come from the International Potato Center (IPC) and they have confirmed that they have identified one type of Peruvian potato that could grow on Mars.

The scientists from the IPC are part of the larger group, The Potato on Mars project, which is a joint venture between the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima and NASA. The project is expected to last 5 years. (more…)

Archaeologists from Florida Atlantic University´s Harbor Branch have unearthed new ancient artifacts in the north of Peru that are reported to be around 15,000 years old. These artifacts were discovered in the Chicama Valley of the La Libertad region in one of the oldest temples in Peru, the Huaca Prieta.

The Huaca Prieta temple is said to have been built between 3500 and 1800 B.C. However, these newly discovered artifacts help to support the developing theory that life in the region began even earlier than many originally thought. (more…)

Pope Francis will visit Peru late next year. According to the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, the Pope will officially be visiting Peru from the 18th to the 21st of January 2018.

This visit to Peru will mark the first time in 30 years that a pope has made the journey to Peru. The last pope to visit Peru was Pope John Paul II when he came to Lima in 1988.

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski believes that this new visit presents a new face of Peru to the papacy because it will be following two decades of positive growthfrom the social (more…)

A university in Peru has won a grant that will enable them to attempt to clone alpacas. This university, the University of San Marcos in Lima, is considered Peru´s best public university.

Using the S/ 500,000 obtained by winning this grant, the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of San Marcos will begin efforts to start cloning alpacas, as part of a larger conservation effort for the animal.

Alpacas are very important to the people of Peru not just as a national symbol, but also as the livelihood of many rural communities. (more…)

The youngest Peruvian ever has conquered the world´s highest peak, the Mount Everest. The Mountaineer, 31-year-old Victor Rímac, summited Mt. Everest on May 21st, where he planted the Peruvian flag.

Moreover, Rímac was able to attain this feat without the use of supplemental oxygen.

This last successful attempt was Rímac´s third time trying to summit Everest. The first time, he canceled his trip because of a massive avalanche on the mountain and the second time, he was swept up in an avalanche while on Everest. (more…)

Right in time for its anniversary, the city of Arequipa is planning a new tour that leads tourists up the famous Misti Volcano.

Misti Volcano, in the south of Peru, is located in the immediate vicinity of the city of Arequipa. The volcano dominates the cityscape with its prominent cone shape and is therefore considered a landmark of Arequipa.

Now, Arequipa’s Macro Region Police are getting ready to set up a tourist circuit to climb the 5822m (19.101 ft.) high volcano.
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An ancient tradition has been completed once again during the days of the 8th – 10th of June. The Q’eswachaka bridge located 180km from Cusco city is handwoven every year over again made entirely of vegetable fibres.

Every year, in a traditional ceremony, the bridge is inaugurated on the third day, after untying the old ropes attached to the extremes of the bridge and replacing by the new ones all braided by hand according to ancient pre-Columbian traditions.

For this occasion, close to 1,000 locals from four Quechua-speaking communities (more…)

According to recent data collected from the social media platform, Instagram suggests that Machu Picchu is not only Peru´s top destination for tourists – it is also the top-runner for taking pictures in all South America!

In the report by Sony Mobile, the researchers further tell that “85% of photos taken of Machu Picchu are from the same spots, creating nearly half a million identical images on Instagram”.

Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel in Peru had been deserted before the construction was terminated and had thus remained undiscovered by the Spanish Conquistadores. (more…)

Right in time for the African Heritage Month of Peru in June, the colonial town of Zaña in the department of Lambayeque in Northern Peru has been named a “Memorial site and African cultural inheritance” by the Ministry of Culture and UNESCO.

Zaña is a lesser known site in Peru, but nevertheless an important testament of Peruvian history.

Zaña is the oldest town founded by the Spanish in the department of Lambayeque in Northern Peru with a current population of 1800 Peruvians of African descent. (more…)

Piura reports Earthquake 6.2 Magnitude has been reported

On the morning of June 5th an earthquake occurred in Piura, 43 kilometres east of the northern Peru district of Máncora. According to local reports the shaking was short but intense. At the moment, local authorities have reported damages to infrastructure, but no loss of human life in the event.

The Instituto de Defensa Civil (Indeci) informed that there have not been damages in Lancones (Piura) and Casitas (Tumbes). (more…)