peru

As you sit in the back of a rickety taxi, winding higher and higher through the northern Andes and away from civilization, you may nervously wonder if you should have picked a more generic vacation spot. Rest assured. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the thirteen million hand-planted evergreens lining the mountains of Granja Porcón, Peru’s most impressive cooperative community.

It was only supposed to be two weeks; that was what Melina Galvez said to herself as she packed all her belongings and flew to Peru to go visit her parents. It was March, and although COVID-19 had come to the United States and other countries, most people expected the virus to be gone in a couple of weeks. Yet something was telling Melina that she needed to go home. “My mind went like…BOOM! ‘You need to leave now,’” Melina said. Following her gut instinct, she left behind her apartment, her classes, and her boyfriend to fly to Peru. The flight took only a few hours, and down in the Southern Hemisphere it was still the middle of summer.

Never before has the deadness of the Dead Sea been more apparent.

What makes nature such a tempting getaway? For most, it’s the peaceful contrast to a bustling city. However, much like the city that never sleeps, the Amazon’s constant humming and buzzing reveals a similar atmosphere. Come join the Amazon wildlife community to see what all the commotion is about.

A large map of the world, plastered with clusters of brightly-colored sewing pins, hangs in the home of 73-year-old Myrna Towers. Each pin marks a place that Towers, her husband, Dave, or one of their six children has visited. Myrna and Dave have traveled extensively, and have lived in Great Britain, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. What the map does not show, however, is where they have slept on their travels. A cabin on the African savanna, a chateau in the Alps, and a hut in Mexico are only a few. “If you stay in Best Westerns everywhere you go, you’ll have a very typical trip,” says Towers. They are always on the alert for rare lodging opportunities.

After graduating from the Academy for Creating Enterprise, Moroni Jesus Ramos Olague decided to remain in Mexico City, where he manages an Internet café.

The view from the front seat of a tour van highlights the windy path.Enveloped by the lush greenery all around, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the sheer mountain slopes above and below the one-lane dirt road beneath our van. At the bottom of the deep chasm dropping away to our right, the grand Urubamba River swiftly swirled. In every direction, the sharp peaks of the Andes Mountains rose above us, shrouded in gray mist, proud in their legendary beauty.

Ruth was kidnapped when she was nine years old. She had been poor—an orphan child who had spent much of her life scavenging for food in the littered streets of Cusco, Peru. Yet she longed for that life after she was towed five hundred miles away to a brothel outside of Lima. Forced to live a life of horror and condemned to physical and emotional abuse, Ruth was held hostage for more than six years.

Perusing the grain section at your local health store, you come across a product labeled Quinoa. KEE-no? Quin-O-a? Keen-o-A? How do you pronounce this curious grain-like food?

From culture to conquistas, rock-climbing to reggaeton, llamas to piranhas, Peru has something for everyone. Due to its diversity, accessibility, and, above all, affordability, many are familiar with the attractions this country has to offer.