Hostels and the Traveler

Peru

Population: 28 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Lima
Area: 1.28 million sq km (496,225 sq miles)
Major languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 67 years (men), 72 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 nuevo sol = 100 centimos

Road Junky has 28 Peru articles. Scroll down to view.

Peru Travel Guide

Peru is a mind-blowing country. The natural beauty of the mountains, deserts, and jungle sit in contrast to narco-terrorist jungle towns, wide open mines and dumps, ridiculously over-touristed ruins and ...

Nazca to Cusco

Seemed logical, looking at a map. A to B, Nazca to Cusco. The unpaved road snaked out of town north-east. Admittedly it did cross the Andes, the Cordillera Occidental at ...

Build Your Own (Sexy) Incan Temple

Along the tourist trail winding its way through the Andes, Incan ruins are money. Forget Chan Chan and forget Tiahuanaco; whoever built those ruins, they sure weren’t Incas. If you ...

Sex and Germans in the Mountains of Peru

Huaraz felt like a trap and I had to get out. I told my Peruvian girlfriend Maria this and she agreed. We had to get out, even if only for ...

Ambushed in Peru

We’re having an amazing time in backcountry Peru. My twin sister Lynn and I and our friend Rachel hike the Kuelap ruins on foot, and explore the Gocta waterfalls on ...

Searching for the Saddest Kid in Cusco (twice)

The first time we found Miguel, the saddest kid in Cusco, he was outside Cusco’s football stadium. It was game day, and hundreds of food stalls had bloomed around the ...

Drinking Chicha in Peru

With my head tilted back I stare painfully into the shot glass and despair. I haven’t downed it fast enough; a sickly sludge has formed and it’s slowly sliding towards ...

Bad Mescaline trip in a Peruvian Forest

An Andean dwarf forest is a psychedelic place. Weird, twisting Quenuales trees grow on slopes so steep they reach sideways toward the sun. Their red, papery bark glows beautifully in ...

Independence Day in Huanchaco, Peru

Smash a mirror into a million insignificant pieces, and then quickly glue the fragments back together. The mirror looks different than before: less iridescent, cracked, but still polished glass. ...

Amazon Boat Ride in Peru

Iquitos, Peru

Relaxing on the roof terrace-come-menagerie that was the hotel without a name, just two blocks off the Plaza De Arms in Lima, Peru. Something was missing from my trip ...

Up an Amazonian Creek

Tossing and turning in bed the night before my Amazon Jungle expedition, I was having second thoughts of going up the Ucayali River in Northeast Peru to live with the ...