Location
and Geography Peru
is located in the western central coast of
South America. It shares borders with Ecuador
(N), Colombia (NE), Brazil (E), Bolivia (SE)
and Chile (S). The West side, shared with
the Pacific Ocean, is the main border that
has a length of 3,079.5 km. There are four
major natural regions: the 200 miles Peruvian
Sea, a narrow coastal strip, the high Andes
Mountains and the vast and plain Amazon basin.
Peru is the third largest country in South
America with an area of 1'285,216 km2.
Population
and People
With a population of nearly 25 million, Peru
has a wide ethnic mixture composed mainly
by a 54% Indian, 32% Mestizo, 12% White and
Spanish descendants and 2% Black and Asian.
The minorities, who live basically in the
city of Lima and the coast, are immigrants
from Asia (China, Japan), Africa (west coast),
Europe (Spain, Italy, England, Germany, France,
Switzerland, Israel, Poland, Belgium and Yugoslavia),
North America (United States) and Middle East
(Arabia).
Languages
Spanish and Quechua (Inca’s languages)
are the two official languages in Peru. Although
Spanish is the main one, Quechua is widely
spoken in the Andes as well as Aymara in the
southern Andes in the area of Lake Titicaca.
In the Amazon territory there are more than
70 native languages, belonging each one to
an ethnic group. Some of the Andean people
are bilingual (Quechua or Aymara and Spanish).
English is spoken in the main touristy destinations
and places.
Capital
City
Lima is located in the central coast of Peru.
It has a population of over 7 million inhabitants.
Money
The US dollar is well accepted all over South
America. The denominations of $10s, $20s,
and some of $50 are most convenient. Ask your
bank for new unmarked bills as they are less
hustled to exchange. All the major towns we
visit have ATM machines that accept Cirrus
(MasterCard) or Plus (VISA) cards, but not
always both. It is recommended to have both
types of cards. Traveler’s checks are
exchangeable too and fine restaurants will
accept them as payment.
Time
GMT
- 5. Five hours less than Greenwich Mean Time.
