About Peru
Ancient pyramid in the heart of modern Lima, Peru
Where is Peru?
Peru is a democratic republic divided into 25 regions, each has it’s own character. The geography of Peru is very varied, it’s very arid in the Pacific coast, cold in the mountains and very hot in the tropical rainforest.
The People of Peru
Peru has a estimated population of 28 million, it’s a multi-ethnic country, although the majority of the population is from ‘Amerindian’ origin or mixed race but there are also people from European, African and Asian descent.
The main spoken language is Spanish, but a large number of Peruvians still speak Quechua (the Inca language), Aymara or other native languages. Spanish is spoken in the education system, the government and in the media.
Peru is a mix of different cultural traditions and lifestyles. Peruvian culture has mainly its roots in indigenous and European traditions and these have a very big influenece on the music, cuisine, habits, art, etc of the people. Peruvian people can be very different to each other, depending where they live, their social class, their ethnic background and also the work they do.
Peruvian cuisine is very famous in the Spanish speaking world. Peruvian cuisine has influences from the Spanish, Basque, Cantonese, Japansese and French styles of cuisine. You will probably surprised to find that Cantonese food has had a big influence, so Peruvians have the habit of eating rice almost every day. In large Peruvian cities there are fast food outlets but Peruvian people prefer to eat traditional food because is much tastier, cheaper and healthier. You can read more about our food here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_cuisine
There are different types of traditional music, for example Andean music, Criolle music, Afro-Peruvain music, etc. Peruvians still keep their traditional music alive but in the radio stations you can listen to pop music in English or Spanish, like ‘Reggaeton’, etc. Those types of music are very popular with youngsters while older people generally prefer traditional music.
Peru also has many traditional dances – the most famous is the Marinera, where the man has to work very hard!
Peru is a great place to visit because of the variety of places from hiking in the mountains, surfing on the coast and of course to see the world famous Machu Picchu, the Incas ‘lost city’.
