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What to Bring on a Northern Peru Holiday

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What to Bring on a Northern Peru Holiday

A good maxim when packing to go on holiday is 'half the luggage; twice the money'! Peru has plenty of shops, selling everything from Alpaca sweaters to camera batteries, and by spending in them, visitors are doing their bit to support the local economy. 

Moreover, we once had a client arrive for a two-week holiday in Belize with just hand luggage ... and this was by choice, not at the whim of the airline. He had two shirts and would wash one, while he wore the other. 

Nonetheless, Peru North understands that this is not the norm, and so please see our advice on what to bring. Northern Peru is a very diverse place, geographically, climatically and culturally, so there will be variations according to your exact destination. We will start with the essentials, and then suggest additions, according to the region or activity. 

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Jorge Chavez - Peru's Most Famous Aviator

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Jorge Chavez - Peru's Most Famous Aviator

I've always found it a curiosity that Lima's international airport, built in 1960, is named after Jorge Chavez - a man who never visited Peru and who died in a plane crash. How, then, did this man, who was born and bred in France, come to be a Peruvian national hero? 

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Art of the Shipibo-Konibo

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Art of the Shipibo-Konibo

  • Shipibo-Konibo is an indigenous Amazonian culture, most numerous in Peru’s Ucayali Department.

  • Renowned for distinctive geometrically-decorated textiles.

  • We examine the process behind this intricate art form.

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Amazon Reforestation & Sustainable Farming Project

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Amazon Reforestation & Sustainable Farming Project

An hour by boat from Iquitos, up the River Nanay, lies the hamlet of Fray Martin de Porres, where, in 2010, Latitud Sur began a project to offer viable alternatives to the ecologically-damaging practices of charcoal production, single crop farming, and slash-and-burn agriculture.

Peru's Tomb Raiders

Peru's Tomb Raiders

The term 'tomb raider' may well bring to mind glamorous images of Lara Croft or Indiana Jones, but the reality in archaeologically-rich Peru is very far removed. Huaqueros, as they are known, are almost always poor farmers trying to make a little extra cash, rather than organized treasure hunters.  

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Amazon Canopy Walkways

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Amazon Canopy Walkways

In the 1970s, biologists began exploring the rainforest canopy, experimenting with tree-climbing gear, platforms, and even hot-air balloons to study little-known plants and animals which lived only in the tree-tops.

Now, for many visitors ascending into the canopy is a real highlight of their Amazon experience. 

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Lima's Rimac District

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Lima's Rimac District

Most visitors to Lima's Colonial Centre get a tantalizing glimpse of a district that starkly reflects Lima's contrasts. Visible just north of the Presidential Palace and San Francisco Monastery, across the natural boundary of early Colonial Lima, the Rimac River, is the district named after the river. 

Being so close to Peru's post-Conquest heart, the area has a number of interesting and historic attractions, but it is also evidence of the rapid, chaotic, urban growth that characterizes much of Lima from the 1960s onwards.  

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Lares Trek - Alternative Route to Machu Picchu (or not)

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Lares Trek - Alternative Route to Machu Picchu (or not)

I recently blogged about my 2015 trek on the Salkantay trail, which got me thinking about all my Peru hiking experiences. I've had the good fortune to have trekked most of the routes to Machu Picchu, including doing the Classic Inca Trail nine times, over the course of 16 years working and living in the country. However, now with a family and concomitant responsibility, the opportunities to head into the hills and disconnect for a few days, are few and far between. 

I have to go back to August 2009 for the previous multi-day trek, Lares. Reassuringly, the photos reveal that I was using the same faded green hoodie then that I used for the Salkantay trek, six years later!

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Salkantay Trek - Alternative Route to Machu Picchu

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Salkantay Trek - Alternative Route to Machu Picchu

My first multi-day trek was on the Classic Inca Trail way back in 2000 while working as a Tour Leader … and I was immediately hooked. The scenery, the camaraderie, the archaeology and the sense of achievement upon arriving at the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu after four days’ hiking added up to a wonderful experience. 

Now no longer a tour leader accompanying groups around Peru, the opportunity to go trekking in the spectacular Andes mountains have been much reduced. But, after years of longing, I finally completed the Salkantay Trek, one of the alternative routes to Machu Picchu, in July 2015. 

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Amazon Development through Superfruit

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Amazon Development through Superfruit

Peru's immense bio-diversity means that it is a treasure chest of fruits and grains, the marvellous properties of which are only now beginning to be appreciated by Western scientists and consumers. Supermarkets are beginning to feature products containing quinoa and maca - two famous Incan superfoods from the Andes mountain region - for example.

Meanwhile, in the Amazon rain forest, nutrient-rich 'superfruits' have been nourishing and healing the indigenous population for centuries.