Dear Readers,
Without even noticing we are already at the middle of 2004. June is such a marvelous month, when the Q'ollyur Rit'i (the largest native Indian festival in the Americas) and the Inti Raymi (last issue main article) take places, bringing back the spirit of a culture still alive in the conciousness of the peruvian andean people: the Incas.
But the Incas owe their majesty to former cultures that preceed them and founded the basis of a high-tech agriculture, a well-organized poliical structure and a mystic religion filled with mysteries. One of the biggest mysteries from the ancient Peru are the world famous Nasca Lines, those gigantic figures of monkeys, humming birds and spiders that could be appreciated only by plane. These possibly astronomic calendar was saved and studied along her entire life by a german woman named Maria Reiche.
It is told that she arrived to the Nasca desert in a Volkswagen Beatle with nothing but many sheets and blankets and a pair of brooms and started cleaning the lines of 2,500 years dust just by herself. She lost a finger weeks before in Cusco because an infection, but when she discover that the monkey have just nine fingers, she realized that she was meant to be there, forever.
This issue is dedicated to the Desert Lady: Maria Reiche.
Regards
José and Cynthia

Stretching across the Nazca plains - like a giant map or blueprint left by ancient astronauts, lie the famous Nasca Lines of Peru.
The Nasca Lines are an enigma. No one knows who has built them or indeed why. Since their discovery, the Nasca Lines have inspired fantastic explanations ranging from ancient gods, a landing strip for returning aliens, a celestial calendar used for rituals probably related to astronomy to confirm the ayllus or clans who made up the population and to determine through ritual their economic functions held up by reciprocity and redistribution or, to a map of underground water supplies.
There are also huge geoglyphs in Egypt , Malta , the United States (Mississippi and California), Chile , Bolivia and other countries. But the Nasca geoglyphs, because of their numbers, characteristics, dimensions and cultural continuity as they were made and remade through out the whole prehispanic period, form the most impressive as well as most enigmatic archeological group.
Read the complete article...

Chan Chan is considered the largest adobe city in pre-Hispanic America, covering an area of more than 20 km 2 and it housed some 100 000 people?

Arequipa 's Historical Centre was declared a World Cultural Heritage in 2000?

Peru celebrates some 3,000 festivals a year?

See the Pictures

The Huascaran National Park was established on July, 1st, 1975. UNESCO recognized it as a center of the Reserve of Biosphere in 1977 and as Natural Inheritance of the Humanity in 1985. This park includes the Cordillera Blanca, the highest Tropical chain of mountains in the world, and is located in the department of Ancash, provinces of Huaylas, Yungay, Carhuaz, Huaraz, Recuay, Bolognesi, Pomabamba, Huari, Mariscal Luzuriaga and Asuncion. It has a surface area of 340,000 hectares.
The park has very rich flora, fauna, and beautiful landscapes. Some of the peaks and lagoons in this area are very popular around the world. The Huascaran is the highest mountain in Peru - 6,768 m.a.s.l. This park presents seven microclimates where more than 779 species of flowers (304 types and 104 families) live, and we can also find the Puya (Puya Raymondi) in the queñual forests which make up the high Andean plateau.
There are 8 types and 10 different species of mammals some of which are: the wild cat, the Andean cat, the spectacled bear, the taruca and the vicuna.
Also there are different species birds in the park like: the Andean condor, the pato de los torrentos, the partridge; among others.
From April to November is the dry season. It's a good opportunity to practice mountaineering. The most popular places are Chimancocha and Orconconcha and Pastoruri.
The main goal of the Huascaran National Park is to protect the wild flora and fauna, while promoting the tourism.

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