Peru has the highest navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca in Puno. It sits 12,500 ft. above sea level.Peru has the two deepest canyons in the world, Colca Canyon and Cotahuasi Canyon. They dip down 10,600 ft. and 11,000 ft. respectively.Peru has the second highest peak in the Americas, the mighty Huascaran, which rises to 22,200 ft.Lima, Peru, is the second largest city in the world that is located in a desert, after Cairo.Annual rainfall in Lima is 0 inches. It NEVER rains there. And I thought Albuquerque, with its mere 8 inches a year, was dry.The world’s longest river, the Amazon, starts in Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is the gateway to the world’s largest and most diverse natural reserve, the Amazon rainforest.With a population of 400,000, Iquitos, in the Amazon rainforest, is the world’s largest city that cannot be reached by road, only by water or air.Sixty percent of Peru is jungle, or selva . Most of Peru’s Amazon remains unexplored, and hence has some of the best untouched rain forests anywhere in the world.Should you decide to explore the unexplored Peruvian selva , make sure you get vaccinated for typhoid, yellow fever and malaria. And be sure to bring LOTS of bug repellent, with at least 30 percent DEET. I can always spot tourists who have recently been to the jungle by the huge red welts all over their arms and legs!Machu Picchu, the most famous archaeological site in South America, is the iconic symbol of Peru. It is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, rubbing elbows with India’s Taj Mahal, Rome’s Colosseum and the Great Wall of China. It was discovered in 1911 by Yale University historian Hiram Bingham, who, incidentally, was the role model for the Indiana Jones’ character in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark "
Read the rest of the blogs in this series here.
