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PERULINE |
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PERULINE e-mail: info@peruline.de |
NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2006 |
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Dear friend of Peru, The tradition of artscraft is as old as the country itself and today
forms the basis of income for many native inhabitants in Peru, as for
instance in the small villages of the Mantaro Valley near Huancayo.
Read more about it in our top topic. Enjoy reading!
Machu Picchu:increased entrance feeAccording to media reports the director of the National Culture Institute
of Cusco (INC Cusco), David Ugarte Vega Centeno, announced a further increase
for entrance fees to Machu Picchu beginning August 2006. This is a result
of the masterplan (Plan de Maestro) approved last year. The generated
money shall be used to maintain the 192 further archaeological sites in
the surroundings. Visitors will then pay 34 US-Dollar instead of previous
20 USD and Peruvian citizens will pay about half. Link Last year's tourism figures
Cruiseship Mary II at the port of Callao
Beasts of Fire
Link:
Costa del Sol Cajamarca - A place in the sun in the capital of carneval
Hatuchay Tower Machu Picchu Hotel Famtrip - a great success
Laguna Seca accompanies you on ancient Inca paths
The Summer-Special 2006 of the Garza Hotel in Chiclayo
Valen
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| Links: |
| Don`t hesitate and klick here for further information on the Acupari Language School in Cusco. |
| or contact us for infomation at info@peruline.com. |
The
Hotel Ruinas at Cusco was awarded the INTERNATIONAL CROWN AWARD 2005.
In December, general manager Marcia Cuba de Velásquez received
the prize and the certificate from the BUSINESS INITIATIVE DIRECTIONS
(BID) in London. For Velásquez, a high level of quality means more
power to compete. Thus, the Hotel Ruinas supports the Principles of Quality
Conscious Direction (Principios del Modelo de Gestión de Calidad
Total QC100), by the way one of the conditions it had to fulfill to get
the prize. The BUSINESS INITIATIVE DIRECTIONS is an association whose
main objective is awarding prizes to outstanding enterprises in order
to promote them all over the world.
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| Fur further detail about the Hotel Ruinas please see our sites |
| or send an e-mail to info@peruline.de. |
The
tour operator Domiruth is proud to present its new adventure program 2006
, especiallyfor all who like to get in touch with nature very closely
- horseriding and rafting included. See our sites
for detailed information.
| Links: |
| Are you prepared to the adventure? For further information see our sites or send an e-mail to info@peruline.de. |
 FROM
THE REGIONS |
The
city Huacho is the capital of the department Huaura and is located on
km 148 on the Panamericana north of Lima. The so-called "happy small
town" is known for its calm, fine sand beaches and its fisherman's
mentality. The port of Huacho - all in the style of the tiny little places
of the northern beaches in Peru - offers a variety of cevicherias that
prepare the freshly caught fish. Aboard the coast of Huacho though lies
a special treat for nature lovers. With a small motorboat the native fishermen
navigate to a small group of islands in the sea near Huacho. Already during
the transport one can enjoy the almost untouched nature. Flocks of screaming
water birds give company to the boat such as pelicans or the famous Guanako-birds.
The first of the Huachana-Islands that can be seen on the short roundtrip
is the uninhabited rock island Choacán. The salt has colored its
surface all white so that it almost looks as if it were an iceberg.
An
hour in the boat later the island Huampanú is located being home
to lizards and iguanas. The most beautiful of the islands probably is
Lobreras which is a reservation for seals and in its beauty in no means
stands back the national reserve Paracas and invites to observe the animals
for hours and hours.
The island Mazorca on the other hand is wildlife habitat to hundreds of
penguins that play between the stalactites of the caves. Mazorca is moreover
home to an ancient myth. The old inhabitants of Huacho believed that after
they die the soul leaves the body in order to live on this island. It
is said that the souls are carried by seals - or "tumis" as
the indigenes call them - to certain tomb pyramids that are said to have
existed on the island once.
With a bit of luck the charismatic bottlenose dolphins (tursiops truncatus)
will join the boat and give the passengers company until they get back
to the land. This is why the islands before Huacho are also called the
dolphin islands.
A real alternative to the Islas Ballestas in the Paracas Nature Reserve!
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| For further information please send an Email to info@peruline.com |
| TRAVEL
NOTES |
At
dawn we - 10 happily curious Gringos, 3 Peruvians and 4 donkeys - started
in the direction to the mystical Inca monument Machu Picchu. The whole
day we had been walking beside a huge forest inferno, accompanied by wads
of smoke and now and then there were blazing flames bursting into the
sky. After an ascent of about 700 meters to Salkantay (Mountain of the
devil) we took our first rest in 3.200 meters of altitude. Shortly after
lunch a hysterical woman with flying arms came running towards us shouting
for help. But for her decent little home all help was useless and it was
swallowed by the immense fire conflagration. After we had tried to wet
that small cottage with water out of an almost dry mountain rill fortunately
some people from the village came. With axes they cut a aisle into the
forest in order to stop the fire from advancing. With a strange feeling
in our stomachs we continued our ascent. As it seems this has not been
the first time that houses fall victim to carelessness or fatuity and
even some deaths are counted each year when the inhabitants try to increase
the fertility of their acres by burning down the vegetation.
At 3600 m of altitude we set up our camping place. Thanks to the donkeys
we could enjoy a lot of comfort: tents, camping mat, sleeping bags, provisions,
kitchen utensils. Thus we - or rather our Peruvian tour guides - were
able to create a sort of small tart. For the very surprising of the Frenchman
Jean-Claude who had his 60th birthday on our second day. But he was in
surprisingly good shape. His 30 year old younger son and I had far more
problems during the trek than this white bearded imitation of Santa Clause
(Jean-Claude).
After
the birthday cake breakfast our trip followed towards Salkantay, the mountain
of the devil. On the highest point of our expedition, at an altitude of
4.600 m, the snowball fight started. The initiators (including me) predominated
the superiority of Australians, Philippines, Frenchman and Peruvians due
to our excellent strategy. Okay, I have to admit that we had the better
starting point hiding behind the rocks. Nevertheless it was bombastic
fun for everyone.
On the third day we descended to 2.300 meter of altitude to the rainforest.
Our knees suffered hell during that march downhill so that on the 4th
day my knees felt worse than ever before. The change of vegetation from
the forest in the high mountains over the mountain vegetation and the
desert of glaciers to the rainforest is just fascinating!
On the fifth day we finally reached Aguas Calientes and avanced to Machu
Picchu... just a dream... impressing..breathtaking. How were those old
Inca able to construct a progressive house-castle-complex in the middle
of nowhere in a hardly accessible region like this?
To put it all in a nutshell: I will never forget this incredible trip!
(recorded by Dominik Hartmann)
| Links: |
| Just contact us under info@peruline.com
for more information. Did you also have a special experience in Peru and would like to tell us about it? We publish your notes on our webpage. |
| DID
YOU KNOW, ...? |
...that the Cusquenians, the inhabitants of Cusco, do not pay an entrance fee to Machu Picchu on sundays?
…that Lima celebrates its founding (19th January) every year with a grand anniversary celebration?
…that one the world's best female surfers, Sofía Mulanovich,
is from Peru?
| ABOUT
US |
peruline is a tourist information service about Peru. Many tourist enterprises support and finance our promotion and information job. Our main objective is to benefit the sponsor companies as well as the country itself.
Our services at a glance:
- Callcenter in Germany and delivery of information material free of charge
- Route planning for individual travelers
- Help with reservations info@peruline.com
- Information about hotels, lodges and language schools
- Suggestions for trips in Peru and useful links on our web site www.peruline.com
- Organization of press trips
- Photo archives
Our monthly newsletter informs you about the latest Peru news. The topics
of this newsletter have been choosen by Katrin Mistelbauer and Sabrina
McFadden.
If you have suggestions and ideas for our newsletter, we would be pleased
to receive your e-mail. Your
feedback is welcome! We also thank you for your comments about our web
page.
Please also visit our tourist information service for Ecuador www.ecuadorline.com
and for Bolivia www.bolivialine.com.
With best wishes from Lima,
Yours, Sünje Fischer
peruline
Little
Marcia (5) is proud of her new work of art. Like many other children
she took part in the competition "Niños Artesanos".
In the valley of Mantaro, 11 kilometers east of Huancayo the small
villages Cochas Chico, Cochas Grande, Cullpa and Paccha are situated.
For hundreds of years the inhabitants have been following the artscraft
tradition of carving mate giving the valley its own specific character.
The
children in the valley of Mantaro are raised with the handcraft art.
The tradition reaches back to Pre-inca times and since then is handed
down from generation to generation. The kids' grandparents are artesanos
(handcraftsmen), their parents are handcraftsmen and from their very
childhood the kids get in contact with the decorated curds. First
it is only a toy to them, later they start helping in their parents'
shops and garages and begin to learn
how to use the razor-sharp burins - some even at the young age of
four. 
According to official statistics, in 2005 alltogether 7,5 million tourists
visited the country. About 1,5 million originated from the exterior whereas
6 million tourists are Peruvian habitants. This indicates an increase
of 7,42 % compared to last years figures. The most frequent destination
for foreigners was Cusco, for domestic tourism the North of Peru, especially
the region La Libertad. The region with the highest growth was the Amazon
Region with an increase of 22,36 %. Still Cusco with its 1,057,621 visitors
remained the most visited tourism destination in the country. 
Press
announcements of the shipping company CUARD in Peru stated that the cruise
ship Queen Mary II called at the port of Callao (Lima) on 11 February.
The intensive promotion of the country arose interest in choosing Peru
as landing point for the world's biggest cruise ship. About 1000 tourists
were on board of Queen Mary II and land in Peru's oldest port in order
to discover the country's rich tourism offerings. 
Thinking of Peru's fauna lamas, vicunas, the puma or the cosor comes to
ones mind. That those animals though have only very recently been populating
the South American continent and had developed in other latitudes is hardly
unknown. In 1996 in El Milagro close to Bagua in the Amazon region archaeologists
discovered in the stone layers of the tertiary (65-2 Mio years BC) the
fossils of an ancient mammal which is estimated of about 3 m height and
2,5 t weight and was given the name Baguatherium.
The
youngest of one of the best hotel chains in Peru's north, Hoteles Costa
del Sol, is located in the "capital of the carnival", Cajamarca.
The 71 luxurious equipped rooms provide a fascinating view upon the Plaza
de Armas and the neighboring colonial style buildings with their masterly
architecture. What makes the Costa del Sol Cajamarca so special is its
excellent service and the especially designed rooms for handicapped guests.
A balanced leisure time program provides each guest the opportunity of
well-being in the hotel's casino and activity in the fitness center or
pool. In order to relax the visitor can profit from the wellness area
with Jacuzzi, massage room and sauna before tasting the delicious Andean
cuisine in the restaurant. Various event rooms with a capacity up to 800
people enable the visitor to celebrate his very special occasions within
the hotel. In addition the Hotel Costa del Sol Cajamarca is starting point
for trips to the sights in the region. The town itself has been place
of historic importance when the Spaniard Pizarro met with the Inca sovereign
Atahualpa. Nowadays it has become one of the most important towns for
the Carnival festivities. The hotel staff will be delighted to advise
you in choosing your destinations in the closer surroundings of the city
such as the archaeological site Kuntur Huasi or the baths of the Inca.
From
2 to 5 December of the previous year the Hatuchay Tower Machu Picchu Hotel
had invited its commercial partners and representatives of travel agencies
to take part on a very special trip. In collaboration with the airline
Aerocondor and Novotel Cusco the hotel on the base of Machu Picchu realized
a famtrip which provided the participants the opportunity to visit the
historical monument Machu Picchu and at the same time profit first handed
from the service and the excellent cuisine of the Hatuchay Tower Machu
Picchu Hotel. Travelers as well as organizers could gladly both considered
this trip a great success. 
The
Hotel and Spa Laguna Seca in Cajamarca has something special in store
for his guests for the first three months of the new year. In a 4-day-program
you will walk along the old Inca path "Qhapaq Ñan" that
in the Quechuan language means "royal path". During the daytrips
you can not only enjoy the unique nature - especially in means of the
numerous species of birds - but also get a grip of the archaeological
sites on its boarders. A guide will explain to you the specialties of
the region before you can relax with a massage and thermal springs in
the spa area of the Hotel Laguna Seca. The package offers furthermore
an excursion on horseback or mountain bike that can optionally be replaces
by a visit to the Ventanillas de Otuzco. In addition you can get to know
the hotel's vegetable garden. Accommodation and catering are included
in the package price. 
For
the summer season 2006 the 4-star hotel Garza offers a special program
of 3 and 2 days performing a tour through Chiclayo' s cultural inheritage.
The tour starts out with a visit to the excavation site of Sipan and continues
with the modern museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan where the grave of
this impressive Mochican emperor has been rebuilt and his treasures are
exposed. After a typical regional lunch the visitor can gat a glance on
the pyramides of Tucume and profit from the beautiful view over the region
of Chiclayo from the viewing point of Purgatorio. The second day will
be free to your own disposition to go on a discovery trip by yourself
or to enjoy the comfortability of the Garza Hotel. The package can be
extended to three days. The third day will give a balance between culture
and nature. After visiting the Musuem of Sican the path leads you to the
forest of Pomac and to the wordl famous Brüning Museum. Back to the
nature to one of the most enjoyable beaches of Peru's Northern coast.
tine`s
Day: 10 % discount on Spanish courses at the ACUPARI language school