A page on Perú - Alex Anderson

"...If in case of a planet catastrophe we would
have the choice to choose one country to save
and rebuild the planet from it, undoubtedly I
would choose Peru" David Bellamy, English
scientist

Here's a page on Perú which is where my family is from and where I was born. Yeah, I've already heard it all before. Paddington bear from deepest darkest. That's an old one! (If ya get bored and ya don't wanna read this page then click here or on the "close window" buttons at the top & bottom of this page to close this window and carry on with the last page.)
I was born in the capital, Lima. I don't remember much, but enough to know it's a bit of a hectic place. The bulk of my family live in the northern city of Trujillo, see it? It's on the coast in between Chiclayo & Chimbote.

Trujillo is on the north-west coast, see it?

Map of my home country.

Trujillo is a nice city. The roads are a bit messed up, and no-one takes absolutely any notice of traffic lights, but it is a very warm city. It's got a lovely beach called Huanchaco where the local fishermen go out to fish in the traditional "Caballitos de Totora" which are largish handmade reed boats

. Huanchaco beach is a large crescent shaped beach where that gets well busy even at night time. You get the street traders who sell jewellery and other stuff, and the ladies who sell lovely sweet tastin' snacks and other food like my favourite; Tamales, a snack made from corn with chicken in 'em. They're served hot and wrapped in corn leaves. Obviously, ya don't eat the leaves, they just hold the lot in place.

Apart from when I was born in Perú, I have been there twice since. Once when I was six years old and then again when I was thirteen. I lived there for a year and went to school there the first time. That was when my mother and I went travelling around the country as well as visiting Bolivia. We went to visit the world famous ruins of an ancient city of the Incas called Machu Pichu which was a city that lied high up in the mountains away from the Spanish conquistadores who at the time were plundering our country's vast wealth of Gold and Silver.

This is a brilliant view of the ruins of Machu Pichu

I don't remember the visit much, but I do remember passing out 'cos of the really high atmosphere that thins the air so much. There are also other ruins in the area of Cuzco similar to Machu Pichu. One we went to was called Sacsayhuamán (pronounced saksawaman). I remember this one much better even though it is no way as famous.
The second time I visited my family in Trujillo, I was 13 years old. That was in 1992. I remember a lot from that visit. Unfortunately, we didn't do that much travelling round the rural parts of Perú. We just visited Lima.

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