Peru, in western South America, is nearly 1,500 miles long and runs beside the Pacific Ocean. Colombia and Ecuador are to the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east and Chile to the south.
Peru is divided by the Andes Mountains into three zones. To the west is the coastline and next is the mountain area, with peaks over 20,000 ft tall. Beyond the mountains, to the east, is dense forest.
Geography activity contributed by Highweek Community Primary & Nursery School
Peru
Peru's climate can be divided into two seasons - wet and dry - though this can vary depending on the region. Basically the higher you climb, the cooler it becomes.
Peru's peak tourist season is from June to August, which is the dry season in the Andean highlands. While travellers visit the highlands year-round, the wettest months, December to March, make trekking very muddy and hard. On the coast, Peruvians visit the beach during the sunny, humid months from late December through March. The rest of the year, the coast is clothed in mist. In the eastern rain forests, it rains a lot. The wettest months are December to May, but travellers visit year round; it rarely rains for more than a few hours at a time and there's plenty of sunshine to enjoy.
Peru was the ancient home of the Incas. Their wonderful art shows in the ruins of temples and large cities that they built, such as the city of Machu Picchu. The buildings are made of massive blocks of white granite, carefully shaped and fitted together without mortar. Archaeologists are still trying to figure out how the Incas were able to move stone blocks – most weighing between 10 to 15 tons - to the city without using wheeled vehicles.
