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Category Archives: Art & Culture

The chequered origins of chess in Peru: the Inca emperor turned pawn

By Rick Vecchio | Published: March 13, 2013

The first native South American to learn and master the game of chess was the Inca Atahualpa — taught by his Spanish executioners. As you’ll recall, after being taken hostage in one of history’s most brazen ambushes, the Inca ruler offered his kidnappers “a room filled with gold as high as their arms could reach” [...]

Also posted in Books on Peru, History | Tagged Atahualpa, chess, chess in Peru, Inca ransom, Peruvian Traditions, Ricardo Palma, Tradiciones peruanas | Leave a comment

‘Pisco Allegories’ winner at International Gourmand Cookbook Awards in Paris

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: February 26, 2013

The Peruvian book “Pisco Allegories” took top prize in the Lifestyle category for Wine Literature this past weekend at the prestigious 2013 Gourmand Awards in Paris. The book, coauthored by Leticia Rengifo and her husband Gustavo Tataje, is a compilation of stories, songs and poems, including the Afro-Peruvian genre “décima,” or ten line verse, singing [...]

Also posted in Books on Peru, News, Peruvian Cuisine | Tagged peruvian cocktails, pisco | Leave a comment

El Comercio: Quinoa, the secret of Juan Diego Flórez’s energetic opera performances

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: February 24, 2013

Peru’s world renowned tenor Juan Diego Flórez says one of the secrets to his fluid, expressive singing and dazzling virtuosity is an edible Andean seed, heralded by the United Nations as the international  food of the year: quinoa. “The day of a performance, I eat quinoa,” Flórez told Radioprogramas radio. “It gives you energy. It’s fantastic. [...]

Posted in Art & Culture | Tagged Juan Diego Florez, Peruvian Opera, quinoa | Leave a comment

Peru Scrabble® Tour & Tournament Oct. 4 – 12, 2013

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: February 14, 2013

Two things that Rich Baker is passionate about are travel and Scrabble®. A registered director with the North American Scrabble® Players Association, Rich and his wife, Liz, have for years been organizing and directing Scrabble® tournaments both in the United States and as part of group vacations across the globe. This year, they are coming [...]

Also posted in Bargain offer, Cusco, Destinations, Events, Family Travel, Lima, Machu Picchu, News | Tagged Peru Scrabble® tournament, Scrabble® tour | 1 Comment

Righteous Pictures Documentary “Web” Coming Soon!

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: February 13, 2013

Web is an upcoming full-length documentary directed by Michael Kleiman, a young and talented filmmaker from New York, who embarked on a personal journey to capture the moment when a group of children in a remote corner of Peru’s Amazon jungle interact with the Internet for the first time.   Click HERE to listen to [...]

Also posted in Films about Peru | Tagged Cyber War, Founder, Michael Kleiman, Nicholas Negroponte, NonZero, One Laptop One Child, Palestina, Richard A. Clarke, Righteous Pictures, Robert Wright, Vint Cerf 'Father of the Internet Vice President Google, Web | Leave a comment

As close to heaven as it gets for train enthusiasts for 2013

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: January 24, 2013

One of the world’s great railway journeys is the trip from Lima to Huancayo over the central Andes. The rail line is considered one of history’s most amazing feats of railway engineering, with the world’s steepest gradient, reaching 4,781 m.a.s.l. at its highest point in the Galera Tunnel. Experience the thrill of this astonishing ride, [...]

Also posted in Books on Peru, Central Highlands, Destinations, Family Travel, Huancayo, Lima, Nostalgia, Travel Photography | Tagged Galera Tunnel, Lima-Huancayo 2013 Passenger Train Schedule, train travel | 1 Comment

Momentum mounting for stronger laws to protect Peru’s endangered Andean Condor

By Rick Vecchio | Published: January 9, 2013

In pre-Hispanic times, the Andean Condor was known as “Apu Kuntur,” a divine messenger from Inti, the Sun God. Today, it is an endangered species, illegally captured for festivals, illegally hunted for its feathers and body parts to sell to tourists and use in shamanic rituals, and accidentally poisoned and starved due to human encroachment [...]

Also posted in Arequipa, Cusco, Festivals, News, Wildlife | Tagged Conservation, Endangered Andean Condors | 1 Comment

Peru growers harness mammal’s digestive tract to strip bitter-taste from very costly coffee beans

By Rick Vecchio | Published: December 4, 2012

Reuters reports that two Peruvian coffee producers — Cecovasa and Chanchamayo Highland Coffee Co. — are now making one of the most expensive coffees in the world by retrieving arabica beans from the dung of a long-nosed jungle mammal called the coati, a tropical cousin of the raccoon. The process copies a rare technique from Indonesia, where [...]

Also posted in Peruvian Cuisine, Wildlife | Tagged Kopi Luwak, Peru dung coffee, Peruvian coffee | Leave a comment

Happy Música Criolla Day!

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: October 31, 2012

On October 18, 1944, then-President of Perú Manuel Prado declared October 31 a national day to celebrate Música Criolla. The designation was the culmination of a prolonged effort led by Peru’s most influential newspaper El Comercio. In part, the campaign was motivated by a reaction on the part of Peru’s national government and ruling elite [...]

Also posted in Afro-Peruano, Afro-Peruvian, Afroperuvian culture | Tagged Musica Criolla | 2 Comments

Andean conceptions of the afterlife

By Fertur Peru Travel | Published: October 29, 2012

There is much debate to what extent Halloween and Day of the Dead originated in paganism. In the spirit of that discussion — since Halloween is upon us —  we present a very brief ethnohistoric examination of Peru, where mortuary rituals and beliefs in the afterlife existed long before the arrival of the Spanish and [...]

Also posted in History | Tagged Andean afterlife, ghosts, spirits, Spirituality | Leave a comment