oast The coastal region accounts for 10.6% of Peru’s territory 52,639 square miles (136,334 km2). It is a narrow strip 1,554 miles long (2,500 km), but only 12 to 62 miles wide (19 to 100 km). The altitude along this strip varies from zero to 3,281 feet above sea level (1,000 m). Although the coastal strip is mainly arid, seasonal rains occur in the north, especially during periods of El Niño climatic phenomena.
Along the coast, less than 1 million hectares of the total 15 million are irrigated, Some of the 52 valleys are arable and they are farmed using a combination of ancient Peruvian methods and modern technologies The Peruvian coastal region has been home to several important cultures. Visitors can find many well-known archaeological sites here, including Chan-Chan, Nasca and Sipan. In the coastal plain the temperature is normally equable, averaging about 20° C (about 68° F) throughout the year. The coastal climate is moderated by winds blowing from the cool offshore current known as the Peru Tours, or Humboldt, Current.
The coast receives less than 50 mm (less than 2 in) of precipitation each year, largely because the cordilleras receive most of the rain carried by the trade winds from the east. Mist-laden clouds known as ‘garúa’ shroud many of the slopes of the sierra from June to October, providing enough moisture to support grasslands.
MACHU PICCHU HISTORY
About of the Machu Picchu:
The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (9060 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400’s, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning ‘Old Peak’ in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of both architectural and aesthetic genius. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together with such exactitude that the mortarless joints will not permit the insertion of even a thin knife blade. Little is known of the social or religious use of the site during Inca times. The skeletal remains of ten females to one male had led to the casual assumption that the site may have been a sanctuary for the training of priestesses and /or brides for the Inca nobility. However, subsequent osteological examination of the bones revealed an equal number of male bones, thereby indicating that Machu Picchu was not exclusively a temple or dwelling place of women.
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inca trail
Those who have to say who they are, Aren't. (Queen Elisabeth)
