28th July: Independence Day, Peru

It's Peru's Independence Day today so here are 10 things you didn't know about Peru.

1. Peru is home to the highest sand dune in the world (Cerro Blanco measures 3,860 feet (1,176 meters) from the base to the summit), the world's highest navigable lake (Lake Titicaca) and the deepest canyon (Cotahuasi Canyon which is at 3,535 meters (11,597 feet) deep – twice as deep as the Grand Canyon).
2. The first human occupation in the Americas was in Peru - the sacred City of Caral-Supe which dates back 5000 years. Later, it was home to the Incas, who for a while had an empire bigger than the Romans. They used a complex system of knots called quipus for writing, and were the only ancient culture in the world to define constellations of darkness as well as light. They also built Machu Picchu, a world heritage site, modern wonder of the world and probably the country's biggest tourist attraction.
3. The famous Nazca lines are also in Peru, a series of glyphs of animals and people, only visible from the air, which has led to speculation that they may have been landing sites for aliens.
4. The Incas referred to themselves as Quechua, which was also the language they spoke. Quechua is still an official language of Peru today along with Spanish and Aymara. The one Quechua word English speakers have adopted is charqui, meaning dried llama meat, which is the root of the word “jerky.”
5. On the subject of food, a traditional dish in Peru is "cuy" or guinea pig, which is often on the menu in restaurants. Also, in the Peruvian town of La Quebrada, there used to be an annual festival called La Festival del Gastronómico del Gato (Gastronomic Festival of the Cat), where it was perfectly acceptable to eat Cats, in commemoration of the early Spanish settlers who ate cats because they had nothing else to eat.
6. Peru was the first place to domesticate the Potato, about 8,000 years ago, and it spread across the world from there. 3,000 different types of potato are grown in Peru. There is a saying there, “Soy mas Peruano que la papa” (I am more Peruvian than the potato). There are also 55 different types of corn grown there in a variety of different colours including purple and black; and Peru is the largest exporter of Asparagus in the world.
7. Peru is the only country that has place names beginning with a double-Q (for example, Qquea, Qquecquerisca and Qquero.)
8. In Peru, a traditional New Year's Eve gift to give your family and friends is Yellow underpants, which are said to bring good luck.
9. Peru's national drink is the Pisco Sour, made from Pisco brandy, Lemons, sugar water, egg whites, ice and finished with bitters. The word pisco means “bird” in Quechua.
10. It's great for bird spotting - Peru holds the world records for the maximum number of birds sighted in one place (650) and the greatest number seen in a single day (361) in its national reserves and parks.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page