lf Peru didn’t exist, travel guide books would have to invent it. lt’s a land of lost cities and ancient ruins, brooding Andean peaks and trashy urban beaches. lt’s dense and overcrowded cities, mysterious lncan rites and Roman Catholic masses, practicing shamans and dashboard Virgin Marys, Shining Path guerillas and ex-shoeshine-boys for president. lt’s like the whole world in a snowdome.

June to August ( the dry season)

Arriving at Huauna Picchu, above Machu Picchu, just as the sun rises Sinking into the hot springs at Aguas Calientes after hiking to Machu Picchu Getting a bird-eye view of the Nazca Lines Visiting the islands of Lake Titicaca Hiking in the Cordillera Blanca Walking through Cuzco over ancient cobblestones and past walls built by the lncas

Read The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder, an examination of 18 th-century colonial Peru

Listen to Afro-Peruvian Classics: the Soul of Black Peru, on David Byrne’s luaks Bop label

Watch Fizcarraldo, directed by Werner Herzog and featuring a particularly maniacal Klaus Kinski in an epic film about an absessed opera lover who wants to build an opera in the jungle

Eat ceviche-fresh seafood marinated in lemon juice chilli peppers, and served with corn on the cob or yucca

Drink lnka Kola, bubble-gum flavoured fizz; chicha morada, a non-carbonated sweet drink made from purple corn; papaya fruit juice

La noche es larga (the night is long)

Pan pipes; quirky hats; religious iconography; lncan; llamas; the Andes; colourful textiles; old black Dodges with Madonnas painted on the side; jingles; mysterious biomorphs and geoglyphs etched into the land; 16 th-century Spanish architecture and artifacts

Snow and skiing, sand boarding, multiple petticoats under brightly coloured taffeta dresses, village squares filled with schoolchildren and marching bands

Puno is often said to be the folklore capital of Peru, boasting as many as 300 traditional dances and celebrating numerous fiestas throughout the year. Although they of ten coour during celebrations of Catholic feast days, the dances usually have their roots in preconquest celebrations often tied in with the agicultural calendar.