travel news review

28 April '99
The collapse in March of Peru's international airline, AeroPeru, is proving to have long-term effects for the country's tourism industry. With only one airline, AeroContinente, offering domestic flights, visitors are competing to find a seat on flights and paying high fees for the privilege. Because the airline is not connected to international booking systems, many foreign travel agents are having a difficult time making reservations or even determining what flights are offered. Some agents have cancelled tours because they are unable to arrange transport for their clients. AeroPeru's officials are looking for a new partner in the hopes of restarting the airline, but in the meantime, most travellers will have to take to the ground and explore the slower means of travelling in Peru.

22 March '99
AeroPeru, Peru's oldest airline, officially closed last week. All international flights were cancelled on 9 March and the airline continued honouring tickets for national flights until 13 March only on the main flights to Iquitos, Cuzco and Arequipa. Passengers holding tickets for other flights can request refunds after 15 March at the main office in Lima. Having vanquished their main competition by offering bargain fares to travellers, AeroContinente, now the main national airline, immediately raised the price on their fares.

10 February '99
A landslide caused by flooding has blocked all land access to Peru's world-famous Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. The ruins are the major tourist destination in the country with over 1000 visitors a day. The landslide has blocked the train track and local officials expect to have the lines clear and repaired by the end of February.

In the meantime, a group of army and private helicopters have agreed to transport travelers determined to see the site, for a fee, of course. The rates, at US$80 for an army helicopter and US$150 for a private helicopter, are a great deal higher than the train fare, but what a great story for your homecoming!

20 January '99
In Chilca, Peru, thousands seek miracle cures for what ails them at La Milagrosa, the Miracle Lagoon. Located only 64km (40mi) from Lima, thousands of Peruvians come to the Miracle Lagoon for mud baths. The muck is rich in sulfur, iron, calcium and other minerals and is believed to hold special healing powers that some claim have supernatural or extraterrestrial origins. In Peru the poor and the traditional still turn to ancient Andean medicines - and mud - to cure acne, arthritis, rheumatism or infertility. A bath in Chilca may not cure your impotence and it probably won't get you very clean, but they say that after a nice wet nap in the right bath you'll wake up rested and renewed.

28 October '98
After several small wars and years of negotiation, Peru and Ecuador have finally agreed to a settlement that will define their shared border in the Cordillera del Condor. The area has been in dispute since 1942. The two countries plan to sign the accord in Brazil on Monday. Not every one is pleased with the decision, however; demonstrators in northern Peru gathered this weekend to protest the agreement, specifically a provision that cedes a nearby area currently within Peru's border to Ecuador.

5 August '98
In a senseless act of blind destruction, a group of tourists recently drove a pickup truck across a section of Peru's Nazca Lines, damaging at least three of the Lines and leaving behind trash and tire tracks in their wake. The Nazca Lines, huge designs drawn in the desert and visible only from the air, are among Peru's chief tourist attractions. Their patterns run from the purely geometric to representations of a variety of giant animals, such as a condor with a 130m (425ft) wingspan and a 90m (300ft) monkey with an extravagantly curled tail. The damage comes just a few weeks after the death of the Lines' longtime protector, Maria Reiche, a German mathematician who spent decades studying the area.

22 June '98
Peru has reached an agreement with the US that will slowly expand the number of flights to and from the US. The agreement allows for an immediate addition of 20 flights, with another, gradual, increase over the next few years. Peru is beginning to attract more visitors with its expansion of ecotourism.

21 January '98
Last week an avalanche of mud covered several small towns near Machu Picchu, the famous Inca ruins in the Cuzco area of Peru. Flooding from a local lake caused the mudslide. El Niño, which has caused flooding and mudslides throughout both Peru and Ecuador, also damaged a Río Zarumilla bridge, which serves as the border crossing between Huaquillas, Ecuador and Aguas Verdes, Peru.