Peruvian Trivia

The Lima Airport is called Jorge Chavez after the first person to fly over the Andes Mountains in 1910. Unfortunately, he crashed and died after he made the trip. He was good on take offs but sucked on landings.

Lima averages 77º due to the Humboldt Current from Antarctica which is obviously a cold current. It also holds in the pollution so you never really get brilliant blue skies. It is always sort of a gray, sort of like Los Angeles. They say that they have sun four months a year.

Sixty percent of Peru is rainforest. All of the rainforest was at one time an inland sea which was formed when the Andes pushed upward.

Peru has over 1000 varieties of potatoes.

45% of the people are American Indian

35% of the people are Mestacio which means mixed blood part American Indian and part European. By the way most of the Indians hate the Spanish because they see them as causing the fall of the Inca Empire which is of course correct.

15% of the people are European

3% of the people are Asian

2% of the people are African

It took Peru until 1821 to claim independence from Spain. Of course, they forgot to tell this to Spain so there was a war of independence and Peru did not become completely independent until 1823.

The hoitsin bird is an amazing prehistoric type of bird. The babies are born with claws on their wings. When a predator comes the baby jumps into the water and stays under the water. It comes to the surface when it believes the danger has passed and then climbs back up the tree and into the nest when the danger is gone.

It is mandatory to vote in Peru. If you do not vote you are charged a civil penalty. Your voting card receives a stamp after every election where it is mandatory to vote. If you do not have that stamp you cannot cash a check, get a drivers license.  You can also not leave the country because you cannot get a visa. As you can imagine everyone who wants to drive, cash checks, or travel has votes. It is not necessarily a good thing because there are many people voting who do not study the issues or even care. Most of the village people don’t vote because they don’t drive and have no need to cash checks.

Education is mandatory. However, most children rarely attend school because they are more useful on the farms. It is the parents who must learn the importance of education. It is interesting to note that David, even though he strongly believes in education, questions the worth of it. Is it our right to change the way these people have lived for hundreds of years.