The Incas forged an incredible civilization that learned how to tame the geography of Peru. This ancient society lived in harmony with the rivers, the sun, the rain, the ocean, the jungle, the Peruvian mountains and the cold dryness of the Andes, consequently adapting to the weather, their surroundings and surviving thanks to Mother Earth’s gifts.
Peru is located in the west of South America, and has borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile. It has sovereignty over 1,285,215 km2 of land and 200 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean, as well as 60 million hectares of the Antarctic. It is the third largest country in South America and one of the 20 largest countries in the world.
Peru is an extremely diverse country, with 11 ecological regions and 84 of the world’s 117 different types of “life zone”. It has a huge variety of scenery thanks to its geography, which also provides it with a wide range of natural resources. The country has 3 main regions according to the traditional method of dividing the country by altitude: coast, mountains and jungle.
The Coast: Characterized by a narrow band of deserts and fertile valleys alongside the Pacific Ocean. The fertile valleys spring from the rivers that flow down from the Andes mountain range itself, as opposed to the lower-lying sierra, and into the sea. The coast has a warm-temperate climate, without extreme heat or cold but with high humidity and dense fog that makes it feel extremely cold in winter. In the summer there is very little fog and temperatures reach 30°C. In the north, the coast is hot almost all year round, with a short rainy period in November and December. The central and southern coast has two distinct seasons, winter (April to October) and summer (November to March).
The Highlands: A mountainous area dominated by the Andes. In the Peruvian highlands, there are two well-defined seasons: the dry season (from April to October), marked by sunny days, cold nights and the lack of rain (the ideal time for visiting); and the rainy season (November to March), when there are frequent rain showers (generally more than 1000 mm). A characteristic of the mountain region is the drop in temperature during the day: temperatures commonly range around 24°C at midday before plunging to -3°C at night. The steep slopes of the Andes means temperatures gradually drop in the highest region, known as the puna, the highland plain. The dry and pleasant climate in the highlands makes it possible to grow a wide variety of crops there.
The Jungle: Located in the east, this is a vast region of plains covered by vegetation in the Amazon River basin, which begins at the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers. It is Peru’s largest region, and consists of highland jungle, or ceja de montaña – the mountain’s eyebrows, (over 700 meters above sea level), which is characterized by its cloud forests, and lowland jungle (less than 700 meters above sea level). Like the sierra, the jungle has two distinct seasons. From November to March it rains frequently, while from April to October it is fairly dry, making this the ideal time to visit as the rivers subside and the roads are easily accessible. There is high humidity all year round. Occasionally, between May and August, there are «friajes» or «surazos», cold snaps caused by winds from the extreme south of the continent, during which the temperature can fall to between 8 and 12°C. Information about the weather of the country’s different regions can be found here.
