What Tourists See in Peru

Our mission president and the Area presidency gave us permission to travel around Peru with Scott's sister and her husband. We saw many amazing places and people. Thousands of tourists visit Peru every year. If you were to visit Peru, what might you see?

You might visit the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas (central square) of Lima:


... where you would see statues of Mary with her robe in the shape of a mountain--a ploy the Spaniards used to convince the Inca people to worship Mary as they did the mountain Gods:


You might visit the San Francisco chapel, with its catacombs in the basement:


Not far south of Lima is the archaeological site of Pachacamac:


You might visit the museums in Lima filled with wonderful examples of pre-Inca and Inca pottery:


Or you might travel 3-4 hours south of Lima to see the Ballestas Islands and the National Preserve at Paracas with wildlife of many types:


On one of the Ballestas Islands you could see the huge "candelabra" drawing. To us it looked like a "Tree of Life":


You could take a plane ride over the mysterious Nazca Lines, enormous drawings in the desert rock. The lines can only be seen from the air:


Most tourists travel to Cusco. Here two young women pose in the ceremonial costume of Cusco:


On a hill overlooking Cusco, you could visit the mammoth archaeological site of Saksawaman:


You could see women wearing their traditional hats and sweaters selling produce and souvenirs:


An amazing Inca site you could visit is found at Pisaq:


Here, a saleswoman and her daughter pose above the Pisaq terraces:


On the way to Machu Picchu, you could stop at the ancient Inca site of Ollantaytambo:


And of course, most tourists visit this Wonder of the World, Machu Picchu:


Machu Picchu is on the edge of the Peruvian jungle on a high mountain top:


On the train back from Machu Picchu to Ollantaytambo, you might be entertained by Peruvians in native masks and costumes:


You would probably want to visit Lake Titicaca. We stopped at various tourist sites, including this one, where Peruvian women sold their wares:


Some interesting Inca ruins are found at Raqchi:


You might get a close-up view of llama, alpaca (shown here), and vicuña:


Once in Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, it's a short boat ride out to the floating islands of Los Uros. The islands, homes, and boats are made of reeds, which grow in the shallow western bay of the lake:


The Uros travel from their islands and to the mainland in small rowboats:


... but they also travel in reed boats:


Not far from Puno are the ruins at Sillustani, a pre-Inca and Inca burial site, with stones of granite (light colored) and basalt (dark colored):


A woman who lives near Sillustani posed for Scott:


Such are the amazing scenes and peoples you might see if you were a tourist visiting Peru.