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Visas
Tourists from North America, Australia, Japan, and the European Union (and many others, check with the nearest Peruvian Embassy) receive a visa upon arrival for up to 90 days.
When entering the country, you need to pass the immigration office (imigracion). There you get a stamp in your passport that states the number of days you are allowed to stay (usually 90 days). You can get an extension at immigration offices in any major city for 20US$ per month plus 26 soles administration fee. Make sure to take your time, don't expect things to be ready within less than an hour or even a day. The maximum extension allows you to stay for up to 180 days in total. When those 180 days are up and you would like to stay for longer, it's possible to cross the border to a neighbouring country (Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia or Chile) and return the next day and obtain another 180 days. Of course you can also leave the country before your first 90 days are over.
Furthermore, you will receive an extra official paper to be kept in the passport (make sure you don't lose it!). When leaving, you need to visit the emigration office (migracion), where you get the exit stamp. Imigracion and migracion are found on all border crossing-points. Extensions of the time to stay are no problem. Traveling to and from neighboring countries by land is no problem.
ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS:
A valid passport is required to enter and depart Peru. Tourists must also provide evidence of return or onward travel. U.S. citizens may enter Peru for short-term tourist- or business-related visits of up to 90 days; however, the actual period authorized is determined by the Peruvian immigration officer at the time of entry into Peru. After admission, travelers may apply to extend their visa for an additional three months. Persons who remain beyond their period of authorized stay without obtaining a visa extension or a residence visa will have to pay a fine to depart Peru. Visitors for other than tourist or short-term business visit purposes must obtain a Peruvian visa in advance. Business workers (under contract) should ascertain the tax and exit regulations that apply to the specific visa they are granted. Peru does not require any immunizations for entry, although it recommends vaccination against Yellow Fever.
An international flight airport fee, payable in U.S. or local currency and assessed on a per-person basis, must be paid when departing Peru. There are also separate airport taxes for domestic flights charged at most domestic airports that must be paid before embarking. U.S. citizens whose passports are lost or stolen in Peru must obtain a new passport from the U.S. Embassy and present it, together with a police report on the loss or theft, to the main immigration office in downtown Lima, located at Prolongacion Espana 734, Brena, to obtain permission to depart. An additional immigration office is located within Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport international departure terminal. For further information regarding entry requirements, travelers should contact the Peruvian Embassy at 1700 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036; telephone (202) 833-9860; http://www.peruvianembassy.us.
Information about dual nationality or the prevention of international child abduction can be found on our web site. For further information about customs regulations, please read our Customs Information sheet.
NOTE: As of June 1, 2004, it is illegal for any person within the United States, as well as U.S. citizens, nationals, and resident aliens elsewhere, to fly on or do business with Aero Continente and its successor, Nuevo Continente, an airline that is currently not in operation. Persons who violate this provision are subject to criminal and civil penalties under U.S. law. Further information on this matter is available on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s web site at http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/. FAA safety restrictions placed on Aero Continente are not related to this action.
Travelers from other parts of the world should consult the local authorities.
History
Humans have probably lived in Peru for more than 13,000 years. Beginning about 1000 bc, several advanced cultures, such as the Chavín, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, and Chimú, developed in different parts of Peru; however, the area was not unified politically until about 1400 ad, when the Inca set out from their base in the Cuzco Valley on a mission of conquest that, during the 15th century, brought under their control the area of present-day Peru (not including Amazonia), highland Bolivia, northern Argentina, central Chile, and highland Ecuador. Within this area, the Inca established a totalitarian state that enabled the tribal ruler and a small minority of nobles to dominate a passive population.
History » The Inca
Like the Aztec, the Inca came late upon the historical scene; even their legends do not predate ad 1200, with the supposed arrival in Cuzco of the first emperor, Manco Capac. Like Old World peoples, and unlike other aboriginal Americans, the Inca recounted their history by kingly reigns. Most of the accounts agree on 13 emperors (see pre-Columbian civilizations: The Inca). The first seven emperors were legendary, local, and of slight importance; their traditions are full of impossible or improbable events, especially those of Manco Capac, the founder of the dynasty. In this period the Inca were a small tribe, one of many, whose domain did not extend many miles beyond their capital, Cuzco. They were almost constantly at war with neighbouring tribes.
The incredibly rapid expansion of the Inca empire began with Viracocha’s son Pachacuti, one of the great conquerors—and one of the great individuals—in the history of the Americas. With his accession in 1438, reliable history also began, almost all the chroniclers being in practical agreement. Pachacuti was called by the British geographer-historian Sir Clements Markham “the greatest man that the aboriginal race of America has produced.” He and his son Topa Inca Yupanqui may be aptly compared to Philip and Alexander of Macedon. Pachacuti was evidently a great civic planner as well; tradition ascribes to him the city plan of Cuzco as well as the erection of many of the massive masonry buildings that still awe visitors to that ancient capital.
The sudden expansion of the Inca empire was one of the most extraordinary events of history. It covered a little less than a century, from the accession of Pachacuti in 1438 to the conquest by Francisco Pizarro in 1532, and most of it was apparently accomplished by Pachacuti and Topa Inca in the 30 years between 1463 and 1493. First the Aymara-speaking rivals in the region of Lake Titicaca, the Colla and Lupaca, were defeated, and then the Chanca to the west; the latter attacked and nearly captured Cuzco. After that there was little effective resistance. The peoples to the north were subjugated as far as Quito, Ecua., including the powerful and cultured “kingdom” of Chimú on the northern coast of Peru. Topa Inca then took over his father’s role and turned southward, conquering all of northern Chile as far as the Maule River, the southernmost limit of the empire. His son, Huayna Capac, continued conquests in Ecuador to the Ancasmayo River, the present border between Ecuador and Colombia. At its maximum the empire extended from the present Colombia-Ecuador border to central Chile, a coastal distance of more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km), encompassing approximately 380,000 square miles (985,000 sq km), about equal in area to France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Italy combined.
Other sources of important Peru traveler’s information:
http://www.peru.gob.pe/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/453147/Peru
http://www.perulinks.com/pages/english/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/PE.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Peru
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