Years ago when I hiked the
Inca Trail, I looked at the tattered map of Peru I had
with me and thought, man, there’s so much to see in this country, what a shame I’m not going to be here for months.
There are rain forests and winding rivers teeming with wildlife. There are barren altiplanos where the air is thin but
the light is brilliant. There are ancient cities in the clouds, and congested modern cities in the hills and along the
coasts. Peru is one of the most diversely interesting places in the world
WAPO carries a nice
piece on Peru written by Dana Priest. Priest heads to
Manu National Park, one of the world’s largest
biosphere reserves and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manu is massive, about as big as Switzerland and large areas of it
are off-limits to anyone but scientists. The park is home to 1,000 bird species, 1,300 butterfly species and five
completely different landscapes, differing in climate, geography, as well as flora and fauna. So you’d think that Manu
would be an eco-tourists paradise, but Priest says that only 800 people visit Manu each year. Priest runs into some odd
characters, and has an exhilarating Peruvian experience, the kind that I hope to have someday when I dig out that old
map and return to Peru.