Alumni Travel Reading: Treasures of Peru

Pisaq Town - Sacred Valley, by Bruce Thomson

Peru's City of Ghosts Documentary, National Geographic, 2014.

This film documents an inside look at the mysteries of the ancient Nazca people and their culture.

For more information, visit Nat Geo TV on Youtube.

Boy and Llama - Colca Canyon, Peru, by ...your local connection

Machu Picchu, Peru, by Pedro Szekely

Peru is truly a destination for adventurers of all types. This nation is home to sites of ancient Incan villages and artifacts, breath-taking landscapes and trails, exquisite South American cuisine, beaches, and exciting nightlife. Make the trip to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu (pictured above), take a bite of ceviche, the Peruvian signature dish, or marvel at the wonders of the Amazon National Forest. Peru is waiting to be explored.

For more information, please visit the guide for Machu Picchu and the Amazon River.

Lauris Olson
Bibliographer for Social Studies

Selected and Annotated By:
Alixandra Boucher
Collections Assistant

For more information, visit the Penn Alumni Travel Website.

Mating Ritual: James's Flamingo, by Pedro Szekely

Huge plate o' ceviche, by Doug Downen

Mario Vargas Llosa is Peru's most celebrated contemporary author. Much of his ficition, particularly his earliest work, is set in Peru and treats a broad range of topics, including history, urban and provincial life, social institutions, education, political unrest, dictatorship, prostitution, the military, etc. Among the most notable of his prolific output are the very accessible and amusing Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter set in a radio station in the Lima of Vargas Llosa's youth; Conversation in the Cathedral based on the Odría dictatorship; The Green House, set in a brothel in Piura, where he attended elementary school; The Time of the Hero, which came out of his experience in military school; Death in the Andes, set during the period of the Shining Path insurgency; The Discreet Hero, a story of extortion set in both modern Piura and the  capital. It is worth noting that among his excellent translators is Penn alum Edith  Grossman.