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PERU TRAVEL PLANNER
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FIESTAS, FESTIVALS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Peruvians love any excuse for a celebration and the country
enjoys a huge number of religious ceremonies, festivals and local events. Cusco,
in particular, is a great place for both Christian celebrations and for Inca
festivals like Inti Raymi in June. In October, Lima, and especially its suburb
of La Victoria, takes centre stage, with processions dedicated to Our Lord of
Miracles, in memory of the ever-present earthquake danger. Carnival time
(generally late Feb) is lively almost everywhere in the country, with fiestas
held every Sunday - a wholesale licence to throw water at everyone and generally
go crazy. It's worth noting that most hotel prices go up significantly at fiesta
times and bus and air transport can be fully booked days in advance.
In addition to the major regional and national celebrations, nearly every
community has its own saint or patron figure to worship at town or village
fiestas . These celebrations often mean a great deal to local people, and can be
much more fun to visit than the larger countrywide activities. Processions,
music, dancing in costumes, and eating and drinking form a natural part of these
parties. In some cases the villagers will enact symbolic dramas with Indians
dressed up as Spanish colonists, wearing hideous blue-eyed masks with long hairy
beards. In the hills around towns like Huaraz and Cusco, especially, it's quite
common to stumble into a village fiesta, with its explosion of human energy and
noise, bright colours, and a mixture of pagan and Catholic symbolism.
However, such celebrations are very much local affairs, and while the occasional
traveller will almost certainly be welcomed with great warmth, none of these
remote communities would want to be invaded by tourists waving cameras and
expecting to be feasted for free. The dates given on these pages are therefore
only for established events which are already on the tourist map, and for those
that take place all over the country.
In many coastal and mountain haciendas (estates), bullfights are often held at
fiesta times. In a less organized way they happen at many of the village
fiestas, too - often with the bull being left to run through the village until
it's eventually caught and mutilated by one of the men. This is not just a sad
sight, it can also be dangerous for you, as an unsuspecting tourist, if you
happen to wander into an apparently evacuated village. The Lima bullfights in
October, in contrast, are a very serious business; even Hemingway was impressed.
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Published articles and reviews about us
2009
Testimonials
Ajay
Parikh
Date:
Thu,16 Jul 2009
Hello all the folks at Peru Gateway Travel,
We had a fantastic time in Peru. We thank you all for making
our trip a success.
The only concern is that the accommodation in Cusco was below
average and we would not recommend the Emparada Plaza (?) to
anyone. Even though the staff was good, the room/bathroom,
breakfast was very bad.
Once again, thanks a lot for making our trip to your country a
memorable one. All the guides, especially Guillarmo in Lima
and Erica in Cusco, were excellent.
Kazuaki Kubo
Date:
Thu,16 Jul 2009
I want to thank
you and all of the staff of Peru Gateway Travel for the perfect
arrangement of my trip in June.
Everything was so fantastic and I was made to think about another
trip to Peru.
Sincerely, Denise Pratico
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
I am writing to let you know that we
enjoyed Peru very much. The city tour led by Marco was fantastic. We
will be happy to recommend your agency to other Americans
Jane
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
We have
completed our trip to Peru and are now back in New York City.
I want to thank you for all the arrangements you made. The
trip was wonderful and all our accommodations excellent. Thank
you for making our trip a success.
Best regards, Marcy
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
We arrived home at 4 o'clock in the
morning, very tired (we had a long lay-over in Amsterdam) but very
very happy. I am so pleased to tell you that our Peru vacation that
you planned for us was excellent! Everything was just as the
itinerary said it would be. We were very pleased with the hotels,
and the transfer people and guides were always there and everybody
was so nice and knowledgeable. We learned a lot about your very
exciting country and its history, particularly about the Quechua
culture. We will always remember the Inti Raymi festival in Cusco. I
am so glad we were able to see that. Of course Machu Picchu was also
a great highlight. And, Michael and I also very much liked Arequipa.
We didn't know much about that city, but we had a very great time
there on our free day and visited the cathedral, spent a lot of time
going through the Santa Catalina monastario and, of course, went to
the museum to see "Juanita". Beautiful architecture there too.
Really, every day was wonderful, and we would like to thank you so
much for all your efforts. Also please extend our thanks to Maria
Carmen who was so helpful on the phone and to Julia, who came to the
hotel our first night to explain many things to us and give us all
our tickets and vouchers. And perhaps you also had something to do
with our last night in Lima at the Libertador. We got a suite -- a
very big beautiful room! Thank you so much.
We wish you and your family all the best, and for sure we will be
recommending Peru Gateway Travel to our friends.
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