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PERU TRAVEL PLANNER
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The rebellion
When the Hapsburg monarchy gave way to the Bourbon kings in
Spain at the beginning of the eighteenth century, shivers of protest seemed to
reverberate deep in the Peruvian hinterland. There were a number of serious
native rebellions against colonial rule during the next hundred years. One of
the most important, though least known, was that led by Juan Santos Atahualpa ,
a mestizo from Cusco. Juan Santos had travelled to Spain, Africa and, some say,
to England as a young man in the service of a wealthy Jesuit priest. Returning
to Peru in 1740 he was imbued with revolutionary fervour and moved into the high
jungle region between Tarma and the Río Ucayali where he roused the forest
Indians to rebellion. Throwing out the whites, he established a millenarian cult
and, with an Indian army recruited from several tribes, successfully repelled
all attacks by the authorities. Although never extending his powers beyond Tarma,
he lived a free man until his death in 1756.
Twenty years later there were further violent native protests throughout the
country against the enforcement of repartiementos. Under this new system the
peasants were obliged to buy most of their essential goods from the corregidor,
who, as monopoly supplier, sold poor quality produce at grossly inflated prices.
In 1780, another mestizo, José Gabriel Condorcanqui, led a rebellion, calling
himself Tupac Amaru II . Whipping up the already inflamed peasant opinion around
Cusco into a revolutionary frenzy, he imprisoned a local corregidor before going
on to massacre a troop of nearly six hundred Royalist soldiers. Within a year
Tupac Amaru II had been captured and executed but his rebellion had demonstrated
both a definite weakness in colonial control and a high degree of popular
unrest. Over the next decade several administrative reforms were to alter the
situation, at least superficially: the repartimiento and the corregimento
systems were abolished. In 1784, Charles III appointed a French nobleman -
Teodoro de Croix - as the new viceroy to Peru and divided the country into seven
intendencias containing 52 provinces. This created tighter direct royal control,
but also unwittingly provided the pattern for the Republican state of federated
departmentos.
The end of the eighteenth century saw profound changes throughout the world. The
North American colonies had gained their independence from Britain; France had
been rocked by a people's revolution; and liberal ideas were spreading
everywhere. Inflammatory news-papers and periodicals began to appear on the
streets of Lima, and discontent was expressed at all levels of society. A strong
sense of Peruvian nationalism emerged in the pages of Mercurio Peruano (first
printed in the 1790s), a concept which was vital to the coming changes. Even the
architecture of Lima had changed in the mid-eighteenth century, as if to welcome
the new era. Wide avenues suddenly appeared, public parks were opened, and
palatial salons became the focus for the discourse of gentlemen. The philosophy
of the enlightenment was slowly but surely pervading attitudes even in remote
Peru.
When, in 1808, Napoleon took control of Spain, the authorities and elites in all
the Spanish colonies found themselves in a new and unprecedented position. Was
their loyalty to Spain or to its rightful king? And just who was the rightful
king now?
Initially, there were a few unsuccessful, locally based protests in response
both to this ambiguous situation and to the age-old agrarian problem, but it was
only with the intervention of outside forces that independence was to become a
serious issue in Peru. The American War of Independence, the French Revolution,
and Napoleon's invasion of Spain all pointed towards the opportunity of throwing
off the shackles of colonialism, and by the time Ferdinand returned to the
Spanish throne in 1814, Royalist troops were struggling to maintain order
throughout South America. Venezuela and Argentina had already declared their
independence, and in 1817 San Martín liberated Chile by force. It was only a
matter of time before one of the great liberators - San Martín in the south or
Bolívar in the north - reached Peru.
San Martín was the first to do so. Having already liberated Argentina and Chile,
he contracted an English naval officer, Lord Cochrane, to attack Lima. By
September 1819 the first rebel invaders had landed at Paracas. Ica, Huanuco and
then the north of Peru soon opted for independence, and the Royalists, cut off
in Lima, retreated into the mountains. Entering the capital without a struggle,
San Martín proclaimed Peruvian independence on July 28, 1821.
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Published articles and reviews about us

2009
Testimonials
Noelle Melnychuk
Calgary, AB
Our tour to
the islands on Lake Titicaca was a
wonderful day. We had great weather and the people that we met
were very friendly. The island of Taguile was a beautiful little
paradise. The hotel in Puno was very good, with a great
breakfast. It is too bad we could only stay one night. We kept
the room for the second night so that we could freshen up before
going on the bus to Cusco Peru.
Thank you for everything that you have done to make our trip so
enjoyable. Please pass along to Christi our thanks for the great
job that she did in organizing our tour. She was able to
assemble an itinerary that included everything that we asked for
and still was not too rushed. It was an enjoyable, informative
and relaxing time.
Thank you again to all of the staff at
Peru travel Gateway
and your suppliers for making this a wonderful experience.
Peggy Chang
McLean, VA
US
I always wanted to write
you a line and let you know my husband and I had a great time in
Peru. Thank
you so much for the arrangement; everything was really smooth! The
guide in
Cusco, Eriksson, was really great. thank
you also for helping me with all
the reservation and all the changes!! Cusco and
Machu Picchu were all
fantastic, I"m sure we will want to go back to Peru at some point
again, and
I"ll definitely contact you again!! Thank you!!
Sincerely,
Peggy Chang
Mary W. Earp
WINNALSAW, NC
US
We had a very nice trip to Peru.
Thanks for you help. Our hotels in Peru
were what we expected, very nice and the hotel help went out of
their way to make sure we were comfortable and had what we needed.
Our guides were outstanding. Always on time and catered to our
needs. Our groups were small except for the Sacred Valley tour where
we had 25 members. Food was plentiful and tasty at each restaurant.
The Hotel Casa Andina in Cusco gave us an upgrade when we returned
from MP which was very nice. Also, the Radisson gave us an upgrade
when we returned to Lima although we stayed only 6 hours.
Again, thanks for your services. I feel very fortunate that I
selected your travel services, because of the services. Several on
the trip thought I was mighty brave to select an unknown agency. I
was impressed with Ivan during our first emails and phone
conversations. I trusted him and he trusted me, this makes for happy
results for everyone.
Sincerely, Mary Earp.
Wendy Feldman
Los Angeles, CA
US 90025
I just returned back to the US from my trip to Peru. I wanted to let
you know how grateful I am for the wonderful experience that you
help me coordinate and plan. I loved all of the sites and felt I had
a unique experience that I will never forget.
The tour planners and the tour
guides were all wonderful and extremely helpful. Each of them were
very polite and knowledgable about their subjects and locations. I
learned alot about Peru and its customs.
The hotel on Machu Picchu (Sanctuary Lodge) and the hotel in Puno
(The Libertador) were excellent and I would recommend anyone to stay
in each of those locations. The San Augustin El Dorado was just
adequate; I found the hotel to be clean and the staff helpful, but
there is too much noise during the evening and mornings; this is
because many of the rooms overlook the central lobby of the hotel
and the acoustics create echos of sound from the front desk and
those people having conversations in the lobby area. Also, the space
heaters in each of the El Dorado rooms I stayed in did not work at
all. I do not think I would recommend the hotel to people unless
they didn't mind a noisy atmosphere.
The Posada del Inca hotel in Bolivia was very nice; I really liked
the rustic feel and intimate setting and the private gardens--the
views of Lake Titicaca and the mountains were spectacular. Although
I didn't realize it would be a hike (literally) up to it. One of the
couples I was travelling with on the first day in Bolivia had
trouble making it up the hillside (they didn't know they would have
to hike to the top to get to the hotel). I would recommend letting
potential guests know that it is a 40 - 45 minute hike from the dock
to the hotel itself. The guides were very helpful and it was good
that our luggage was carried up separately.
The trip was amazing and I just wanted to thank you for all of your
planning. I would recommend you and your staff to everyone I know
who wanted to plan a trip to go to Peru.
Have a wonderful new year!
Regards,
Wendy
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