A climber stands beneath the formidable Alpamayo peak in the Peruvian Andes

When you think of Peru it's hard not to get swept away in a wave of Indiana Jones fantasies.

Home of the mysterious Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines and thousands of other archaeological wonders, Peru is a country where the spirit of a vanished civilization can be seen and felt.

You can climb the Inca trail and wonder at what once was, or soar over the Nazca plains and marvel at the mysterious lines that no-one knows who drew, let alone how. There's a magic woven into the land that's infectious, but don't be misled, Peru is not all mountaintop ruins and lost gold.

The Spanish have stamped their mark, creating a pious Roman Catholic society that likes to shake its booty to salsa on a Saturday night, then confess their wicked Latino ways at Mass on Sunday morning. Peru's unstable political history has created a wobbly economy and a vast divide between rich and poor. Its per capita GDP is ranked 97th in the world. On most city streets you'll find persistent pre-teen shoe shiners and young girls begging or selling brightly woven trinkets, working to support their families.

Out of the cities, people live simply, tending small herds of llamas and alpacas, or tilling crops. It's here you'll find traditional market places selling unique colourful woven rugs and blankets and other Andean trinkets such as pan pipes and mate tea. You'll also see the high gleaming cheekbones indicative of the native Indians who survived Spanish rule.

Peru's most distinctive geographical features are the majestic Andes littered with ancient Inca irrigation terraces and still home to millions of indigenous highland people. Little less known is that half of Peru is part of the lush Amazon basin, an impenetrable green tangle rumoured to hide many more ruins, such as 'Eldorado, The Lost City of Gold.' In contrast, Peru's coast is a desert. In the southeast, Lake Titicaca sits like a bright jewel in Peru's Altiplano (high alpine plain). In Inca lore, the lake is the birthplace of the Sun God, and is still home to an indigenous people who live on reed islands floating on the vivid blue waters.

Peru both enthrals and confronts. It's a magnet for New Age types wanting a spiritual connection with a dead empire, oblivious to Peru's present day poverty and social issues.

Pack your hiking boots, a good camera and a kind heart for the people who still live with the memory that they were once one of the greatest civilizations on Earth.

Survival guide 

Peru is sandwiched between Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the southeast, Chile to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The country is roughly twice the size of Texas and is home to 27 million people. The official language is Spanish although more than 16% of the population still speak Quechan, an indigenous language dating back to Inca times.

The best time to travel in Peru is during winter (May to September), when most days are clear and sunny, however temperatures can plummet at night, especially at high altitudes. The coast remains relatively dry year-round, but the highlands experience a wet season from October to April.

It's wise to be immunized against typhoid, hepatitis A and B and cholera before travelling to Peru. Also make sure your polio and tetanus inoculations are up to date. Malaria is a threat in low-lying areas and there have been some cases of rabies from vampire bat bites in the Amazon on the border of Ecuador. The most common ailments travellers experience are diarrhoea and altitude sickness. Make sure you drink only bottled water and try to avoid drinks with ice and food sold by street vendors.

The official currency is the Nuevo Sol worth US$0.31. Most hotels and restaurants will also accept US dollars or change it into Sols.

Getting around Peru is relatively easy. You can get to most destinations by bus, but roads into the mountains are often closed during the rainy season or extremely dicey. You can catch a one-hour direct flight from Lima to Cusco on a local airline which costs around US$100. Minibus or taxi are the best and most affordable ways to get around in town.