Peru

Machu Picchu is not alone in celebrating an important milestone this month. Rehahn Croquevielle, who was married at Machu Picchu on July 15, 2010, was in Peru earlier this summer to mark his anniversary. While passing through Cuzco, the Caen, France, resident encountered this local girl whose expressive face captured his attention. "Her eyes were shining," he said. Croquevielle used a Canon EOS 50D. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

More than 20 American companies have played roles in fostering a steady flow of illegal hardwoods from the Peruvian Amazon, part of a “well-oiled machine that is ransacking Peru's forests and undermining the livelihoods and rights of the people that depend on them,” according to a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a watchdog group. The United States and Puerto Rico account for 80% of the total value of Peruvian timber sales, said Andrea Johnson, forest campaign director of the Environmental Investigation Agency.

Lima was always gray. The Peruvian capital, for much of the year, had this overcast dullness; the sun rarely shone, it never rained, it was just damp and gray. Your hair didn't dry. Your clothes molded, literally, in the closet. When I returned to Peru this month for the first time in 26 years, Lima was still damp and gray. That had not changed. But many other things had. Peru has the fastest-growing economy in Latin America, having registered substantial growth nearly every year for a decade.

Be persistentwith the airlines I read with great interest the On the Spot column of March 25 ["Speak Up, Be Proactive," by Catharine Hamm]. I had the same experience with United. Initially, United refused to provide me with a refund. I wrote to United's president, chief financial officer and chief counsel and, most important, to the Department of Transportation. Within 24 hours of my complaint to the DOT, I received a call from United offering me a full refund. Why United initially refused my request for a refund when its contract of carriage calls for a refund because of the increased flight time is a mystery to me. But it proves again the moral of the story: Be proactive.

Peru is slowly but surely sinking into Fujimocracy. R.J. TERRILL Torrance

Riot police used tear gas Thursday to turn student protesters away from Peru's Congress as thousands nationwide marched in support of Amazon Indians resisting oil and natural gas exploration on their land. At least 20,000 students, labor union members and indigenous Peruvians from the country's Andean highlands to its jungle lowlands joined mostly peaceful protests. In Lima, riot police fended off several hundred students, some of whom threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.

In August, Cameron Taylor-Brown and her husband, Charles, spent a week in Peru's Sacred Valley before hiking the Salkantay Route to Machu Picchu. Just north of Maras, the couple visited stream-fed salt ponds where the contrasting elements caught her eye. "The off-white grid of the salt pools playing against the dark clothing of this person feels mysterious and intriguing," the Los Angeles resident said. Taylor-Brown used a Canon PowerShot SD850. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

If you've ever yearned to take an Amazon River tour, your riverboat may have just come in. International Expeditions takes $1,000 off the price of a 10-day river expedition in Peru that offers a close-up look at wildlife, the rain forest and village life along the renowned South American river.  The deal: International Expeditions' discount applies to a single  June sailing that explores the river, the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve...

Single travelers to Peru, especially young men, should be warned that both they and their luggage are subject to a thorough search for drugs by security police before the tourists leave Peru. Peru is an interesting and often beautiful country, but who wants to spend 15 years in one of its prisons? JOHN PRITCHARD San Clemente

In response to "Shining Path Brightens in Lima's Slums," Commentary, April 17: Jorge Castaneda's column suggests that the so-called coup in Peru is "denounced" by Peruvians, when in fact over 70% of them support it. Castaneda calls the Shining Path an "ostensible adversary invoked for the necessity of the coup," but those at risk see the threat as very real: More than 25,000 people have died at their hands since 1980. Does our haste in the U.S. to demonize President Alberto Fujimori have anything to do with his surname?

As the wife of an ambitious politician, Pat Nixon had her hands full. Besides keeping up with Richard Nixon's various political incarnations, she had a household to run and two daughters to raise. But as a new exhibit on the centennial of her birth at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda makes clear, she had another passion in her life: The desire to see new places and meet people tugged at her as forcefully as her husband's dreams of winning the presidency. Pat Nixon, born Thelma Catherine Ryan, is the second most-traveled first lady in history (Hillary Rodham Clinton is first)

Life's a drag, but if we're talking about Los Angeles after dark, that's a good thing. The city's drag show scene, once a closeted affair hidden in dive bars, now sells out theaters and pulls in straight crowds. During the last 20 years, female-impersonator shows in L.A. have become more than dressing like Cher and lip-syncing "Believe. " "Performers are real singers and real writers," says Jon Imparato, director of cultural arts at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. "It's become an art form.

1. The closure of the U.S. Embassyin Syria and ongoing violence will limit visits to and may endanger the country's six UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Damascus and Bosra. Poland "will serve as the protecting power for U.S. interests in Syria," the State Department said. 2. The State Department's renewed travel warning for the Philippines cites Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago as special danger spots but says any gathering place, such as an airport or mall, could be a terrorist target.

Peru's legendary Machu Picchu turns up on many bucket lists -- for good reason. A visit combines touring the Incan ruins with the thrill of trekking in high-altitude countryside. Intrepid Travel offers a six-day Inca Trail Express that hits the highlights. The trip begins with a tour of the stepping-off point of Cuzco before heading to the Sacred Valley and the trail that climbs to 13,773 feet at Warmiwanusca, also known as Dead Woman's Pass, and the steps at Intipunku, the Sun Gate.

If Peru's capital is on your agenda, LAN has a round-trip airfare from LAX to Lima for $601, which includes all taxes and fees. It is subject to availability and requires a Saturday night stay for travel between March 1 and June 30. You must buy this fare by Dec. 12. Info: LAN , (866) 435-9526 Source: Airfarewatchdog.com

In August, Cameron Taylor-Brown and her husband, Charles, spent a week in Peru's Sacred Valley before hiking the Salkantay Route to Machu Picchu. Just north of Maras, the couple visited stream-fed salt ponds where the contrasting elements caught her eye. "The off-white grid of the salt pools playing against the dark clothing of this person feels mysterious and intriguing," the Los Angeles resident said. Taylor-Brown used a Canon PowerShot SD850. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

A flood of high-quality counterfeit U.S. money from Peru is perplexing federal authorities, who say the shadowy networks that are responsible are also engaging in other criminal activity that poses a threat to national security. Over the last year, authorities and banks have recovered at least $7.8 million in fake notes across the United States that they believe were manufactured in Peru, according to Secret Service statistics. In addition, $446,280 in fake U.S. cash from Peru was seized before it was spent during that same period, and more than $18.2 million more in raids in the South American country, the Secret Service said.

Angi Brzycki visited Japan's Yakushima Island this past spring after learning about its numerous scenic trails. Rain dampened most of her stay, but the sky was clear on the day she and a friend decided to take a 10-mile hike. As they ventured through a forest of ancient cedars, the Urasoe, Japan resident was enchanted by the lushness of the vegetation. "There were layers upon layers of life on every tree branch," she Bryzscki. Brzycki used a Leica D-Lux 4. View past photos we've featured . To upload your own, visit our reader travel photo gallery . When you upload your photo, tell us where it was taken and when.

This photograph by Seth Dominick looks like a composite of the night sky and an airport walkway, but it's actually an art installation. The Waltham, Mass., resident shot it in December in the concourse between the East and West buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Created by artist Leo Villareal, it consists of 41,000 LED nodes programmed to light sequentially to create changing abstract patterns. Dominick used a Nikon D80 to capture the twinkling scene.