Peru & Bolivia Travel Blog: Expert Guides & Insider Tips 2026

Peru has been making efforts to publicize its impressive bio-diversity to birders, with more than 1,800 bird species, some of which are found only in Peru. This week saw the culmination of the country's first marathon bird-watching competition, which attracted ornithologists from all over the world, and a redoubling of conservation efforts to save the extremely rare Iquitos Gnatcatcher.

Two British researchers announced in this month's Antiquity the discovery of what appears to be an enormous labyrinth among the world-famous Nazca Lines in Peru. In the most detailed study of its kind to date, researchers spent five years walking the lines and studying superimposed designs, digital satellite mapping, and photographs of associated pottery, concluding that the Nazca used ritual labyrinths which were "meant to be walked and not seen".

Each February, the little city of Puno alongside Lake Titicaca throw's one of South America's most spectacular festivals in honor of its patron saint Mamacha Carmen, the Virgen de Candelaria Festival. The city is currently preparing its UNESCO application for "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" status for the festival.

A regional order declared last week that the conservation, promotion, and cultural development of the last Inca bridge, Q'eswachaka, an official governmental priority. Members from the surrounding communities come together each year to rebuild this unique hanging bridge, made of braided straw, according to a laborious but festive ceremony inherited from the ancient Incas.

As of this week, you can now travel the same path that pilgrims walked half a century ago, hiking past ancient streets and temples towards the spot where one of the preeminent oracles of prehispanic Peru resided. After two years of work by archeologists, who uncovered a large tomb used for mass dog sacrifices and accompanying funereal offerings in the process, the new touristic circuit known as the Pilgrims' Route has opened in Pachacámac Sanctuary in Lima, Peru.

It was announced today that various artifacts were discovered at Salapunku, which is located along the Inca Trail, in the "buffer zone" for Machu Picchu Sanctuary. A variety of bones, ceramics, and textiles which appear upon preliminary examination to date back to the Inca culture suggest that the area may be part of an Incan cemetery, although excavation and examination must continue in order to be certain.