Peru is the third largest country within South America and is bordered by Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and the Pacific Ocean, according to the Peru Tourism Bureau. The tourism industry within Peru generates more than 1 million jobs per year for locals, a Peru This Week article reported. Here is information you need to know regarding safety before you send your kids there “for the opportunity of a lifetime."
The top four causes of unnatural death in Peru:
1. The U.S. Travel website reports that a terrorist group, The Shining Path, is active in Peru and “has previously expressed an intention to target U.S. interests.” Past incidents include attacks by large and heavily armed groups and kidnappings of Peruvian and foreign workers. The U.S. Embassy within Peru doesn’t allow their U.S. government employees to travel at night due to the risk of
robbery and unsafe road conditions.
robbery and unsafe road conditions.
2. The state travel website also reported assaults on rivers in the Amazon jungle in recent years, with dangers including river pirates. There are also unexploded ordnance and mines left over from the 1995 Peru/Ecuador border conflict. Occasionally there will also be incursions of armed guerrilla forces from Columbia into Peru’s remote areas, the US DOS website warns.
3. Crime reports on the state travel website include carjacking, sexual assault, and armed robbery, all common in Lima and other large cities. “In addition, numerous U.S. citizens have reported the theft of passports, cameras, and other valuables on overnight bus rides, by thieves who take advantage of sleeping passengers or their stowed luggage in the cargo area underneath when opened during scheduled stops for passengers to disembark or enter the bus,” the website reports.
4. Those who hail taxis from the street have been assaulted, robbed and even “express kidnapped.” “In the recent past, there have been a number of cases of armed robbery, rape, other sexual assault, and attempted rape of U.S. citizens and other foreign tourists in Arequipa and in Cusco city, as well as in the outlying areas in the vicinity of various Incan ruins. These assaults have occurred both during daylight hours and at night,” the website reports. Read more about what you should know before traveling to Peru here.
Another informational resource to read stories of tourists visiting Peru is http://www.touristkilled.com. Read about three American tourists who were kidnapped, robbed and assaulted by villagers while on a mountain climbing trip in Peru during January (2012) and other true stories of other tourists in Peru here.
World exploration is an awesome goal, but travel safely! Have you downloaded the ASAPP Checklist?
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