Peru contains mountains throughout its eastern flank that resemble the famous Machu Picchu. It has windy roads that are often deteriorating. The dry Atacama Desert extends into the southern part of Peru and this area is largely lifeless and empty. Peru is in general much drier than Ecuador and Colombia. There are also significantly less plants and they are less tropical and green than these aforementioned two places. Peruvian houses tend to be brick and they most commonly have very flat roofs. Peru has black and white striped poles on the sides of many roads. Indeed, Peru is the South American epicentre of these poles so if you see these in South America, you are almost certainly in Peru. Similar to Colombia and Bolivia, the license plates of Peruvian taxis appear on the sides of the vehicle. Peru also has uniquely painted utility poles that hold up the electrical wires- some part of their base is often painted. Peruvian sign poles are striped black and white and provide one of the best mechanisms to recognise the country. Peruvian sign poles also stand out as they are often situated in solid concrete blocks that are above ground level. Peru is a largely mountainous and hilly country. In general, Peru is a dry country, much drier than Ecuador and Colombia. There also tends to be less vegetation and less green vegetation in Peru than in Ecuador and Colombia. Eastern and northern Peru are home to green, lush mountains that look like the area around Machu Picchu. This greenery is rarer in Peru, thanks to the lack of coverage in the east of the country. These trees (that remind me of African trees) are found in the northern part of Peru. Southern Peru is home to part of the Atacama Desert. This is a featureless area of undulating land. A large number of Peruvian utility poles have part of their lower section painted. There is no single colour they are painted with some being black, blue, yellow, etc or some mixture of colours. Also, some are only painted a few feet up whilst others are painted almost half-way up. Peru sometimes has these unique utility poles. They consist of the three top parts all extending out from the pole in the same direction. Peruvian bollards look like cigarettes. They sometimes have the black stripes pictured here but on other occasions they lack these black stripes. Peruvian bollards can also be a triangular prism in shape (with the same colour scheme as the previous picture or lacking the black stripes) rather than cylindrical. Peruvian houses often have electricity counters on them consisting of a rectangular box with two or three horizontal black lines. They aren’t found elsewhere in the world to my knowledge. This is one of the best ways to identify Peru. Peruvian houses can often be brick or be painted a range of colours. The Peruvian roofs tend to be flat. The houses are typically very low in height. If a Peruvian houses is built out of brick, it is often a brown-coloured brick. This brick colour is fairly rare in South America outside of Peru. Political graffiti is common throughout Peru, often appearing on the sides of houses. In Peru, a large number of vehicles have various iterations of red and white stickers- the colours of the Peruvian flag. Whilst these stickers are found on some cars in the neighbouring countries, they are most common in Peru. The license plates of taxis appears on the sides of the vehicle in Peru (as they do in Colombia and Bolivia). 

Bollard:

Peru has several different bollards which appear fairly often.

Other Coverage:

Railway coverage is found between Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) and Poroy (just west of Cusco).

Road Lines:

American style yellow center lines and white outside lines are used on single lane roads.
White center lines and outside lines are used on divided highways.

Electricity poles:

The majority of electricity poles are painted on the bottom, most common color being black:

License plates:

Standard license plates are white. Commercial vehicles are often yellow.

Fixed (land) lines:

-seven digits in the Metropolitan Area of Lima and Callao

-six digits in the rest of the country

Commonly Found Things

Tuk Tuks are extremely common in Peru, much more than any other country in Latin America.

Political posters are extremely common in Peru, but not in the usual way other countries use them. In Peru, most political posters are painted on walls and buildings, with a white background and red or blue writing. These posters are rarely useful though. Most of them only say “Alcalde” which means mayor, and the name of the position and the candidate. In the example below, the province name, Huaraz, is actually mentioned.

Vegetation/Landscape:

The variation in landscape in Peru is largely dictated by the Andes Mountains that run across the entire country, which results in drastic changes in climates due to altitude and the rain shadow effect.

Here is an elevation map of Peru, which shows the Andes running through the western portion of the country. Purple is the lowest elevation while white is the highest.

Now, a satellite image of Peru showing the clear rain shadow effect where the Andes begin.

Knowing the rain shadow and elevation differences of Peru can help to tell apart different areas. However, Peru is a country that stretches far from north to south, so locations at similar altitudes but different latitudes can look extremely similar.
This guide will give general differences in landscape based on altitudes, as well as some specific recognizable areas.

The coast of Peru is very dry and sandy, with practically no vegetation.

Peru has many rivers which come from high altitude areas, cut through the dry mountains and create fertile valleys. These valleys are used for agriculture such as grasses and corn.

Between 2500 and 4000 meters elevation, the climate in these valleys is very habitable and temperate. This area has a lot of terrace farming and villages along the slopes.

At 4000 meters and above, vegetation is limited to only small grasses and shrubs and the area is largely uninhabited.

On the eastern side of the Andes, vegetation begins to appear as elevation descends. In this picture, we can also see a perfect example of the rain shadow effect, where clouds are too low to pass the mountains and are trapped on the other side.

Finally, the eastern half of the country is flat or rolling hills, with tropical vegetation. 

Specific Areas:

The far northwest (Piura and Tumbes regions) has a climate similar to a dry savanna. Lots of low trees and shrubs, but fairly arid.

The area around Lake Titicaca is part of the Altiplano, which extends into Bolivia. The altiplano is a relatively flat, high-altitude region, and which mostly consists of grassland.

The Atacama Desert, known for being the world’s driest desert, is found in the far south of Peru (as well as northern Chile). Vegetation in this area is practically nonexistent. If all you see is desert and rocks as far as the eye can see, then you are probably in the Atacama.

Specific Plants:

Ichu, or Peruvian Feathergrass, is a small poofy grass found in the Peruvian and Bolivian altiplano and occasionally in other parts of the Peruvian Andes around 4000 m altitude.

Although they are not native to South America, eucalyptus are extremely common in Peru because of planting. They are found throughout the country in the 2000 m – 3500 m elevation range.

Architecture:

Peru’s architecture is fairly identifiable compared to other Latin American countries. Its traditional style is pretty uniform around the country. Learning the typical general style can be simple.

A typical Peruvian building follows these general rules:
– Simple facades, one single color across the building. White is a very common choice for this color.
– A layer of a dark or contrasting color at the bottom of the building. This is usually black, brown, or red.
– Wooden doors, windows, and frames, usually painted brown or red.
– In some cases, windows have wooden balconies, painted in the same color.
– Roofs are nearly always tiled, usually brown or occasionally red, and usually look weathered down. They tend to be overhanging.

Here is what a typical Peruvian house looks like in smaller towns and rural areas. Here, we can see the contrasting paint layer at the bottom, the wooden door, and brown tiled roof.

Here is a house in a medium-sized town, which has a balcony. Again, the brown bottom layer, painted windows and doors, and tiled overhanging roof.

This example is of a poor building. However, a few of the same basic principles can still be seen. The building has a tiled roof, wooden door, and somewhat has a bottom painted layer. Another thing to mention here is the use of mud-brick, or adobe, for house construction. This is typical especially of Peru and Bolivia and is based on traditional indigenous building practices.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, here is a historic building in Lima. However, the same principles are followed. The building has a brown bottom layer and the windows and doors are painted. The balcony in this case extends across the entire building, but it is again the same color as the windows/window frames. The only difference is that the roof is not tiled. This is common for traditional Spanish buildings in Peru’s historic cities – they instead preferred to have flat roofs.

Moving on from Peru’s classic style, many recently constructed buildings prefer a more modern look, with very cubic building shapes and large windows. These types of buildings are common in cities along Peru’s coast and desert areas.

In poorer areas, especially the massive Lima urban area, houses are made of dark brown brick, most likely because of the pollution and sand in the environment. This color is pretty unqiue from other brick colors in Latin America.

Finally, in the Amazonian region of Peru, roofs are usually made from metal sheets. It is also common to see wooden houses along with brick buildings.

