Peru

The modern gateway to the Inca Empire is less majestic than one might expect, but a visit to some of Lima's exceptional museums will add another dimension to your admiration of Peru's extensive ruins.

The Museo de Oro del Peru has a greed-inducing display of Incan gold artefacts (which is all the more extraordinary for being a mere fraction of the original wealth).

More grisly exhibitions include the torture instruments in the Museum of the Inquisition, and the 70,000 skeletons that inhabit the catacombs of the baroque Church of San Francisco.

Unlike several other South American countries, whose populations are largely of mestizo (mixed European and Indian race). Indians still hold the demographic lead in Peru. Village life in the Andes is very traditional, as you'll experience when trekking through the beautiful mountains around Huaráz.

The world-renowned Inca Trail leads to the most impressive site in South America, Machu Picchu, passing through high cloud forests and over hair-raising mountain passes.

At a lower altitude is Iquitos, a swollen cut-off city in the sweaty palm of the Amazon Basin, a launch pad for numerous jungle adventures.