Peru is a country in the western part of South America. Founded by western civilization on 28 July 1821. The country is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Columbia, the east by Brazil, Southeast by Bolivia and South by Chile. Peru lies across the entire west coast by the Pacific Ocean. Peru has a population of 31 million people and a land mass area 496,225 square miles. It’s GDP in 2015 403 billion dollar Purchase Power Parity. Over the past 2 decades Peru’s poverty rate dropped from 53% down to 25.8% in 2015 due to the advent of increased industrialization and investment in education.

Peru has an extremely Biodiverse country and habitat ranging from arid plains on its central and western region to peaks of the Andes Mountains vertically extending from the North to the southeast of the country. Peru also host beautiful tropical Amazon basin rainforest in the east and the Amazon River.

The 3 cities we will be seeing patients are Ica region of Peru has a population of about 200,000 people it was devastated by an earthquake in 2007 which at the time measure 8 on the Moment magnitude scale. Peru is significantly recovering. The Cities we will visit were near the earthquakes epicenter which killed over 500 people.  Pisco is one of the cities in the Ica province. During the earthquake 85% of its buildings were destroyed. 430 people died; 148 of those deaths occurred when the cathedral collapsed in the city’s main square. Piscois well known for its vineyards and the Brandy grapes and wines it exports it has a population of about 130,000 people.

Chincha is a city 75 miles south of Lima Peru also in the Ica province. All 3 cities are industrialized and the populations we will serve are residents and family members of the towns surrounding the military base. Since The textile industry, the military and agriculture are the major industries we expect to see and treat a variety of environmental and industrial illness involving adults and children.

Peru’s National language is Spanish\ and its population is 45% Amerindian, 37% Mestizo, 15% white and 2% other ethnicities.

Peru’s currency recently reverted back to “The Sol”. Spanish for sun. The Sol replaced the Peruvian inti in 1991 and the name is a return to that of Peru’s historic currency as the Sol was in use from 19th century through 1985. From 1985 through 2015 the Peruvian Inti was the national currency of Peru. Inti happens to be the name of the Sun God of the Incas. Until recently the currency was called Nuevo Sol, in November 2015 Peru’s congress voted to revert the currency to simply” Sol” which went in effect as of December 15, 2015. 1 Sol is equivalent to 30 Cents US.

The people of Peru are energetic, proud of their culture and heritage. They are very family and community oriented. The major religion is Catholicism. Their Culture, art and history dates back as far as 3000BC and some of the greatest civilizations include Norte Chico and Chavin which was one of the first civilizations in South America they had pyramids and raised platforms thought the Andes region.

The Mochica and Nazca became the predominant civilizations following the decline of the Chavin de Huantar civilization from 200 BC to 600 AD The Mochicainhabited northern Peru and were great builders and sculpture’s and builders of the so called temple of the Sun at Moche constructed with Bricks dried in the sun without fire.  The Nazca were known for their pottery embroidery and most famously Nazca lines which are geographical or animal images drawn into the soil best seen from the air. Many other civilizations came the Tinawanaku and Wari 400 t0 1000 AD, followed by the Sican and Chimu 800AD to1470 AD. The greatest city developed during that time frame was Chan Chan which walls covered 8 square miles inside there were 8 to 10 palaces compounds called Ciudadelas which are like contained townships. Between 1465 and 1470 the chimu and sican empires were overwhelmed and became incorporated into the Inca Empire which lasted until the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors.