Americas' Oldest Temple Found

Asks UN agency to consider their case

(NEWSER) - Talk about a property dispute: A Peruvian family says it owns the land of the Machu Picchu ruins, and is taking the case to the United Nations. Seventy-year-old Edgar Echegaray Abril still has the sale deed showing that his family bought the land with gold in 1910. Yes, they sold it to another family in 1944, but not the ruins—which were being expropriated by the state. And the state never paid up, Abril tells the Telegraph . More»

Peru sends helicopters to airlift thousands stuck at ruins

(NEWSER) - Helicopters are ferrying to safety some 2,000 travelers who have been stranded at the country's top tourist destination. The tourists were trapped at the Inca holy site of Macchu Picchu and the surrounding villages since a mudslide Sunday blocked off a railway, the only way in or out of the area. An Argentine tourist and a Peruvian guide were among five people killed by mudslides caused by the nation's worst rain in 15 years, AP reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Dozens of carefully buried human sacrifices have been found in a coastal Inca site in Peru, reports the Telegraph. Most of the dead are teenage girls, and one appears to have been pregnant. The bodies, which still contain skin and hair, all bear signs of knife slashes along the neck. It's extremely rare to find so many bodies at one site. Human sacrifice was common in the Incan culture that thrived before the Spanish arrived in what is now South America. More»

Not cute or furry, but Peruvian Hairless loves kids, is hypoallergenic

(NEWSER) - Peru may hold the solution to the president-elect’s canine conundrum, the Telegraph reports. The Peruvian Hairless, a dog with ancient Inca origins, is hypoallergenic and family friendly, perfect for Obama’s allergic daughter Malia; a puppy has been offered to the incoming first family. “If we send it to the United States, its official name will be Machu Picchu,” said the director of the Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Association. More»

Luxury tours aim for big bucks from the wealthy

(NEWSER) - Peru’s government hopes to carve a thick slice out of the world’s luxury travel market, aided by sumptuous trains with fancy oxygen enrichment systems and high-altitude 5-star hotels, reports Reuters. "It's not that we don't like backpackers," says the country's tourism minister, but with big bucks to be had, Peru is shifting its image away from frugal tourists living off pots of white rice. More»