Whilst on the best Peru trips tourists may have opportunities to reflect on change in human affairs. Archaeological remains of once thriving cities stand still, empty of people but almost as they once were when populated by busy human beings. The ruins signify how easy it is for a civilization to fall foul of circumstances and succumb. The high Andes mountain range and the thick jungle of the Amazon River basin are natural barriers that discourage intruders into the country. However, the Spanish conquistadors were able to penetrate, driven by lust for gold. The result was that a huge civilization was brought crashing down because it had not evolved in competitive circumstances and could not cope with foreign diseases and motivations. A twenty-first century tourist visiting the archaeological ruins of Peru must be awestruck by the suddenness with which buildings were emptied of their human inhabitants. The stone structures that once rang with footsteps and laughter stand now like silent symbols of the futility of human endeavor. They serve as reminders of how there may be as yet unobserved threats waiting to eliminate the lives of many happy people, oblivious of what awaits them. Large areas of the country are covered in tropical rain forest but comparatively few live in these regions. Most live in the coastal areas of the country or in the mountainous areas. About half the population have descended from the indigenous people of the country and the remainder are a mixture of Spanish and diverse ancestors. The cultural capital of the country is Cusco. Here the traditional signs of the indigenous Inca culture persist most strongly. They may also be found in some highland villages in the Andes mountain range. A trip to discover the empire of the Incas might take in Lima, Cusco, the Scared valley and Machu Picchu. The famous stone architecture in which stones were so accurately cut that they could be fitted to together without mortar reminds tourists of a society that was highly developed but still subject to unexpected annihilation. Diversity is of great interest in a world which is under as much threat from lack of diversity as the Inca civilization was from ignorance. A Peruvian trip may include modern cities like Lima but also the Titicaca Lake communities which seem to be in a time warp. The Rain Forest also offers tourists the opportunity to experience one of last bastions of biodiversity left on the planet. The Peruvian rain forest includes only a small part of the human populations but is about 68,742 000 ha in extent. It occupies about half of the country and is the third largest extent of tropical rain forest in the world, after Brazil and the Congo. The government has undertaken a campaign to embark on a program of sustainable development. The aim is to develop tourism as an alternative to agricultural practices like cocoa production which is very largely responsible for deforestation. There is much food for thought in the best trips to Peru. Ancient symbols may be studied both in archaeological remains and in the contemporary textiles that are decorated with ancient symbols. But mixed with old are aspects of the new, especially in current environmental issues that are re being played out.