Freak weather has hit Peru over the past few weeks.
The worst affected areas are in the "Apurimac" region of Peru, which borders the Cusco region to the east, the Arequipa region, and the provincial area of Carabaya in the Puno region.
Thousands of people, particularly those in more rural areas, have been left stranded by the snow, and many thousands more have been affected by the cold-spell in some way. Ollanta Humala, the current President of Peru, has declared a 20-day state of emergency in 9 provinces and last week spent time visiting Apurimac to survey the situation.
It is thought that in excess of 100,000 alpaca have died in the snow which will have knock-on effects for the local farming communities who rely heavily on alpaca wool for income. Additionally many thousand more llamas and vicuña (a wild relative of the llama) are also thought to have perished.
At the time of writing, it is not thought that this weather will impact on any Go Andes holidays.
(Published 07/09/2013).
