Peru

"Ah... Peru! It's been a long time since I stood here..."

―Indiana Jones upon arriving in Peru in 1947.^[src]

Peru is a country on the west coast of South America. The three main regions of the country are the drier coastal areas, the Andes mountains, and the Amazon rain forest in the eastern part of the country. The capital of Peru is Lima and is also the largest and most important city in the country.

In the pre-Columbian times, Peru was home to several cultural groups including the Chachapoyans and later the Inca Empire, whose civilization flourished until it was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. Because of its long history, it is home to many archaeological sites that were not fully explored until modern times. The country's population is a mixture of indigenous groups, such as the Hovitos, and descendants of settlers from Spain and other countries.

Adventures in Peru[]

In 1935, Forrestal traveled to Peru to recover the Chachapoyan fertility idol and disappeared.^[1] The following year, Indiana Jones traveled to Peru to recover the idol and determine Forrestal's fate. After claiming the idol from the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors, Indy was forced to give it up to another competitor, René Belloq, and flee via amphibious plane.^[2]

In 1941, Peru and its neighboring country to the north, Ecuador, engaged in a border war, in which Peruvian troops captured the Ecuadorian port of Puerto Bolivar. At this time, Indiana Jones had clearance to excavate an Incan shrine, but was forced to flee when fake wanted posters with his picture surfaced, and the Peruvian army chased him from the site. Jones escaped through the jungle to Ecuador, not knowing that Peruvian forces already occupied his planned escape point.^[3]

In 1947, Indy returned to Peru after obtaining a treasure map. He travelled through the jungles, rivers and temples avoiding jaguars, snakes and piranhas. He found the Jeweled Chachapoyan Idol and mused how Belloq would not be around to "get this one." He escaped another boulder after taking the Idol. When Indy escaped he remarked; "I still can't speak Hovitos, but this time, I guess it won't matter."^[4]

Indiana Jones returned to Peru in 1957 with Mutt Williams, following clues by old colleague Harold Oxley. Oxley went there to locate a crystal skull, which he found in the secret gravechamber of Francisco de Orellana in a secret graveyard near Nazca on a cliff overlooking the Nazca lines. Jones and Williams followed clues left in Oxley's cell in the Nazca sanatorium to discover Orellana's grave and find the crystal skull that Oxley had returned to the site. Unfortunately, George McHale had followed Jones, and the Soviet Special Forces captured Jones and Williams and took them to a jungle camp in the Amazon rain forest to find Akator.^[5]