Think twice, however, before booking your flight. There are considerable health risks such as cholera, hepatitis, malaria, rabies, typhoid, and yellow fever. These regions are home to drug barons and militant guerrillas. Despite Peru's political instability, unemployment and poverty, it has a fast-growing economy. Major industries include pulp, paper, coco leaves, fishmeal, steel, chemicals, oil, coffee, and minerals.
Illegal drugs are also an industry in Peru.
In fact, a portion of the acreage that once grew coffee, now grows illegal drugs. Peru annually exports about 1 million bags of coffee, of which about half goes to the United States. Coffee is also grown in the northern part of the country and on the eastern and western slopes of the Andes Mountains. All Peruvian coffee is wet-processed Arabica, grown at altitudes ranging from 2,200 to 5,200 feet. The coffee beans used in this month's selection, Peaks of the Andes, are grown directly on the slopes of the Andes.