Peru

The rugged, mineral-rich Andes support some of the world's biggest mines (gold, silver, copper, and more). This image looks down the bull's-eye of Peru's Toquepala copper mine, a steep sided and stepped open-pit mine. Mid-afternoon sunlight on the arid slopes of the central Andes mountains provides an accent to the mine contours. At the surface, the open pit is 2.5 km (1.5 mi) across, and it descends more than 700 m (2,300 ft) into the earth. A dark line on the wall of the pit is the main access road to the bottom. Spoil dumps of material mined from the pit are arranged in tiers along the northwest lip of the pit. Numerous angular leaching fields appear lower right, and the railroad to the coast is a line that exits the image center left. The railroad was built to export Toquepala's copper and connects the coastal port of Ilo, 95 km (60 mi) to the southwest. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Saint Helena's rugged topography of sharp peaks and deep ravines - evident in this photograph from the International Space Station - is the result of erosion of the volcanic rocks that make up the island. A climatic gradient related to elevation is also evident - the higher, wetter central portion of the island is covered with green vegetation, whereas the lower coastal areas are drier and hotter with little vegetation cover. Image courtesy of NASA.

A section of the Inca Trail near the Machu Picchu ruins. The Trail between Cusco, the Inca's ancient capital, and the ruins is approximately 80 km (50 mi).

This view of the Peruvian Andes was taken looking east from the international space station flying off the Peruvian coast and shows Cordillera Huayhuash (pronounced Why-wash). Here clouds are banked up on the east side, snow covers all higher slopes and mountain peaks, and glaciers occupy lower slopes. This prominent but short mountain range (25 km or 15 mi in length) boasts twenty peaks of remarkable steepness and ridge sharpness. Although only 100 km (60 mi) from the coastline, six of the peaks reach above 6,000 m (more than 19,500 ft), the highest of which is Nevado Yerupaja, Peru's second highest peak, variously estimated as 6,617 and 6,635 m high. Generally considered the most spectacular peak in South America, Yerupaja is so steep that it has seldom been climbed. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Steep rock steps on the Inca Trail are common. The majority of the trail's stones date back to the Inca Empire.

Machu Picchu has been declared a World Heritage Site and was named one of the "New" Seven Wonders of the World.