Peru ranks among the world’s twelve countries with the greatest archeological values. However, local authorities, civic institutions and the population don’t seem to be committed to their protections and conservation. “We’re one of the six civilization cradles on the face of the earth, together with Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, the Asian countries and Mexico,” Lida Casas, deputy director of the Supervision & Oversight Division of the National Culture Institute, told news agency AFP this week.

Latin pop star Ricky Martin called on UN diplomats to prod an initiative proposed by the U.S. government to fight sexual tourism involving children. “This is slavery in the 21st century and we’re still dealing with that,” said the Puerto Rican crooner in a press conference after a luncheon that gathered several prominent Latin American diplomats.

For a fourth year in a row, Peru will be home to the Quetzal Trail in a route that has already been named From the Cities of Kings to the Land of Basques. The expedition will tee off in Pachacamac, some 18 miles south of Lima, running through the Andeans all the way up to La Orolla, at 4,800 meters high, and down to the mines of mercury, iron ore and gold of Huancavelica for a brief look at the history of Peru’s mining.

Air Canada will raise to five the number of weekly round-trip flights from Toronto to Buenos Aires beginning on November 1. This is welcome news for the Argentinean capital in its bid to jack up the amount of foreign visitors to the whole nation. Two of those flights (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) will be nonstop, thus giving Air Canada the possibility of opening a Buenos Aires-Santiago de Chile-Buenos Aires route on those same days.

Air Canada will start having direct flights from Toronto to Lima beginning on November 2, as part of an expansion plan throughout Latin America that also reaches out to Mexico City, San Jose, Caracas, Bogota, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. Diplomatic sources in Lima told Caribbean News Digital the new routes will give Peru’s travel industry a mighty shot in the arm.

Several U.S. institutions have set going a joint program aimed at exposing and combating sexual exploitation of children by American tourists. “This particular form of exploitation affects some two million children worldwide, many of them below five years of age," sighed off John Wilkinson, Vice President of World Vision, one of the organizations that have signed up for the campaign alongside the U.S. State and Homeland Security departments. World Vision Director Joe Mettimano explained the campaign is aimed at discouraging American tourists -including schoolteachers, military personnel and businesspeople- from abusing kids by enforcing tougher sentences on those who break the law.