Piura

Is host to a stunning mestizo culture (the oldest in South America 1532, Piura is the first Spanish city in South America) most famous for gastronomical dishes like Seco de Chavelo (the local dish), Algarrobina drinks, many types of Cebiche and Natilla Sweets. Popular crafts are the Chulucana Pottery and Catacaos is famous for its “Hats” and “Silversmith” arts. The Tondero and cumanana is the traditional music of mestizo Piura and northern parts Lambayeque. There are also several famous Peruvian valse that came from these regions (northern Peruvians have their style). “Chicha music”, now called Tecnocumbia (originally a Peruvian styled cumbia), is also quite popular all over, as well as Salsa among youngsters.

Climate

The climate is semi tropical and tropical savanna in the center and north coast, Semi-arid in the southern coast near Lambayeque Region. Piura has a tropical-dry or tropical savanna climate monsoon weather that averages 26 °C throughout the whole year. Pleasant warm winters (May to October) that average between 25°C and 28°C during the daytime and lows around 16 °C during the night.

Piura is covered by deserts, tropical valleys, dry equatorial forests, high amazon climates as you reach between 1000-1500 meters, and a humid subtropical sierra climate if you reach over 2,000 meters. The Pramo climate is found in the higher regions of the Sierra.

Rain is scarce from May to November: it rains only from December to April at discontinuous rates due to the influence of the Niño Current, but every so often, when the El Niño phenomenon arrives, rain is copious and makes the dry ravines become alive, giving rise not only to the impressive forests but to many floods and great landslides. El Niño occurs when ocean waters reach 27 °C. When ocean water temperatures elevate 1 or 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than 26 °C, the consequence could be catastrophical rains.

Although ocean waters can drop to 19 °C during the dry winter months (May to October), they can also rise to 27 °C during the humid summer months (December to April); this calls for pleasant rains; yet if temperatures rise 1 or 1.5 °C degrees above that, El Niño is assured.

During summer (December to April) temperatures can reach over the 40 °C inland. During night time, high 20 s or even 30 s may seem unpleasant, which urge people to go to beach resorts such as Mancora or Colan.

The rest of the months have pleasant summer temperatures in the low 30 s and mid 20s °C.

PLACES TO VISIT IN PIURA

Ayabaca or Ayavaca

Is one of the eight provinces of the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It borders Ecuador on the north and northeast, Huancabamba Province and Morropón Province on the south, and the Piura and Sullana provinces on the west. This province is located in the western Andes and its capital is the town of Ayabaca, which is the highest in the whole region.

The name Ayabaca, also written as Ayavaca, derives from two Quechua roots: AYA, related to death, but also to immortality; and HUACA connected to sanctuaries and sacred places. Some local monographs have limited its meaning to that of “grave and ancient tomb of the dead” (“tumba de muertos”), considering possible links between this designation and the findings of bones and primitive weapons near the zone where the Spaniards gathered the native population in 1571, when they founded the first “Pueblo de Indios de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Ayavaca” or “Ayavaca Vieja”. Under this supposition, such bones and weapons would be the “remains of hordes fallen in combat against the expansionist advance of the Incas.”

Aypate Inca

One of Ayavaca’s most important attractions is the Aypate Inca construction, at 49 km east of the province’s capital, located on, or in front of an ancient pre Inca sanctuary. In 1996, the regional office of the National Institute of Culture gave to Aypate the recognition of “Archaeological Capital of Piura”. The name of Aypate (Also Aypache or Allpachí), also identifies an important legendary figure considered a founding father in the history of this region. The legend describes the beginning of a golden age after a human triumph in understanding and conquering nature without harming it.

Other interesting testimonies of the old local culture exist in different places of the province, under the form of petroglyphs (El Toldo, Samanga), megalithic altars (Chocán, Montero), and remainders of the old QHAPAQ ÑAN or Inca road.

Ayavaca has also a multiplicity of landscapes that encompass zones of dry forest and areas of almost permanent humidity located in the mountain range, a region of páramos, lakes and humid forests that conform the main freshwater sources of all the Piura region. Some of these lakes are the Laguna Prieta, near Huamba and Samanga, the Lagunas Arrebiatadas, an assembly of lakes connected in descending levels, the Laguna del Cristal, El Cántaro and the lake of Santa Clara or Siete Poderes.

Likewise, in the large mountain area shared by the provinces of Ayavaca and Huancabamba, there is a great assembly of well known lakes locally known as The Huarinjas or Huaringas, one of them is the very important Laguna del Rey, (Lake of the King or Lake of the Inca King), the highest one of the sierra of Piura, in the Ayavaca district of Pacaipampa.

Cabo Blanco

Is a fishing village in northern Peru. It was famous in the past among big-game fishermen and today is a noted surf break. The village takes its name from the light coloured nearby mountains.

In the 1950s and 1960s, fishermen traveled to Cabo Blanco to hunt big marlin. Ernest Hemingway caught a 700 pound marlin while filming the motion picture based on his novel , The Old Man and the Sea. In 1953, Alfred Glassell Jr. caught the IGFA all tackle world record black marlin, weighing 1560 pounds.

For Surf Lovers

In 1979, Peruvian surfer Gordo Barreda discovered the wave when he visited the village to check the surf in the area. The wave is a hollow powerful left and is reckoned the “Peruvian Pipeline”, referring of course to the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. Swell from Hawaii does in fact go on to reach Peru; in the 1990s the best way to get a surf forecast was to phone Hawaii and whatever swell they had would arrive about 5 days later.

The wave breaks over sand and rock, with the sand building up through summer and being washed away progressively by winter swells. The wave inspires a kind of fanaticism among surfers. Although there are only about 20 locals, crowds of surfers are drawn to the wave from Lima (700 kilometres south), and from around the world. With modern swell forecasts and the internet, it’s easy to know when swell is on the way, and the surfers once there all pack into a single tight takeoff zone, despite other waves elsewhere in the area.

A concrete pier was built for local fishermen a few years ago, replacing a wooden one which was between Cabo and Panic Point and was destroyed by the sea. The proposal had been to build it right through the takeoff zone of the Cabo wave, ruining the wave, but also being a difficult place to build. Sanity prevailed, and the pier was built about 150 metres north, but it still chops off the tail end of the ride.

Catacaos

Located at 15 kilometers of Piura. Has a predominantly farming and crafts economy, cotton textiles are prized in the country and abroad for their fine texture and long fibers. This town built its economy on its industry and railroad, on locust-wood furniture and fine straw hats, and on its gold and silver filigree work. Its craftsmen have an uncanny knack for making fine jewelry in gold and silver filigree (fine threads of the metal), their hardwood crafts (hualtaco), are also amazingly of perfect design.

Chulucanas

Is a town in Piura Region, Peru. It is located at around 5°5′33″S 80°9′45″W / -5.0925, -80.1625. The town is famous for its pottery. Originally dating from pre-Inca times it is today exported all over the world. Designs are varied, but are predominated by black and white. There are several bigger companies but a lot of small manufactures are in Chulucanas itself and in the nearby villages of Quatro Esquinas.

Máncora

Is a town and beach resort in the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is located in the Talara Province and is capital of the Máncora District. The town has 8,852 inhabitants (1999).

The Pan-American Highway serves as Máncora’s main street. This area is known for its attractive turquoise beaches and good waves, making it a surfing destination. This beach location is favored by two ocean currents year round: the cold Humboldt Current 14 to 19 C° and the warm Niño Current 21 to 27 C°, giving it a tropical-dry climate with ocean waters averaging around 24 C°.

Summers are from December to April and are very hot, rain is usual during the night and the temperature can reach over 38 °C. The rest of the year is dry, breezy, and sunny. The temperature during winter and spring never falls bellow 25 C° during daytime and is usually around the high 20’s. Night temperatures drop to around 17 C°.

Beachs of Mancora District

The beach town has over 30 different beach resorts that receive tourists from all over South America. It boasts a large porportion of luxury restaurants and nightclubs for such a small town of 10,000. Resorts rim the nearby kilometers of beaches connected by a road. Most people arrive by bus, private car, or plane from the Talara Airport or Tumbes Airport. Currently, tourism is booming as a large influx of tourists take to the beaches all year round. In 2005 340,000 tourists visited Mancora.

The resort town has the unique characteristic to seem private and empty when relaxing on the beach, while brimming with people late into the night at the many nightclubs in town playing loud music. It is extremely well connected to the rest of the country and with easy worldwide access. Buses run down the Peruvian coast to Lima every day with various different companies varying in quality and price.

Sechura

Is a town in northwestern Peru, 54 km south of Piura. It is the capital of Sechura Province. The town gives its name to the Secura desert, which occupies most of coastal Peru. Crescent dunes lie south of the city, between the sea and the highway. The town has a main square with a 17th century church.