While I was staying up in Cajamarca, located in Peru’s northern Andean mountains, I heard the word Yanacocha, a word that popped out in conversations from time to time. It’s not a Spanish word, but it has a playful sound and for some reason it seemed rather important to everyone in Cajamarca. Well, as it turns out, they were talking about the Minera Yanacocha (Yanacocha Mine), which is not only important to the folks of Cajamarca. Minera Yanacocha just happens to be the largest gold mine in South America!
January 31, 2008 | Opinion
It was in Cajamarca that the Inca empire started down its path to swift destruction. The newly arrived group of Spanish lead by Francisco Pizarro, aiming to conquer the Inca empire, arrived in Cajamarca to be met by Emperor Atahualpa and his army. After tricking him into entering the city with only a light guard they captured him, ransomed him and killed him.
January 28, 2008 | Archaeology, Cajamarca Guide, Culture & History
This group of historic buildings found on the street of Belén are constructed almost entirely out of volcanic stone. Construction began on these, the finest examples of colonial architecture in Cajamarca, in 1699, replacing old wooden churches and buildings. The complex includes a church and men’s and women’s hospitals.
January 27, 2008 | Cajamarca Guide
South west of Cajamarca is a site steeped in ancient mystery. A forest of towers of rock covered by a thick fog sets the scene for this place with features yet to be explained.
January 18, 2008 | Archaeology, Cajamarca Guide
On the 18th of January it will have been 473 years since Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded his capital in the conquered land of the Incas, preferring a coastal capital for sea connections rather than a Andean one as the Incas had in Cuzco.
January 18, 2008 | Cajamarca Guide, Culture & History
Overlooking Cajamarca’s plaza is the Cerro Santa Apolonia, a 500 metre high hill that rises out of nothing in the centre of the city. Now merely a lookout point, it was once an important sacred spot for the many civilisations that inhabited the area over the ages, such as the Chavin, who in 1200BC built platforms, tunnels and tombs near and on the top of it.
January 14, 2008 | Cajamarca Guide
They say that Inca Emperor Atahualpa was taking a well deserved rest on his way back to Cusco after a long journey from Quito and the recent defeat of his half brother in battle. While bathing he was disturbed by a messenger bringing word that strangers had arrived, these strangers were the Spanish.
January 13, 2008 | Cajamarca Guide
Set in the rolling green hills of the northern Peruvian Andes, Cajamarca is a land of history and tradition but also of carnival and music. The colonial city is a simpler, quieter and less commercialized version of Cusco, mostly free of tourism and all it brings, but with just as much to offer.
January 10, 2008 | Cajamarca Guide
This small town, 18km from Chiclayo is known as the land of two faiths: Shamanism and Catholicism. How they so easily go hand in hand, I’ll let you figure out – but this is a common occurrence across all of Latin America. The town was founded in 1550 in its full name Santa Lucía de Ferreñafe, in a region with history more ancient still. This is shown when you enter town by an arch with Sicán adornments which if passed under eventually leads to the plaza, with its 150 year old Spanish fountain, and the Santa Lucía Church.
January 9, 2008 | Lambayeque & Chiclayo Guide
These small bears live throughout the forested Andean regions of South America. In Peru they are commonly associated with the northern regions, where dry sub-tropical and cloud forests are more prevalent, though they also still exist in the high-altitude cloud forests along the spine of the Andes. They feel at home in the canopies of trees, where they also find most their food sources.
January 7, 2008 | Opinion
The One Laptop Per Child program, that aims to produce and sell its XO Laptops for $100 dollars and sell them en-masse to 3rd world countries for use by children in schools, as you may have heard in the news has lost chip-maker Intel as a partner.
January 6, 2008 | News
Created when the people of Santa Catalina realised there was value in the preservation of natural habitats, and thanks to the work of Peruvian photographer Heinz Plenge, this huge reserve in Chongoyape, 60km from Chiclayo, is part of one of the largest remaining dry forests in the world.
January 5, 2008 | Lambayeque & Chiclayo Guide, Nature
