The Huaca Centinela was one of the principle centres of the Chincha people, a group of farmers, fishers and merchants that lived in the fertile valley that is now named for them. The Chincha nation existed in the area between the years 900 and 1495 when they were folded into the Inca Empire.
Category: "Travel and Places"
Haciendas of Ica
Haciendas are something characteristic of Peru’s countryside. Haciendas were not only the residence of the owner, but an administrative centres and deposits. Haciendas were always built in grand style, they were large but functional. They had chapels with gold-leaf alters, and galleries of arcs and patios that looked over the countryside.
El Carmen
The town of El Carmen, in the Chincha region of the department of Ica, is in the center of an area that is home to the majority of Peru’s African descendents. It is here in Ica that the majority of slave-owning haciendas were located and when the slaves were finally freed they set up small towns like this one. Their descendents continued to work at the haciendas until their decline and some still work the land to this day, but now its for their own benefit not anyone else’s.
Colan’s wildlife
I wouldn’t have thought there would exist such a large natural eco-system in a part of the coast that has effectively been turned into a beach resort, albeit in Colan’s case a very traditional one. It turns out that the most fascinating thing in Colán is the nature. The beach was swarming with sand crabs, the skies with various types of gulls, the sand by the water with muymuyes and various tiny shellfish, the rocks with yet another species of crab, and there were some vultures too.
Colán
Colán is a beach town popular for its picturesque seafront lined with beach houses on stilts. It has a burning sun and refreshing waters year round and is said to have the best sunsets on the Peruvian coast.
Catacaos
Located south of Piura, the town of Catacaos is a significant tourist attraction. It can be reached from Piura by taking a colectivo. These can be found by walking the streets until someone shouts “Ca’acauuuus” at you. A private taxi would cost about 7-8 soles.
Los Tallanes and the city of Narihualá
The Tallán nation was perhaps the first civilisation in the northern Peruvian region of Piura and controlled the area of the Piura and Chira rivers, and the coast. Their society was matriarchal, where the men would do the work and the women would make the decisions. They had their own gods and their own distinct language and customs. They had an economy based on fishing, farming and artisan making and monumental temples of adobe and a system of aqueducts to create fertile farm land.
Restaurante Esta Es Mi Tierra
Probably Piura’s most famous creole restaurant, this is the best place to try comida norteña or northern food in the city of Piura. Classics such as Tacu Tacu, Seco de Chavelo and Seco de Cabrito can not be missed. It’s located in Av. Las Gardenias, but you don’t need to know that. Stop any taxi in town and they’ll know where it is.
Piura
The city of Piura in the region of the same name was a pleasant surprise – I had never been here before. It was clean, vibrant and with all the shops you’d find in Lima and not to mention sunny all year-round. It’s a place I wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time in.
Ecuador: Vilcabamba’s Rumi Wilco Eco-Lodge
It all started as home. After 16 years mostly as a naturalist in the Galápagos islands (one year in the Amazon, two and a half years in the USA studying zoology), Orlando came to Vilcabamba in southern Ecuador, fell in love with the valley, and found his perfect land by the stream.
Ecuador: Vilcabamba
The small town of Vilcabamba is 40 minutes south of Loja by colectivo or 1 hour away by bus. It is nestled between green forested hills in what was once an Inca sacred valley.
Vilcabamba was made famous in the 1960s when doctors announced that it was home to one of the oldest living populations in the world. It was said that people here often lived to well over 100 years old, some as old as 135. It was then that an embarrassing discovery was made – the researchers had been working with the parish records of the patients parents.
Ecuador: Loja
The city of Loja is Ecuador’s most southern major city and base from which to explore the country’s green mountains and cloud forests, in villages such as Vilcabamba.