Namballe
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Namballe is the first village on the Peruvian side of the border, when travelling Loja-Vilcabamba-Zumba-San Ignacio.
Colectivos run to the border (15mins, 5km) and San Ignacio (2˝hrs). *The British run Hotel "Sol de la Frontera", on the main road 1km from the village has comfortable, well equipped rooms, bath tubs and gas water heaters at $15 for 2 with breakfast included. Reservations:soldelafrontera@yahoo.es | ||
San Ignacio
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San Ignacio has simple hotels and places to eat, but no bank.
Colectivos run to Jaen (3˝hrs) and the border (15mins). El Posada Hosteria. Good price. Dinner and breakfast served in the restaurant hotel is reasonable and tasty. | ||
Jaen
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Jaen has 2 banks and reasonable hotels.
Take a bus or colectivo to Pedro Ruiz (4-5hrs) for the turn off to Chachapoyas, or continue on to Tarapoto if you are heading straight to the Amazon. | ||
Pedro Ruiz
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Pedro Ruiz (1400mts) marks the turn off to Chachapoyas from the paved Chiclayo - Tarapoto road. It has adequate hotels & restaurants but no money changing facilities or ATM.
Colectivos run to Chachapoyas (2hrs), or head east to Moyobamba (4hrs) and Tarapoto (6hrs), and west to Chiclayo (9hrs). Hostal Amazonas. Basic but a good price, although it's opposite a noisy gas station. Casa Blanca Hotel is also Ok | ||
Chachapoyas
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Chachapoyas is a quiet friendly town and a good base from which to visit the many remote and little known, but nevertheless spectacular, archaeological sites hidden among the cloud forest, the best known of which is Kuelap. It has hotels, restauants, a bank and erratic flight from Lima.
Good information on the sites and how to visit can be found in Chachapoyas. Guides & tours are easily found and a good option. You can get day tours to Kuelap and other sites, or multi-day tours through the cloud forested mountains, passing various sites, staying with local families and enjoying stunning scenery. The dry months, May to September, are the best for hiking. October to December can be ok, but January to April can be wet. | ||
Leymebamba
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Lemibamba is surrounded by many little known archaeological sites. Comité Turistico on the Plaza has complete info on guides, horse hire and how to reach all sites. There are several basic restaurants and hotels. There is no bank.
The museo Leimebamba, 3km's south of town, is highly recommended and contains over 200 mummies excavated from the Laguna de los Cóndores site, along with vast quantities of ceramics, textiles, woodwork and utensils. There are 2 minibuses a day (3am & 5am, 4hrs) to Chachapoyas, book ahead. The 2 weekly buses to Cajamarca pass through at about 11am, Tuesdays & Fridays. | ||
Celendin
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Celendin has few visitors, other than those travelling to Chachapoyas. There are some hot springs at Llanguat, 30mins away.
There are 2 buses a day to Cajamarca from the Plaza de Armas. Virgen del Carmen has buses to Chachapoyas (Sun & Thurs at noon). The hotel Naranja Mecanica has been highly recommended. | ||
Cajamarca
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Once an administrative center of the Inca Empire, Cajamarca is now an attractive Colonial city. It was here that Pizzaro captured and assasinated the Inca Atahualpa and began the invasion of South America. It has plenty of hotels, restaurants & money changing facilities. Daily flights from Lima and Trujillo are subject to canage, delay and cancellation.
Local sites include the baroque style 17th century cathedral, Atahualpa's ransom chamber, the natural hot springs where Atahualpa was camped when Pizzaro arrived, and a couple of archaelogical sites. | ||
Moyabamba
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Moyobamba is a small town on the paved Chiclayo - Tarapoto road, 4hrs east of Pedro Ruiz, on the way into the Peruvian Amazon. It has decent hotels, restaurants and money exchange facilities.
There are hot springs 4km's south of town and some impressive waterfalls which are advertised locally. Tourist Info: San Martin 301 Banco Central Peru - Alvarado 903 Colectivos to Tarapoto (2hrs) leave regularly from Callao | ||
Tarapota
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Tarapoto is a busy town on the edge of the eastern andean foothills. It has 3 banks, decent hotels and restaurants. There are daily flights from Lima and Iquitos.
The Ahuashiyacu falls, 50m high, are 14kms from Tarapoto on the road to Yurimaguas. Tours to other local beauty spots with lakes and waterfalls can be arranged, as can white water rafting trips. Tourist Info: Plaza de Armas Mini buses, pick-ups and colectivos leave for Yurimaguas when full, from the market in the eastern suburb of Banda de Shilcayo (6hrs). Terrible road, beautiful scenery. Long distance buses run to Lima via Moyobamba, Chiclayo and Trujillo. minibuses and Colectivos run to Moyobamba and Pedro Ruiz, where you can change to head to Chachapoyas or Ecuador via Jaen. | ||
Yurimaguas
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Yurimaguas is a quiet, pleasant town with nice hostals. Very humid. The people are friendly and helpful. There are banks with cash & cheque exchange and ATM visa. There are erratic flights from Lima.
Info: Consejo regional, Plaza de Armas. There is a daily boat to Iquitos (except sundays) which takes 2 days. Boat information is available from Bodega Davila store. The Eduardo ships are reputed to be the best. The boat to Iquitos stops off at Lagunas (10hrs), the best place to arrange a trip into the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiri. Take supplies. Guides are available locally. There are basic hotels with meals. | ||
Piura
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Most travelers to Piura are just passing through on their way to or from Ecuador. It's a nice friendly town, with adequate hotels and restautants, daily flights from Lima via Chiclayo, as well as regular long and short distance bus services.
Tourist Info: Consejo Provincial Plaza de Armas Banks, all on Plaza de Armas have Visa & Mastercard ATM's and money changing facilities. | ||
Mancora
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A small fishing village on the Pan American highway, Mancora is a popular surfing spot and an increasingly popular beach resort with a year round sunny climate.
The Pan Americano runs right through the center and most businesses are along it. There are regular long and short distance bus services. There are two Visa ATM's and it's quite easy to change dolars with local businesses. | ||
Chiclayo
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Chiclayo, known as the "city of friendship", due to it's kind friendly people, is one of Peru's fastest growing modern cities and the biggest northern trade center. The mercado modelo is worth a visit. Chiclayo has plenty of hotels & restaurants, Visa ATM and money changing facilities. There are daily flights to Lima and Piura and regular bus services.
Chiclayo's biggest claim to fame was the discovery in 1987 of a royal Moche tomb at Sipán, 29km's southwest of Chiclayo, the most important archaelogiacal find in Peru in the last 50 years. The Sipán burial site consists of two big adobe pyramids with 6 burial tombs inside, one of which was a magnificent royal Moche burial chamber which became know as the Lord of Sipán. Some of the tombs have been restored but the artefacts: fabulous ceramics, jewellery and ornaments, are now displayed at the Museo Tumbas Reales De Sipán and the Brunning Museum, both located in Lambayeque, 11km north of Chiclayo. The advanced techniques necessary to create these artefacts place them among the most beautiful and important objects of the pre-Columbian Americas. Lambayeque and Sipán are best visited from Chiclayo. Guides are available locally or tours can be arranged in Chiclayo. Transportes Lambayeque (San Jose) has minibuses to Lambayeque which will drop you right outside the Brunning Museum. Terminal de Microbuses Epsel (Nicolas de Pierola y Oriente) has frequent buses to Sipán. Tourist Info: Palza de Armas and Saena Peña 838. | ||
Trujillo
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Trujillo is an attractive colonial costal city. In old times the area was inhabited by the Mochicas, Lambayeques and Chimus. Chan Chan, an ancient Chimu capital built around 1300AD is nearby. The largest adobe city in the world, Chan Chan is a labyrinth city that consisted of nine royal compounds with streets, channels, reservoirs, squares and pyramidal temlpes. Most of the city walls are decorated with mythical scenes, geometrical and zoomorphic shapes and highly realistic figures. Other Chimu sites include the immense Moche pyramids of the Temples of the Sun and Moon, El Brujo which is over 5000 years old and the temple of the dragon (la Huaca Dragon) famous for its freize of anthropomorphic figures. Huanchaco is a nice relaxing beach village 17km's north of Trujillo famous for it's reed boats.
Tourist Info: iPeru (Pizzaro 412) | ||
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The hotel "Casa de Clara" has been highly recommended, run by Micheal & Clara who speak English, Español, Francais, Deutsch y Italiano, and offer knowledgeable tours to local archealogial sites. Tel: (044) 243347 / 299997 Cel: (044) 9662710 / 9640622 E-mail microbewhite@yahoo.com Web:www.xanga.com/TrujilloPeru Maps & photos http://communities.msn.com/TrujilloPeru | ||
