Tom Filipowicz in Chiclayo gives us our regular dose of virtual tourism with a look into Chiclayo's Past

Article brought to you by Mochica Hostess Tours

The area Chiclayo occupies today has been populated for thousands of years, beginning with people of whom nothing is known, through several distinct cultures up to the present. The informal founding of Chiclayo took place shortly after the arrival of the Spanish with the construction of Santa María de los Valles de Chiclayo – a Franciscan Monastery begun in 1561. The formal founding (whatever that is) took place in 1720. On April 15 1835 Peruvian president Felipe Santiago Salaverry bestowed the official title of ‘city’ on Chiclayo. For whatever reason he also gave it the honorary title of ‘Heroic City’, which can still be seen on monuments throughout the city.

Because of my fascination with history I have always loved ‘then and now’ photos. I’ve not been able to locate many historical photos of Chiclayo, though I’m told unknown persons have many of them in unknown locations, so my ‘unknown self’ is going to keep looking. I have driven myself and others crazy trying to date the old photos that follow with no success. Let’s just say they’re old.

The Franciscan Monastery “Santa María de los Valles de Chiclayo” has a colorful history. As mentioned earlier construction began in 1561. On September 24 1859 it opened its doors as the San Jose National school. In 1882 during the Pacific War with Chile, the Chilean army occupied the building. In 1906 the building again served as a school until the late 1980s when a portion of the ancient structure collapsed and three students were killed. Since that time what remains of the once proud structure has been boarded up and allowed to slowly crumble.

The building on the left is now Interbank. The central square looks more like a jungle than a park. Whenever I look at this photo I get a ‘Sunday’ feel from it – the cars casually on parade; the strollers and bench occupiers enjoying their day off.


The same view from a slightly higher angle. Things change in 100 years or so. What remains of the monastery is hidden behind palm trees in the photo’s center. I spend hours in this park looking and listening. It’s an island of peace surrounded by the hustle and bustle of central city activity.

Avenue Balta North, taken from somewhere near the central park. The banner apparently is informing the populous of an upcoming annual celebration on December 8th of the “Virgin of Immaculate Conception”, a celebration that has been taking place for 300 years. It seems to me that Peruvians have a preoccupation with virgins. Every organization from postal workers to fire fighters has a patron virgin. Tradition has it that the statue of Elias Aguirre in the park bearing his name tips its hat to every passing virgin.

Avenue Balta North today. The building on the left is the former Royal Hotel, inaugurated in 1930. Just this year it became a Ripley Department Store, one of a huge chain of stores owned by a Chilean conglomerate. The city office building on the right was constructed between 1919 and 1924. Extensive remodeling has recently been completed.

Avenue Elias Aguirre looking east from the intersection with Avenue Balta South. Construction on the Santa Maria Cathedral was begun on February 13 1869. It was consecrated 90 years later in 1959. The road gets its name from Elias Aguirre who was a prominent figure in the Pacific War with Chile. Another important figure in the Pacific War was Jose Leonardo Ortiz. His home still exists today (red arrow) and is designated an historical monument.

Same view today, except I took my photo one hour later. The church and Ortiz’s house are the only objects I’ve been able to identify from the previous photo. What these photos can’t convey is the changes over time. Dozens of restaurants and other businesses have opened, closed and reopened in this block during the interval between the old and new photos. Maribel’s parents watched movies in a cinema half-way down the block on the right. The cinema has long been closed and forgotten, but had not even been conceived of in the preceding photo. Who knows what things will look like in another hundred years?












 If you’d like to experience events like this and get a taste of real daily life in northern provincial Peru, speak to Tom & Maribel via Mochica Hostess Tours

While enjoying my wonderful day off from work I found this AMAZING website called cebichetv.com

This website is totally awesome, it has almost every popular Peruvian TV channel as well as some other favorites from Peruvian Cable.  The site also has several links to Peruvian radio stations that offer live streaming radio broadcasts.  In general, this website is in my opinion the ultimate resource for everything relating to Peruvian media.  It's perfect for fellow Peruvians (also great for those who aren't Peruvian) who currently live abroad and would love to brush up on the latest local news or watch one of their favorite Peruvian shows.

For those of us who currently live in Peru, the website offers recordings of popular Peruvian sitcoms and shows all categorized by month.  For example, the new Peruvian sitcom Los Broders,(a show which revolves around two Peruvian detectives (inspired by the American series Starsky & Hutch) who fight crime in the mean streets of Lima, Peru) is just one of many shows that are offered.  This is perfect for those who work all week and party all weekend and don't have time to usually sit down and watch TV.  Cebichetv.com currently offers several popular programs like: Al Fondo Hay Sitio, El Francotirador, Puro Corazon, Recargados de Risa, etc.

If you love Peruvian radio, news, TV, music, then this website will be a real treasure to you.

Thanks to the internet and other sites like Peru21, I managed to come across a video posted by a fellow Peruvian citizen that shows serenazgos from Miraflores (municipal police = not real police) with buckets, throwing dirt and rocks onto the ground in the park at LarcoMar, located in Miraflores.

This is obviously an attempt by the municipalidad of Miraflores to rid what they have deemed a problem, skaters.  While the park is open for the general public this doesn't surprise me the least bit, since in the US many private businesses and cities have put up efforts to block skaters from skating in certain areas.  This is usually done since they believe that skaters cause damage to property so they put up signs that ban skating from a particular area/zone or install these metal brackets on any type of ledge that they now will be used by skaters.

While the mayor of Miraflores has stated that he is not against skaters and does not have an agenda towards their extradition from areas in the district like LarcoMar.  This however was discredited when a video was posted on YouTube depicting the cities security throwing dirt and rocks onto the walkways of the park at LarcoMar in a blatent effort to prevent skating in the area.  When confronted by the group filming they responded that they were only following orders.

As many have already commented, the throwing of rocks and dirt along the paths and walkways in the park not only impedes skaters but also those who ride bikes, those with wheel chairs, pedestrians, and baby carriages.  With such an unintelligent act of retaliation being committed it's hard to find humor in such childish and immature behavior when one takes into consideration the dangers and risks that could befall not just citizens of the district but also tourists from other countries as well.  I mean common ON!.......It's only common sense that throwing rocks and dirt in a highly trafficked area poses a fairly high risk for injury to those who use the park, and while the mayor might think he is eliminating what he most likely considers an inconvenience in his district, what he is really doing is creating a window of opportunity for a civil lawsuit.  With the video provided below there might just be more than enough material evidence for one, that is if the mayor hasn't already been informed of the stupidity and reckless endangerment of his own citizens. 

If the mayor HONESTLY (notice the bold face CAP LOCKS emphasis on honestly) wishes to remove skaters from the park that he should find a more logical and safer alternative that is representative of an individual in an elected position of authority.

Below is the video that was posted on YouTube:

Decide for yourself!

For three years my younger brother was a student the famous Peruvian military academy, Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado.  A secondary school with quite an illustrious history as well as several eye raising rumors (I will write a follow up article on the school later this week).

Mario Vargas Llosa, a famous Peruvian writer and controversial politician was not only the author of the popular book "Cuidad de los Perros (City of Dogs)" but is also an alumni of Leoncio Prado.  It was in 1985 when film director Francisco J. Lombardi adapted Llosa's book onto film.  The film centers around four cadets and their life within the walls of the infamous military academy.  Within the walls of the academy exists a world hidden from the outside where the events led by films main characters lead to murder. 











Luckily I have found the film on YouTube and have included it below, unfortunately the films are in Spanish but I still recommend it, Enjoy!

This is a great article written by: Kelly deBorda

After your passport and Tarjeta Andina have been stamped, you'll leave the immigrations area and head over to baggage claim. When you've received your luggage from the carousel, you may or may not be asked to show your claim ticket and/or passport before leaving the area. Now, you will have also received a customs form on the plane. It should be filled out by this time. If you're coming to Peru as a tourist, you really shouldn't have any problem passing through customs. You're allowed personal electronic items, like laptops, gameboys, cameras, mp3 players etc - one each per person. if you're bringing gifts, there is a cap of $300 - but no individual article worth over $100. Anything else, make sure to claim it on the customs declaration form. As you pass through customs, you'll be told to press a button. When you do, you'll be given a green light or a red light, supposedly at random, but I have my suspicions. If you get a red light, you're baggage will be inspected.

>> Read More >>

*** photo and article extract taken from Kelly deBorda's site

As I stated in my last post about Mt. Putucusi, I have posted more photos below.  I will try to post more photos later this week also.

It's almost embarrassing how long it has taken me to write this article, but regardless I have decided to finally get it over with.  Last December while my family was in Peru on vacation we decided to travel to Cusco.  The goal of the trip was to take my grandmother to Machu Picchu since it was more than likely that should would never return to Peru.  Traveling in Cusco during the early months of the rainy season made the trip interesting, as the sun would shine most of the day with the random rain shower throughout the day.

Arriving in Aguas Calientes it was amazing to see just how much the small town had grown since the last time I had been there.  We arrived in Aguas Calientes roughly around 11pm and we were up at Machu Picchu about an hour and a half later.  The weather was awful that day and I had almost given up hope trying to take photos in the rain.  Thankfully the sun god Inti must have heard my prayers as the dark clouds were abruptly pushed away and the mountain was bathed in golden light.  It was the next day (our last day in Aguas Calientes) that my brother Dumenico and I decided to go on a hike in search of a waterfall that everyone had been taking about in town.  About 10 minutes walking along the train tracks, heading roughly in the direction of Machu Picchu we came across a small sign and a clearing.  Our curiosities peaked we decided to take the detour that would eventually take us to the TOP of Mt. Putucusi (Quechua for "Happy Mountain").

The initial part of the trail was rather easy and effortless until we reached what became the first of many vertical wooden ladders, with one as tall as 100 ft.!  Looking up the first ladder that literally seemed to disappear into the vegetation and flora above, I could feel the intimidation begin to set in and thoughts of falling several feet to my death in the middle of the Sacred Valley began to play in mind.  Lured by the Siren's Song of Mt Putucusi, we climbed the environmentally worn ladders one after another to the top until reaching a small rock wall that required the climber to use a secured cable to climb the approximately 15-20 ft. high wall.  At this point we were veterans after having climbed some of the tallest ladders in my life and made the climb rather easily.  It is after the rock wall that we reached the mid point of the mountain, roughly 30 minutes from when we had started.  The vegetation opens up and we were presented with an almost 360 degree view of the valley (at this point the town of Aguas Calientes can be viewed in its entirety).  The last hour consisted of a switchback trail made up of stone steps (moderate difficulty), which becomes rather steep towards the top.  My brother at this point was exhausted and was having difficulty catching his breathe, which caused our pace to slow considerably.  When we finally reached the top our dehydrated (did I mention neither one of us had brought water on this hike, smart I know right?) and overheated bodies were revived by initial drops of rain that would eventually lead to the monsoon amounts of rain we experienced on our way back down.

At the top the climber is rewarded with a truly amazing view of Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu.  The flag of Cusco along with a sign that reads "Mt. Putucusi" - 2,500 meters (8,500 ft.).  While resting on the two large rocks atop the mountain it was evident from all the carvings just how many people had climbed to the top.  We enjoyed the view of Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu as we watched all the buses climb and descend along the switchback road that leads to Machu Picchu.  When the rain began to pickup strength we decided to head back down, a trek which took us about 1 hour to accomplish.  Back in Aguas Calientes we discovered from our conversations with many tourists that Mt. Putucusi was by far a favorite site in the Urubamba river valley.   We even met up with a man who had decided to turn around and head back down the mountain when he was only about 20 minutes from the top, needless to say when we spoke with him his face was full of disappointment after receiving the news.

Mt. Putucusi is a site I would highly recommend to anyone who is deciding to travel to Aguas Calientes in the near future.  For those who are thinking about climbing the mountain I would recommend that you condition for it a little in advance as it can be quite taxing on the body, especially for those who don't hike very often.

UPDATE:  I WILL POST MORE PHOTOS OF MT. PUTUCUSI ASAP!