Tarapoto

Map of Tarapoto by Antonio Raimoni 1874

Tarapoto was founded on August 20, 1782, by the Spanish bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón.[5] Its beginnings date back to the explorations of the Pocras and Chancas (old cultures of the Ayacucho region) who, when being conquered by the Inca Empire, headed a revolution led by the commander Ancohallo; a revolt that, when defeated, forced their tribal members to escape from terrible Inca vengeance.

Eventually settling down in the valleys of the Mayo and Cumbaza rivers, in what is now the Department of San Martín, they possibly formed the town of Lamas, before establishing a satellite in the valley of the rivers Cumbaza and Shilcayo, having as a central nucleus the Suchiche Lagoon (dried up in the colony). In this lagoon grew abundant Taraputus palms, a name that the Spanish bishop would later use when founding the city in this area of hunters and fishermen.

The city is located in the valleys of the Cumbaza and Shilcayo rivers, and is the center of the terrestrial networks and areas between the mountains, the coast and eastern Peru.

Tarapoto old church

Tarapoto is one hour by air from Lima and is served by the Cad. FAP Guillermo del Castillo Paredes Airport. This airport is the third-most important in Peru in flow of passengers and cargo. It operates flights to and from Lima on a daily basis, as well as being a stopover to other cities, such as Iquitos and Pucallpa, from Lima.

Lima can be reached by bus in approximately 28 hours. The route runs through Moyobamba and Pedro Ruiz before passing through the coastal city of Chiclayo.

Taxis and motorized rickshaws are frequently used as an inexpensive mode of transportation throughout Tarapoto. Due to the types of the engines used in many taxis, main intersections in Tarapoto are extremely noisy, especially at times of busy traffic. However recently there has been an attempt to certify rickshaws that abide by noise pollution standards.

Tarapoto Hospital

Tarapoto offers a variety of hotels and guesthouses for tourists and businessmen, both within the city and its surrounding area. A number of resorts also provide for more upmarket tourists.

Tarapoto is the site of the headquarters of the National University of San Martín, and the center of the cultural activity of the San Martín region.

In Tarapoto one can enjoy the most varied food typical of the jungle region. The area is famous for juane, made with rice, egg, olive and chicken, all wrapped up in leaves of bijao. Cured pork products are also common, most notably cecina and chorizo sausage.

Tarapoto is considered the gastronomic capital of the Peruvian Amazon, its enormous variety of typical dishes is the result of the intense miscegenation between the native indigenous cultures of the Amazon, European immigration, Japanese and Chinese immigration (the latter brought rice at the end of the century XIX and at the beginning of the XX century, intensifying its cultivation in the agricultural zone of the city), for which Tarapoto is the cradle of the Amazon gastronomy of Peru for being much older than the cities of Iquitos and Pucallpa, in the city you can enjoy the most varied typical foods of the jungle. Its shrimps are famous, those that are enjoyed in the ninajuanes; the well-known juane, made from rice, eggs, olives and chicken meat, wrapped in bijao leaves, as well as the exquisite chorizo and cecina that have been industrialized and are currently exported to large supermarkets throughout the country.

Juane, typical tarapoto food.

In the province of San Martín, especially Tarapoto and in almost the entire Peruvian jungle, there is a wide variety of typical dishes and drinks, which enjoy great national and international prestige, due to the proper preparation, the enormous variety of fruits of pleasant flavors, the ingredients used and because of their exotic nature.

Traditional food:

• Juane: It is a traditional dish at the San Juan festivities. It has the shape of a large tamale, prepared with rice, chicken and eggs; which is wrapped in a leaf called bijao.
• Ninajuane: It is a dish similar to the previous one in its presentation but it is prepared based on beaten eggs with chicken meat and wrapped in a banana leaf. Both are traditionally cooked in the so-called "tushpas", which are typical charcoal or firewood stoves.
• Tacacho with cecina: The tacacho is the fried and mashed banana that is mixed with pork butter, it is usually served accompanied by cecina, which is dried and smoked pork meat; or regional chorizo, which is a sausage prepared with the small intestines of the pig and stuffed with ground meat, but well seasoned.
• Inchicapi: It is a soup prepared with ground or liquefied peanuts, farm chicken, yucca, corn, coriander leaves, garlic, salt and cumin.
• Patarashca: It is a typical food of the jungle, which descends from the ancient settlers. This meal includes any type of fish from the area, wrapped in a banana leaf or from the plant called bijao, and is prepared roasted, baked or parboiled, of course with condiments.
• Timbuche: It is a soup of fresh fish, beaten eggs and cilantro, which is also known as the “raise dead” dish, due to the restorative properties it has after exhausting festive days.
• Meats from the mountains: The San Martin resident also feeds on animal meats that many hunters or "mountains" capture when they go to "mountain" (hunt in the jungle). Among these animals we have: deer, huangana, peccary, tapir or sachavaca, armadillo or carachupa, picuro or majaz, añuje, etc. Which are prepared in various ways, roasted, parboiled, in soups, fried, etc.
• Rumo-Api and Sara-Api: They are soups prepared with the previously mentioned bushmeat (wild animals), accompanied with ground cassava and ground corn, respectively.
• Masato: prepared drink made up of cassava, formerly it was chewed and allowed to ferment for approximately 8 days, this custom still persists in the native ethnic groups, currently it is prepared by blending it and adding yeast for fermentation, facilitating its consumption.
• Chicha de Maíz: a drink produced by the fermentation of corn, mixed with figs and leaves from the area, in ancient times, the fermentation of this drink was used as a liquor.
• Poroto Shirumbe: Typical food made with pork or pork legs, yucca and tarapotino beans or huasca beans91 (Phaseolus vulgaris).
• Aguajina: soft drink made from the pulp of the aguaje.
• Cocona: soft drink made from the fruit of the cocona.
• Chapo: soft drink made from ripe bananas In addition to liquors and exotic drinks typical of the Tarapotina culture: Rompecalzón (RC) (Pantybreaker ) Indanachado Siete Raíces (seven roots) 21 raices (21 roots) Uvachado Chuchuhuasi Huitochado Para para Siete Veces Sin Sacar (Seven Times Without Drawing) Levántate Lázaro (Arise Lazarus) Cerezachado y Acerola (Cherry and Acerola) Surichado Licor de Café (Coffee liquor) Licor de Aguaje (Aguaje Liqueur) Licor de Camu Camu (Camu Camu liqueur) Licor de Uva regional (Regional Grape Liqueur) Guarapo Licor de menta (Mint liquor) Macerados (macerated)

Pishurayacu waterfalls

The animal rescue Centre Urku,[10] the spa of Cumbaza, the archaeological remains of the petroglyphs of Polish (Bello Horizonte), abundant plant and animal life, the waterfalls of:

• Ahuashiyacu Falls
• Tamushal
• Pucayaquillo
• Huacamaillo
• Pishurayacu,
• Ahuashillo
• Tamushal
• Taytayacu
• Union Waterfall
• Toroyacu o Sunipicausani Falls
• Talliquihui
• Sabaloyacu
• Tununtunumba Falls
• and the Venice Lagoon are just a few of the area's attractions.

It is close to the largest lake of incredible beauty called Sauce or Laguna Azul (Blue Lagoon)

Visitors can enjoy a landscape blessed with a wide variety of flora and fauna, numerous waterfalls and opportunities for adventure tourism (such as white water rafting on the Mayo River, abseiling, jungle expeditions and treks).[11]

Hammocks hotel in Sauce - Tarapoto

Hotel bella terra in the blue lagoon - Tarapoto

Ahuashiyacu waterfall

Tarapoto is also one of the access points to the remote, but spectacular Rio Abiseo National Park.

For the top level university, Tarapoto has the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (National University of General San Martín) with 15 professional careers: Accounting, Agroindustrial Engineering (Juanjui), Agroindustry, Agronomy, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Ecology (Moyobamba), Education-Primary and Secondary (Rioja), Economics, Languages, Management, Medicine, Midwifery, Nursing, Systems Engineering, and Tourism Management.

The National University of San Martín includes an important museum, the Museo Regional-UNSM, which is operated through FUDES (Fundación Para el Desarrollo de la Selva-Universidad Nacional de San Martín). The Regional Museum of the National University of San Martin has a notable anthropology section, which includes both ethnographic and archaeological collections from Peruvian Amazonia.

There are other universities with satellite campuses in Tarapoto. The Universidad César Vallejo offers careers in Accounting, Law, Psychology, Management, Systems Engineering. Other schools include the Universidad Peruana Union, the Universidad Alas Peruanas, the Instituto Superior Público de Tarapoto, the Instituto Superior Tecnológico Nororiental de la Selva, and numerous private vocational education centers. For special education, Tarapoto has the Education Centre No. 001 for children with Mental Retardation and/or physical limitations and Education Centre No. 002 or Blind Rehabilitation Center (CREC) for the visually impaired.

• Comandante FAP Guillermo del Castillo Paredes Airport - Tarapoto's airport
• Lamas, Peru - a town near Tarapoto
• Peruvian Amazon
• San Martín Province
• San Martín Region
• Tarapoto District
• Unión Tarapoto - Tarapoto's football (soccer) team.

• Media related to Tarapoto at Wikimedia Commons

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