Tarma

Introducing Tarma

Not many independent travelers make it to Tarma and then linger. It is a pleasant, laid-back town surrounded on all sides by scrubby, brown dirt mountains and lies on the important route linking the capital Lima with its nearest jungle neighborhood – a steep drop down the ceja de la selva (eyebrow of the jungle) and a mere four-hour run for limeños (inhabitants of Lima) seeking an exciting tropical change from their bustling desert city. Tarma lies 60km east of La Oroya and locally wears the moniker ‘Pearl of the Andes.’ It is a good place to stop overnight or longer on any trip in and around this sector of the central Andes.

The city also has a long history. Hidden away in the mountains surrounding the town are overgrown Inca and pre-Inca ruins that have yet to be fully excavated. The town itself was founded by the Spanish soon after the conquest (although the exact date is uncertain). Nothing remains of the early colonial era, but the town has quite a number of attractive 19th- and early-20th-century houses that have white walls and red-tiled roofs.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009