Piura

Introducing Piura

After several hours of crossing the vast emptiness of the Sechura Desert, Piura materializes like a mirage on the horizon, enveloped in quivering waves of heat. It’s hard to ignore the sense of physical isolation forced on you by this unforgiving environment; the self-sufficiency imposed upon early settlers may explain why they identify as Piuran rather than Peruvian. Being so far inland, the scorching summer months will have you honing your radar for air-conditioning as you seek out chilled venues in which to soothe your sweltering skin. But the lovely narrow, cobbled streets and charismatic colonial houses of central Piura make up for the fact that there’s little else for tourists to do here. Its role as a hub for the spokes of the northern towns means that you’ll probably end up spending some time here sighing in the relief of the occasional afternoon breeze.

Francisco Pizarro settled the first city in this district in 1532 as he whirred past on his way to trounce the Incas. It was originally located in Sullana, which was not the smartest move given that the oppressive heat and disease-ridden river there meant that settlers had a rather unpleasant time of it all. Fed up, they moved the city around a few times before resettling in Paita on the coast. The run of bad luck continued as Paita was sacked by English pirates in 1577. The very miffed settlers finally moved their city for the last time to its current spot.

Intense irrigation of the desert has made Piura a major agricultural center that feeds the masses, while rich coastal oil fields near Talara run overtime fueling the machinery of development. The department was hard hit by the El Niño floods of 1983, which destroyed almost 90% of the rice, cotton and plantain crops, and also caused serious damage to roads, bridges, buildings and oil wells in the area.

Last updated: Sep 29, 2008