Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [309]
Festivals & Events
Held from October 12 to 15, the gaudy religious festival of El Señor Cautivo, rarely seen by tourists, packs every hotel in town. Pilgrims pour in from all over the country to pay tribute to the statue of the Seńor Cautivo, which sits in the town’s cathedral throughout the year; some have walked continuously for months from and Ecuador and crawl their last few miles on hands and knees. It’s an unforgettable sight.
Sleeping & Eating
Hostal Alex (47-1101; Bolívar 112; s/d without bathroom S10/15) One of the cheapest choices in town.
Hostal Oro Verde (41-1056; Salaverry 381; r per person without bathroom S10, s/d S30/40) Just off the plaza, this place has the usual budget bare-bones rooms as well as much nicer, newer rooms with TV, bathroom and steaming hot water.
Hotel Samanga Municipal (/fax 47-1049; s/d S28/40) On the Plaza de Armas, Hotel Samanga Municipal is the pick of the bunch, with friendly staff, a decent restaurant and rooms with TV and hot showers.
For meals, there are pollerías aplenty, but the best restaurant is Flor de Milan (47-1093; Tacna 111; meals S3-9; 7am-10pm), with fancy checkered tablecloths and a small menu serving local dishes. Oasis (47-1095; Arequipa 215; 9am-5pm) specializes in ceviches and chicharrones (deep-fried chunks of pork).
Getting There & Away
Transportes Vegas (47-1080) and El Poderoso Cautivo (47-1478) on the plaza both have buses to Piura (S18, six hours); Vegas goes at 8:15am and 6pm; El Poderoso Cautivo goes at 8:30am, 9:30am and 6pm.
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TALARA
073 / pop 100,400
Once a small fishing village, Talara today is the site of Peru’s largest oil refinery, producing 60,000 barrels of petroleum a day. Although there are some good beaches near Talara, the town has little to interest the tourist. It’s a good idea for women travelers to stay alert.
Negritos, 11km south of Talara by road, is on Punta Pariñas and is the most westerly point of the South American continent.
Some 20 hotels house oil workers, but water supply is an ongoing problem. Hostal Grau (38-2841; Grau 77A; s/d S20/35) is clean and friendly and has hot water for part of the day. Gran Hotel Pacífico (38-5449; s/d S72/127; ) is the best place in town and has a bar, cafe and restaurant.
Star Perú flies from Lima to Talara with a stop in Cajamarca. The flight leaves the capital at 12:30pm and returns at 3:30pm.
Buses leave for Piura (S7, two hours) and Tumbes (S7, two hours), stopping in Máncora (S3, 40 minutes) at least every hour.
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CABO BLANCO
073
The Pan-American Hwy runs parallel to the ocean north of Talara, with frequent glimpses of the coast. This area is one of Peru’s main oil fields, and pumps are often seen scarring both the land and the sea with offshore oil rigs.
About 40km north of Talara is the sleepy town of Cabo Blanco, one of the world’s most famous fishing spots. Set on a gently curving bay strewn with rocks, the town has a flotilla of fishing vessels floating offshore where the confluence of warm Humboldt currents and El Niño waters creates a unique microcosm filled with marine life. Ernest Hemingway was supposedly inspired to write his famous tale The Old Man and the Sea after fishing here in the early 1950s. The largest fish ever landed on a rod here was a 710kg black marlin, caught in 1953 by Alfred Glassell Jr. The angling is still good, though 20kg tuna are a more likely catch than black marlin, which have declined and are now rarely over 100kg. Fishing competitions are held here and 300kg specimens are still occasionally caught. From November to January, magnificent 3m-high pipeline waves attract hard-core surfers.
La Cristina is a 32ft deep-sea fishing boat, with high-quality Penn tackle, which can be rented through Hostal Merlin and other hotels in the area for US$350 per six-hour day, including drinks