Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [381]
Buses bound for Chiclayo pass by mostly in the late afternoon and cost S23 to S32 (eight hours). If coming from Tarapoto, you’ll find plenty of colectivo taxis for Chachapoyas (S10, 1½ hours) leaving from the junction.
The journey east from Pedro Ruíz is spectacular, climbing over two high passes, traveling by a beautiful lake, and dropping into fantastic high-jungle vegetation in between.
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POMACOCHAS
041 / pop 4500 / elev 2300
The dead giveaway that you have arrived in Pomacochas is the large lake known by the same name (‘puma lake’ in Quechua). A tranquil village nestled in a fetching agricultural valley, Pomacochas is one of the best places to try to see the Marvelous Spatuletail (Click here), arguably the world’s most beautiful and strange hummingbird.
Fifteen minutes west on the road to Pedro Ruíz, the San Lucas de Pomacochas interpretation center (7:30am-6pm; admission S15) maintains feeders on a 31-acre private reserve that attracts this and many other hummingbirds; the views over the valley and the plunging road from here are also spectacular. The center’s administrator, Santos Montenegro, may also show you the Spatuletail at the breeding ground on his poverty, on the west edge of town and fifteen minutes hike up into the scrub forest; his family does not formally charge for this excursion, but a donation would only be appropriate. Inquire at the center, about a S5 per person mototaxi ride away.
A few small hostals, including the Hostal Cajamarquino and the Hostal Oro Verde on the main strip through town charge about S30 for a room. La Colina on the east end of town has set meals for S6 to S10. The best place to stay is Puerto Pumas (712-0550/0551; www.puertopalmeras.com.pe/pumas.htm; Bolognesi 125, ste 1403; s/d S155/215) overlooking the lake. Surrounded by a lush flower- and bird-filled garden, the hotel is covered in original art and has a real mummy in the lobby (how it got there no one knows). It’s a tranquil place to unwind and certainly a better place to stop over than Pedro Ruíz.
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DAHLING, YOU LOOK MARVELOUS!
You don’t have to be a big-time bird-watcher to get turned on by the Marvelous Spatuletail (Loddigesia mirabilis), a rare and exquisitely beautiful hummingbird that lives in limited habitats of scrubby forest between 2000m and 2900m in northern Peru’s Utcubamba valley. As with most bird species, the males get the prize in the looks category, and the Marvelous male is no exception, with his shimmering blue crown and green throat and a sexy set of curved and freakishly long quills that splay out from his backside and end in wide, feather ‘rackets’ or ‘spatules.’ He can independently maneuver these long plumes into extravagant mating displays, crossing the two spatuletail feathers over each other or swinging them in front of his head as he hovers in front of a female.
As bewitching and beautiful as the Spatuletail is, scientists have wondered why the male would evolve such large, showy feathers at the expense of so much energy: as much as 50% of the bird’s calories go to working the spatuletails, which seem to get in the way when the handsome fellow is trying to navigate through the thickets or battle his notoriously competitive fellow-hummingbirds. Most ornithologists agree, however, that the tails are features of sexual selection, used to court the female Spatuletail.
According to some Peruvians in the Utcubamba valley, the Spatuletail’s most spectacular anatomical feature is its heart, which is considered an aphrodisiac when eaten. The hunting of the birds for this purpose has probably contributed to keeping its numbers low – perhaps less than 1000 pairs remain – although conservation efforts in the region have led to increased awareness about the precarious status of the bird, whose habitat is quickly diminishing due to deforestation and agricultural development, and the need to protect it. Some conservation centers – at KentiKafé (Click here) and the San Lucas de Pomacochas Interpretation Center (Click here)