What Is In Tarapoto?

We set off for Tarapoto from Cuispes via Pedro Ruiz and Moyobamba (where we spent the night) on the 16th November. It was nice to be back away from the dry desert and in the humid jungle again. Tarapoto is known as the City of Palms (named, in fact, after the palm tree called taraputus), and is located in the San Martin province in the low jungle on a high plateau about 350 meters above sea level. It is on the very edge of the Amazon jungle, and as such, is an up and coming tourism attraction for people wishing to head out on expeditions there. We had seen Tarapoto briefly when we flew back from Iquitos to Lima, and the town seemed to be slap bang in the middle of the jungle when we viewed it from the air, so we were keen to at least see if we could visit it ourselves.

The region’s economy is driven by agriculture and Tarapoto itself is a thriving center of education and technology, focused around the National University of San Martin. Settled between two rivers, the Cumbaza and Shilcayo, farmers grow all manner of crops, from tobacco and corn to bananas and chocolate (cacao). It is known that many illegal operations are also in effect here. Illegal logging and coca farming, although no-one we met would openly assert that this was so. The region got so bad with illegal activity in the 1980s, that it became the base for the left-wing terrorist organization MRTA, but eventually they, alongside their druglord compadres, were jailed or wiped out. They were the group who made one last stand in Lima, taking over the Japanese ambassador’s residence, before being killed in totality by Peruvian special forces.

We decided to see some of this agriculture for ourselves – not the illegal kind, of course. We visited a cigar factory / farm, where they grow their own tobacco, dry it, and roll it, into expensive cigars – the Tabacalera del Oriente. This fascinating factory had a tour all around it’s operation where we saw the whole process that goes into making the cigars.

The tobacco was dried out in the sun, and in heated rooms, and then sorted by many ladies in a sweat-shop style room, ready to be rolled. The rolling room itself was by far the most interesting, with three different types of cigars being rolled by only two or three people. The types are simply mild, strong and stronger, and are rolled all by hand, using some natural gum to seal the cigars edges and ends.

There was a storeroom attached to the rolling room, and we got some pictures in there, but it turns out that the tobacco was so strong in the air, that we could not stay in there for long.

The tour was a little disjointed for us, as they were all undertaken in Spanish, and we kind of joined one tour in the middle, and then joined another one at the start, but it was fascinating, nonetheless, to see the tobacco in so many different stages of preparation. No chemicals were added to the cigars, but obviously the tobacco itself was harmful enough to keep us away from buying any of them. I quit smoking over two years before, so I was not keen on starting with cigars after so much time.

From one addictive habit to another. Our next stop (via taxi as these factories are on the edge of town) was a chocolate factory called Orquidea. They were vey welcoming too, with tours run around their small operation, again in Spanish. We saw the cacao tree with the strange looking brown fruits (they look like large raisins), and walked through the areas where the workers (who were working as a cooperative) were turning them into chocolate.

First they harvest the pods, then they separate the good ones from the bad. The beans were removed manually and then transported to the fermentation area (the seeds or beans inside were covered by a creamy and sticky white pulp). The beans were then left for six days to ferment, and then moved to a new area to be dried.

The drying process seemed to be the most demanding – the beans need to be stirred every hour in the first day, and every two hours every subsequent day until five days had passed!

Orquidea then packed and stored the beans in jute bags and exported them, as well as making them into dark and milk chocolate for sale both nationally and internationally. The two markets were given different flavors – including Quinoa, Moca, Leche (milk), Coco and Dark chocolate. All of the chocolate was organic, and we decided to not just try some, but buy some! Pretty good stuff, but I still prefer Cadbury’s and Francesca still prefers Hershey’s.

The factory area where they made the chocolate was also open for our inspection, and we had to wear full lab-coats, hairnets and even shoe coverings so we didn’t contaminate anything! The stored beans were bought into this area and firstly they were toasted. They were then peeled and grinded, before being tempered into chocolate (with milk and sugar, etc.). The final step was to mold the chocolate, before cooling it, thereby making it ready for consumption.

Almost leaving our rucksack behind, we taxied back to the center of town and dropped into the Regional Museum (National University of San Martin), which is an old-style collection of archaeology, mythology, cultural heritage and taxidermy. Most of the collections were unique and dust-covered, and all of them were pretty interesting despite seemingly being semi-abandoned.

Various insects were displayed pinned in cabinets, including some huge beetles. Big cats, armadillos and even boa skeletons and skins were displayed right next to photos of indigenous women, colonial spinning machines and pre-Hispanic ceramics.

A model representation of some petroglyphs at Belo Horizonte, some 9km from Tarapoto were represented. A description advised that they were carved by the Moyorunas who were named by the Spanish for their shaven heads. Apparently they are spiritual or religious rock carvings, but it was not really clear what they were doing in this area, as they were supposed to be based in the Venezuela area! Strange…

My favorite piece was a carved coconut that looked like a head, with a hairpiece that was actually carved also out of the coconut itself!

After this, we went looking for some jungle to explore. As Tarapoto is surrounded by it, it was not difficult. We walked up to the edge of town and decided to take a taxi a bit further down a dirt road, which led through Takiwasi (an outlying village) alongside the River Cumbaza to an animal rescue center / zoo, called Centro URKU.

We walked up the steep slope to the zoo and pad our entrance fee to walk around and see the various animals they have. Our first encounter was with some Spider Monkeys in a cage – the guided tour was all in Spanish, and we were joined by a moronic mother and daughter local duo, who I did not care for one bit.

We saw some great animals we had never before seen, such as a Night Monkey, who had a great and inquisitive personality. Some kind of Guan was difficult to get a picture of because the stupid bird kept weaving and bobbing around.

Squirrel Monkeys were loose in the trees all around us, as were the dangerous Bullet Ant, with it’s extremely painful bite and aggressive tendencies. A Black and White Hawk Eagle was stunning, as was a more cooperative Spix Guan. A tortoise trod on my foot, and tried to nibble my toe, but by far the most interesting experience was seeing an extremely rare and hard to see Pacarana, which is a large rodent usually only found in groups of four or five, only at night. The one we saw was handed in as it’s mother had been killed by a car, as far as we could make out. They were keeping the hibernating and sleeping Pacarana youngster in a box in a room on its own. We peeked at it, but managed to not wake it up. Hopefully the little guy will make it, but it is not likely, as they were feeding it cow’s milk, and this sometimes has extremely terminally ill effects when well-intentioned but uninformed people give it to orphaned wild animals.

On our walk back into town, we also saw some wild Brown Mantled Tamarin Monkeys. We had seen these before in the Bolivian jungle. They are very curious little critters who scamper, jump and play around in the trees. They always seem to be a little nervy too, as they stare at you from behind a tree, wondering who these other large, strangely dressed, great apes are! These little guys also look a little like bears. Very cute.

The next day I explored a little further down this road and made it all the way to the protected area at the end, called Alto Shilcayo (open every day from 6am to 6pm). The guide told me about a nice bird walk that I took, but as I was wearing sandals, it was pretty uncomfortable, and I didn’t see anything on this walk.

Our last day in Tarapoto (the 19th November), and I spent it back at Alto Shilcayo, named for the river running through it. I had arranged with the guide to take me into the protected mountainous area on a long hike, hopefully to see some more nice natural wonders.

We had to cross the river some 16 times, as we hiked all the way up it, to see some waterfalls. The walk was not easy, with some areas being very rocky, and some areas crossing fast flowing and deep water.

We found some pretty interesting things – including a colorful yellow frog, a colorful red and black seed that was used in native jewelry. A little puddle offered up numerous tadpoles that were feasting on mosquito eggs.

We first visited the Cascada de la Novia, and then the Cascada el Tamushal waterfalls. These were pleasant enough, but the trip there was a little tricky and difficult. My guide got a little worried when it started to rain, because of potential flash flooding, so we hustled and moved on to another higher area.

The walk up to another area was filled with Capuchin Monkeys – and for a moment I thought they were going to attack us! However, this area was actually cleared purposefully for an animal rehabilitation program that was supposed to put animals back in the jungle there. It was strange though, as most of the animals were not originally from this area!

A wooden shack sat in the middle of this clearing, surrounded my Capuchins and even a Spider Monkey. I saw some Coatis, and my guide even told me that there were some Peccaries (wild pigs) around, which was worrying.

A strange half-naked and hairy man emerged from the cabin at the guide’s behest. He was introduced as Orlando Zagazeta, who has apparently been living here, among these animals, three hours walk from the nearest road, for many years. It seemed a bit crazy to me, that this guy had given up his life to be there, especially as the animals had little to no chance of adapting to the new jungle, especially as Orlando fed them every day. Apparently the peccary were out in the jungle but they always came back for teatime!

This little mad experiment has been going on for over 15 years, and Orlando told me that he had paid for all of the animal’s food himself (and built the house there himself). I’m not sure how long that can last, as he also said that he doesn’t get any money from external sources at all!

He showed me some magazine articles he was featured in, and in them, there were some hideous pictures of the animals when they were injured. It was great to see them running around happy and healthy. I even saw the Brown Mantled Tamarin Monkeys, and wondered if it was the same group Francesca and I had seen before. I wished Orlando well, and we left, taking a different route back over the mountain, away from the river.

We exited the protected area via one of the cooperative’s managers holiday homes, which was strange – it was surrounded by fruit orchards which the guide helped himself to. He literally filled his rucksack with bananas and we set off again!

I got back safe and sound, and we left the next day, on the 20th November. Tarapoto was a nice change from the coastal desert environment that we had become accustomed to – it, along with Chachapoyas, is definitely an up and comer, which we will most likely revisit.