Yurimaguas

Yurimaguas is a city in the Peruvian rainforest. It has 47 113 inhabitants (2005) and is the capital of the province of Alto Amazonas in the region of Loreto.

Geography and Economics

Yurimaguas is located between the Andes and the Amazon River source Huallaga, 136 km from the hill town of Tarapoto and 500 km from the Amazonian city of Iquitos. This location makes Yurimaguas an important transhipment point: while here goods are transhipped from the Amazon basin of ships to trucks, the products of the coastal region of Peru are often Yurimaguas to Iquitos and Brazil. In addition, there are numerous passenger ferries to Iquitos. Before the construction of the Panama Canal many goods were transported from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Amazon and Yurimaguas.

Beyond the importance of transportation, the region's economy is dominated largely agricultural, but tourism also is of increasing importance for the region. In the sparsely populated region also drug cultivation has a certain share of the economy.

Culture

Yurimaguas has a distinct ethnic and cultural diversity. This is also reflected in the amount of languages ​​spoken here. In addition to the Spanish here languages ​​from three different language families are used: Quechua, Jibaro and Cahuapana. Around one third of the population is attributed to indigenous populations.

Climate

The climate is tropical in Yurimaguas, the annual average temperature is 26 ° C. The rainy season is from December to March. During this time the road is to Tarapoto often barely passable.