Roaming South America

Ilo, Perú

July 17, 2023

Ilo, Perú, has a population of about 67,000. Ilo is a coastal town but not a beach town, as you can see in the photos in the photo album, there is no actual beach here. There are a couple gravel/rock 'beaches' and north of town is the area called Pacocha, which does have a beach.

The Chiribaya people lived in this region before the 16th century conquistadores came in a took over. At first, they settled in the area that is called Pacocha but it was soon flooded due to high tides. Most of the people moved to what became Ilo. When the Spanish moved into the area they brought with them Olive seedlings and since then until the 20th century olives groves were the leading economic support of the region. With the completion of a pier in the 19th century inernational trade took off providing an even bigger boost to the economy. Now the city is supported more by mining and fishing. The government of Bolivia (a landlocked country) was given a 99-year lease on land for a port for their use. Whether or not that is still the case I haven't confirmed, apparently the lease was lost during the War of the Pacific in the 19th century.

Ilo has a desert climate, even sitting on the coast. The average daytime high of 20° C (68° F), and the nightly average low of 15° C (59° F). The city's elevation is about 15 meters (49 feet), though it has a couple of terraced neighborhoods going up the steep slope to the desert above town at about 180 meters (591 feet). The average yearly rainfall amounts to 60 mm (2.4 inches) of rain.

So, my impressions: I have written previously that I don't much care for beach or desert towns, but it depends, after all, I liked Tucson, Arizona, but that was the Sonoran Desert and completely different from these deserts here in Perú and Chile, the Altiplan Desert and the Atacama Desert. And I really don't care for beach town, but Ilo doesn't have beaches, it has a rocky shoreline. But, it still suffers from the salt corrosion issues of all coastal cities. At any rate, of all the coastal cities I have visited this one is my favorite - the downtown is easily walkable and clean, there's a vibrant waterfront and a nice boardwalk that is being expanded considerably. But, the climate is a bit on the cool side for me to ever live here.

My goal is to find a new place to live. So to reach that goal, I am traveling most of South America, visiting the countries of Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, and Chile, passing through Argentina, visiting Paraguay, passing through a bit of Brazil, and finally visiting Uruguay. I have a list of towns, about 70 that meet these qualifications: Cities with average day temperatures of 22-28° C (72-83° F) and night temps of 14° C (57° F) and higher; and a population between 28,000-300,000. I analyzed climate and population data of around 700 towns in the countries mentioned above and then pulled out the ones that meet the previously mentioned criteria, which leaves about 70. My preference leans towards towns of less than 100,000 people.  And, now that I have visited more than 30 towns/cities, I've decided I will probably want an inland town. I love the beach and walking in the warm water, but getting sunburned is just too easy, even on a cloudy day. At least here in Ecuador. I've also decided that any town with more than 100,000 population will be too big. I've decided that any small town/city (less than around 80,000 population) that meets the temp specifications and has a supermarket and ATM is one worth considering to live in.

My goal is to visit the towns and discover which one calls out to me - "Chip, Chip, make your new home here, this is your new home town". That hasn't happened yet, but the towns listed below are very close to giving me that feeling. At any rate, I am not visiting tourist attractions or archeological sites, etc, those will have to wait for another trip through South America.

At this point in my journey, I had ten towns on my Top 10 list, but I narrowed it down to four:

• Tingo Maria, Perú
• Moyobamba, Perú
• Catamayo, Ecuador
• Puyo, Ecuador

During my travels in Ecuador I visited 32 towns/cities. In Perú, I visited 27 towns/cities; in Chile, only five towns; and in Argentina, I visited 16 towns. In Uruguay, I visited five towns, and in Brazil, three. And in Paraguay I have visited 26 cities. That's 114 towns/cities outside of the many, as in 60 or more, I visited in Colombia while living there for 9 1/2 years.

Next up: Arequipa, Perú (a second time).