Roaming South America

Mazamari, Perú

July 27, 2023

Mazamari, Perú, has a population of about 45,000. This is my second visit to Mazamari because I like it enough to visit twice and put it on my top 10 list of potential new home towns.

I wrote about Mazamari here in my blog dated February 18, 2023, so you can read the complete story there. This time I am revisiting and seeing a bit more of the town. I have now met two people here that speak at least some English, though barely conversational. Back in February during my visit there was one afternoon rain shower, and now in my first two days here there has been rain showers both afternoons. They are typically short and often heavy. I hiked to the top of the antenna hill with a friend and her daughter, the hill is at the edge of town. I took a few pics of the city, they're in the photo album.

So, my impressions: Mazamari is nothing special, but outside the town in the mountains are places to explore, hike to waterfalls, etc. The town has many tour businesses to take visitors out in Jeeps to see the sites. The town itself is very nondescript, but it is clean and quiet. Compared to Ica, for example, it is heaven here. Ica is incredibly noisy with all the nonstop horn-honking, but here, I hear very little horn honking. Here the air is clean and fresh, life is quiet.

Here in Mazamari are a few decent coffee shops. I stopped at one and chatted with the lady who owns it for quite a while. She told me of places around the town to visit. I've said it before - the friendliest people I have encountered are here in Perú, and particularly in the Selva region. The Selva region is the area on the east side of the Andes Mtns and east up to the Amazon region. The Selva is a beautiful green land of valleys and low mountains, coffee farms and jungle, with many orchards and farms mixed in. It's a very relaxed and tranquil area.

As I wrote in my previous blog about Mazamari, I have met only one person who speaks at least some English. Well, it turns out one of the employees at this hotel also speaks a little English, so I introduced the two to each other so they can become friends and practice their English with each other. Before they met, neither knew anyone else in town to practice with.

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, Chile, Argentina, 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 130 towns/cities (not including more than 60 in Colombia), I've decided I will 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 have visited very few tourist attractions and archeological sites, etc, those will have to wait for another trip through South America.

My Top 10 list has eight towns on it:

• Tingo Maria, Perú
• Moyobamba, Perú
• Puyo, Ecuador
• Catamayo, Ecuador
• Mazamari, Perú
• La Merced, Perú
• Encarnación, Paraguay
• Formosa, Argentina

During my travels in Ecuador I visited 32 towns/cities. In Perú, I visited 28 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: Satipo, Perú.