Roaming South America

Tocache, Perú

August 12, 2023

Tocache, Perú, is a city in the northcentral-east part of Perú. It is alongside the Huallaga River with the Amazon region starting on across the low mountains on the east side. This valley is between the larger Eastern Range and the smaller Sub-Andean Belt. East of that is the Amazon Basin.

The area where Tocache sits has been inhabited by several native groups as far back as before the era of the Incas. The people in the river valley lived on agriculture, fishing, gathering, and trade with the native groups living in the mountains. They would trade cacao, salt, and other products. In the 1770s the Franciscans arrived and settled in the area. They built churches and evangelized the native people. The town, as all of the towns in the Selva Alta region of Peru, grew through several boom times - the end of the 19th century saw the exploitation of rubber; throughout the 20th century there were booms due to coffee, tobacco, and fine timber industries; the 1970s saw the oil palm industry boom.

Tocache has a tropical climate. The average daytime high of 31° C (87° F), and the nightly average low of 22° C (72° F). The city's elevation averages 497 meters (1631 feet). The average yearly rainfall amounts to 2238 mm (88 inches) of rain.

So, my impressions: The city itself is noisy and dusty and there is a fair amount of litter in the streets. The city has nothing of any particular significance or interest. Everything is dirty from the dust kicked up from the river-rock roads. Most of the roads are sufaced with river rock, an awful surface for both driving and walking. But, the river is right there, next to the city, so why not? Anyway, it also means the city is dusty and everything is covered in dust. While out walking along the street I noticed at least one clothing shop that every piece of clothing wrapped in dry-cleaning plastic. The town has a malecon, a riverside park trail, but it appears to be an older construction and in need of renovation. There's no architecture of note, not even the town church. They also don't have even one modern supermarket/grocery store. Outside the city there are many places to visit - caves, waterfalls, rivers, ecological parks, etc.

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 70 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 these towns on it:

• Moyobamba, Perú
• Puyo, Ecuador
• Catamayo, Ecuador
• Mazamari, Perú
• Juan Juí
• La Merced, Perú
• Encarnación, Paraguay
• Formosa, Argentina

During my travels in Ecuador I visited 32 towns/cities. In Perú, I visited 33 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 120 towns/cities outside of 77 I visited in Colombia while living there for 9 1/2 years.

Next up: Juan Juí, Perú.