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Charles Wiegand

Roaming South America

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There are 466 blog posts for you to enjoy.

Moyobamba and Yantaló, Perú

July 26, 2025

moyobamba-sign.jpg The Moyobamba city-name sign is in the Plaza de Armas.

Moyobamba is a city of about 53,000 people, located in the northeast of Perú. It is on the east side of the Andes Mountains at about 860 meters (2821 feet), It sits in the Mayo River Valley. The modern city of Moyobamba was founded in 1540. The Spanish founded the city on the site of an Inca settlement. It was also the first city founded by the Spanish in the Peruvian Amazon region, and is the second oldest Spanish-founded city east of the Andes. The city is also known as The City of Orchids. Not because there are many orchids inside the city, but because the surrounding mountains contain some 3,500 species of orchids.

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Rioja, Perú

July 24, 2025

rioja-sign.jpg The Rioja city-name sign is in the Plaza de Armas.

Rioja, west of Moyobamba, is a town of about 25,000. It has a much larger commercial area than I expected for a town of this size. The town sits at about 850 meters (2782ft) and has a near-perfect climate, same as Moyobamba.

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Calzada, Perú

July 22, 2025

calzada-sign.jpg The Calzada city-name sign is in the Plaza de Armas.

Calzada is a very small "town" west of Moyobamba, in the northcentral region of Perú, on the east sidd of the mountains. When I say very small, I'm not exagerating, it's tiny. The town and the surrounding district includes about 5300 people. The native population of the area has become practically extinct, and their few descendants have been assimilated in the process of cultural development. No effort has been made to rescue their traditions or innate cultural contributions that would strengthen their local education and culture. All rather sad, but that is how this town has developed.

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Soritor, Perú

July 21, 2025

soritor-sign.jpg The Soritor city-name sign is in the Plaza de Armas.

Soritor might not make Perú's top-10 travel lists, and after walking its streets for a few hours, I understand why. While it does have a certain rural charm, the town feels like it's stuck between eras - some signs of progress, but a lot of rough edges. Most of the roads are still dirt, which kicks up a constant layer of dust. And although the Plaza de Armas has been nicely remodeled, much of the town looks and feels like a construction site that was paused halfway through.

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Tabalosos, Perú

July 19, 2025

tabalosos-sign.jpg The city-name sign is in Parque Recreativo Infantil at Jiron San Martin and Jiron Mariano Ignacion Prado.

Tucked in a narrow valley just north of Tarapoto, the little town of Tabalosos isn't trying to impress anyone - and honestly, that's kind of its charm. It's not a tourist town, it doesn't have flashy sights, and if you're stopping here, you're probably either visiting family or grabbing a bite to eat on your way through. And yes, if you're looking for empanadas like I was, don't bother - they don't exist here. Not a single one in sight.

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Chip Wiegand

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Contact me:

chip at wiegand dot org

I used to teach English as a foreign language in Barranquilla, Colombia. Now I'm retired and traveling throughout South America.

I'm from Kennewick, Washington, USA. In my previous life, as I call it, I was an IT guy, systems administrator, computer tech, as well as a shipping/receiving guy and also worked as a merchandising guy in a RV/Camping store.

©2002 - 2026 Charles Wiegand