Information about the city Piura
Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496. It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532. Piura declared its independence from Spain on 4 January 1821.
Piura has a desert and semi-desert climate on the coast and the western slopes of the Andes, whereas on the eastern slopes the climate is subtropical. Precipitation is sparse except during El Niño events, when rainfall is abundant and water flows through normally dry watercourses, causing flooding and large-scale land movements.
One of the best-known tourist attractions in Piura is La Esmeralda beach, known as Colan for it is located near the town of Colan. Colan beach is a very long beach with warm waters. Local people like to go there during holidays. There are also great spots for surfers, like Mancora Beach and Cabo Blanco.
Piura is host to a stunning mestizo culture (one of the oldest in South America, Piura is the third Spanish city founded on that continent) most famous for gastronomical dishes like Seco de chabelo, algarrobina-based drinks, many types of seafood and fish, like ceviche and Natilla Sweets. Popular crafts are the Chulucana Pottery and Catacaos is famous for its "Hats" and "Silversmith" arts. The small town of Simbila, is very popular for its handcrafts and pottery. The tondero and cumanana are the traditional music of mestizo Piura and northern parts of Lambayeque. There are also several famous Peruvian Waltz that came from these regions (northern Peruvians have their own style).
Information about the city Tingo María
Tingo María is the capital of Leoncio Prado Province in the Huánuco Region in central Peru. It has an urban population of around 55,000 (June 2007).
Tingo María was considered unreachable until 1936, when the Montaña Road reached the settlement. It was then that the state run Estacion Experimental Agricola was established due to its "comfortable" elevation (2,204 ft). In 1942, the U.S. Government began adding more funding to the station, and by 1960 over 40,000 acres (160 km²) of land were under cultivation, especially along the Huallaga River valley where land was level. Coffee was a particularly valuable crop. The city nickname is "the Door of the Amazonia."
The city is placed where two important rivers meet; the Monzón and the Huallaga river, a main contributor of the Marañón river. The city headquarters the National University of the Forest (UNAS-www.unas.edu.pe); it has 7 faculties, a botanical park, and first level facilities. Near the city there is the Tingo María National Park of 180 km² (43,000 acres (170 km2)) that preserves nature and a limestone mountain range in the shape of a woman that sleeps. It is called La Bella Durmiente (Spanish for Sleeping Beauty) or Pumarinri (Quechua for "cougar ear"). A legend explains the form of the range. The main attraction is a cave named Cueva de las Lechuzas (Spanish for "cave of the owls") (named after a colony of the superficially owl-like Oilbird found in it), probably the most attractive and accessible cave of Peru, though it is not the longest and deepest.
Tingo María has an airport served daily by regional jets and turbo-prop airplanes. A well-paved main road, now called "the Federico Basadre" Highway crosses the city halfway from Lima to Pucallpa; 16 km going to the east it meets the Marginal Highway that follows the river to the north and arrives at Tarapoto. A main road that comes from Casma port, on the coast of Ancash department, is being worked now. This road reinforces the position of Tingo María as a regional and national hub.
The mayor is Juan Picón Quedo, part of a local business family. A relevant industry working on Cacao is the Cooperativa Agroindustrial Naranjillo, that sells its products to foreign markets.
