Chazuta - Pottery town by tradition

Chazuta has one of the oldest ceramics in the region and that funerary urns were recently discovered. Chazuta ceramics are utilitarian and decorative, some examples are the vessels and pitchers to put water or chicha, plates, candle holders, small pots, planters and chickens to store eggs. Chazuta is visited by national and foreign tourists generating development and work. Making known to the country and the world its art.

The pottery is made of mud and using natural elements, such as the resin of a tree (Sealing) to give it the special shine and different types of soil to give it the colors

The Huallaga River is a long river in Peru, a tributary of the Marañón River, therefore part of the upper Amazon River basin. It has a length of 1138 km. Already in the department of Huánuco, it is almost always directed in a general north direction, by an important inter-Andean valley between the province of Ambo and the district of Santa María del Valle in the province of Huánuco. It reaches the capital Ambo, from where the Central Highway 3N will accompany you through the valley. It continues to descend, passing through Tomayquichua and Huánuco, the departmental capital, already at 1900 meters above sea level (120,000 inhabitants in 2005). Turn the river to the east, accompanied by highway 18A that will soon leave you, in Santa María del Valle, to cross the ports of the mountain range. After a short stretch he returns to the north and after passing Japuar, he is again accompanied by the 18A, after his shortcut through the mountains. After leaving San Juan behind, the river will be for a stretch (about 15 km.) The western edge of the Tingo María National Park. Soon arrives in Tingo Maria, the capital of the province of Leoncio Prado, a small city of just over 55,000 inhabitants that has a small airport and known as «Door of the Amazon» or the City of Sleeping Beauty (by a chain mountainous that looks like a woman lying down).

Follow the river to the north and soon reach Nuevo Progreso, where it enters the department of San Martín and reaches the city of Tocache (23,611 inhabitants in 2007), the capital of the homonymous province of Tocache. Continue through Puerto Pizana, Balsayacu, Huacamayu, San Julián, Sion, Valle and Tambillo. Get on the left to the Hauyabamba River (with its important tributary, the Abiseo River) and arrive immediately to Juanjuí, called "Historic Cradle of the Great Pajatén" by the pre-Inca ruins that are there or "city of charms" is the capital from the province of Mariscal Cáceres, which had more than 55,000 inhabitants. in 2005 and it also has an airport. Turn a little to the northeast, reaching the small town of Bellavista (22,116 inhabitants), capital of the homonymous province of Bellavista. Follow Picota (7,941 inhabitants in 2007), Machungo and Utcurarca, and take the Mayo River on the right bank. Then it passes through Chazuta, Navarro, Quillacaca and Sacareto, where it again turns northeast. Follow Relax, Santa Elena and Bonaparte, where you enter the department of Loreto.

It continues through Boca del Chipari and Yurimaguas (45,348 inhabitants in 2007), known as the "Pearl of Huallaga", the capital of the province of Alto Amazonas, located at the confluence with the Paranapura River, only 148 meters above sea level, in the middle of the jungle Peruvian Continue northwest, passing through Puerto Adolfo, Esperanza, Nuevo Corina and Arahuante. It flows shortly thereafter into the Marañón River, to which it pours its waters along the right bank, near Puntilla. It has a great ichthyological wealth, being navigable in rafts and canoes with outboard motors.

This riverside beach of sand and stones is located on the banks of the Huallaga River, which is subject to changes in water levels in the wet and dry seasons. During the dry season, extensive sandbars are exposed along the river and remain dry until the beginning of the next wet season.

This riverside beach of sand and stones constitutes the nesting and feeding habitat for a group of resident and migratory birds, some of which nest exclusively in this type of habitat. Puntayado Beach is also ideal for camping and bonfires on clear nights and of course see the stars in all their splendor.

It turns out that the tolls of our area in their eagerness to overcome the current, have to pass through the area of ​​the rapids of Chumía, which means that the concentration of them in the river increases in the stretch of narrowing, and probably that certain species and individuals of certain characteristics, seek to make it stuck to the banks and between the rocks, because these obstacles reduce the force of the current and cause sedimentation of particles that probably determine particular feeding conditions. Known this since time immemorial, the riverside populations near the area met in the place practicing and / or developing different techniques and fishing gear on the shore, such as the "nasa", "tarrafeo" and "jala jala" . The first is a very ingenious gadget as a trap, built on the same rapid but obviously close to the shore. It is made up of a structure of sticks anchored to the rocks and moored by others that make up the catwalk, on which it is "woven" with thin pieces, an inclined platform or "ramp" raised in the middle of the current and that is designed to " to welcome "the unsuspecting pejes that have been saving the breakers by vigorous and almost athletic jumps, but that will not return to them - the sparkling waters - because the ramp has at its upper end, along its entire length, a kind of" eyelash ”of sticks tilted in the opposite direction to the sliding of the fish on it, product of gravity as its own powerful contortions. It is then the “trappers” (term that I just invented) who are in charge of managing the NASA, being vigilant about the fall of some fish, and being very agile to grab them and put them in the basket before they end up returning to the river .

The tarrafa or "atarraya" as it is known on the coast, is a conical, ingenious and gradually personal network designed by generations of human brains in contact with nature and the challenges that it demands, of small and manageable diameter (2.5, 3 and up to 4 meters), with cocada or “points” of one to six fingers apart, with ballast leads all around it and with an inner “bag” to safely catch the tolls that in an attempt to escape They will end up more tangled than ever. The mesh finally carries a rope inserted to the center as an umbilical cord because at no time should it be released from its wearer and in many cases “creator”. The tarrafa must be thrown into the air with great skill and even art so that it falls completely extended over the current, or as little frown as possible if the chosen fishing point is among the large rocks that populate the shore. The fact is that as soon as the net falls into the water, it must be quickly anchored in order to catch the pejes that were passing through at that moment, or to cover them if for some reason they were still under their projection. But if it was thrown in a zone of strong current, neither way it will be completely anchored, so it must be collected almost immediately, which means a considerable and sustained effort for the weight of the network and eventually that of the capture, and by the mere resistance that makes a water absolutely alive. All this aggravated by the balance that must be taken to pull it while literally perched on a rock, at the risk that you fall into the white waters and get lost forever among the Yacurunas, beings of Amazonian mythology that inhabit cities that are in the bottoms of the great rivers and lakes, so equal and with everything that exists on the surface, including banks, shops and others. If the tarrafa is thrown into the calmer waters of the shore, in a bottom that is not precisely "even" but covered with stones, after the mesh has been anchored - and especially if you feel pulls on the net - that it is only the indication that a dam of considerable size has fallen; immediately the tarrafero must be submerged in the water to close the cracks or points free of enclosure that may have remained between the stones, and to carry the “known” pejes inside the bag that are even placed upright or “upside down” to go unnoticed to the "sweep" that is done with the feet to induce them to be introduced in the aforementioned attachment. It is not a small thing, in Chumía when you are lucky, in a single set you can collect 3 and up to 4 maidens, or 20 chiripiras, or 40 and even more of the small sardines and mojarras !.

The place is charming, hidden at the foot of the Cordillera Escalera and three stone throws from the Huallaga River. The love of Jorge and Emma, and the knowledge they share about honey, propolis, and everything they produce in Pasikiwi is incomparable. This Peruvian-Swedish couple has put into practice the theories learned as graduates in natural resources in Sweden to the Peruvian Amazon. A pedagogical and fun experience for kids and adults.

A wide variety of products made by themselves with products clearly from their crops and the area, followed by beautiful personalized attention.

If you manage to pass the Chumía rapids or the overflows of the road ... you will be invaded by joy and then nostalgia, joy because on the other side of Huallaga you will see the Aguano Muyuna Village Center announcing the entrance to the largest, most magical and welcoming district from Lower Huallaga, with nostalgia because before there were trees and with the road this whole area is deforested.

Aguano Muyuna belongs to the District of Chazuta, province and department of San Martín, limits by the North with the Huallaga River; by the East with the Ramón Castilla Town Center; by the South with the District of Willow; by the West with the District of Shapaja. It has a pleasant climate, warm between 24 and 26 degrees C and semi humid. It is registered with the KICHWA PEOPLE ETHNIC COUNCIL OF THE AMAZON - CEPKA, as an unrecognized native community.

To get to Aguano Muyuna from the capital of Chazuta you can do it by crossing the Huallaga or by motorcycle by land. Agriculture, hunting and fishing are activities carried out by all families, agriculture is the most important commercial economic activity, coffee, corn and cocoa and self-consumption agriculture such as beans, corn, bananas and fruit trees. The points of sale are Yurimaguas, Chazuta, Shamboyacu, Nuevo Loreto.

Hunting and fishing are self-consumption or local sale. Fishing in the Mijano, at which time the migration of fish from the Low Forest to the High Forest occurs is a tradition that is an important part of the culture and identity in the district; Maidens, gamitanas, shadles, bujurcos, boquichicos and mojarras. Some families (12) are dedicated to livestock that are 5 years old in the case of cattle. To construction (60), and carpentry a family. Three families that are dedicated to the extraction of wood either as chargers and enablers. The species are sold in quarters and the procedures for the extraction by the costs have not been carried out. However, it is a controlled activity since the extraction of wood in assembly is agreed.

The coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) gathers in itself such a quantity of good properties that is rightly called «Tree of life». It has been cultivated for more than 2000 years and provides man with refreshing drinks, nutritious pulp, high quality oil and varied construction material.

Coconut is not a nut, but a drupid fruit. It is structured in different layers: The innermost layer surrounds coconut water, pulp, or "copra." And around the pulp is the brown and hard endocarp. This part forms the seed of the drupa and is what most people know as coconut. Around the nucleus there is still a fibrous layer and a green and green outer skin. The coconut tree, with the botanical name Cocos nucifera, is found mostly in tropical areas since it is there where the temperature necessary for fruiting predominates. In the Philippines, Indonesia or Vietnam there are large areas of coconut cultivation. The coconut palm is the only type of its genus, however there are different types of coconut palm.

Its fibrous leaves adapt perfectly to stormy coasts, since they hardly resist. Also the trunk, with its elastic structure, makes the coconut tree can withstand virtually all storms. Fruiting begins after approx. 6-7 years and, depending on the place, the coconut tree can offer fruits for 60 years. Unlike the fruit trees in Europe, the coconut palm is not associated with any season. The whole year offers fruits in different ripening stages and, therefore, they are harvested throughout the year. Each tree offers an average of 30-40 fruits that are collected by hand.