Pacasmayo Overview

Overview

Pacasmayo is on the Pacific seaboard. It is north of Lima and is located near the three most important cities of northern Perú. It lies between the cities of Trujillo and Chiclayo and is on the way to Cajamarca city. It has a population of approximately thirty thousand people.

Pacasmayo is located on a large bay. It has a beach of stone and sand, and also has a nice seafront with old houses. Near Pacasmayo, in the bay, there is lighthouse Known as "El Faro". It lights the sea in the night and guides small fishing boats and ships. Near "El Faro" people love to go surfing and also practice windsurfing. Pacasmayo is a warm coastal town where the easterly wind blows all the time.

In Pacasmayo there is an old pier. It was built in the nineteenth century circa 1860. During this time, Pacasmayo was an important seaport. When it was built, its length was one thousand five hundred meters. But in the 1920's a big wave cut the pier in half.

Pacasmayo had a nice train system which transported agricultural products from other outlying towns into Pacasmayo in order to export them by sea. It was also used to transport people. The arrival of the Panamerican road greatly affected this business and the train station was forced to close.

There are beautiful sunsets all the year round, but in winter they are not quite as spectacular.

There are two good hotels named "Pakatnamu" and "La Estación". The first one is older, but the food in the second , newer one is much better. There are a lot of Spanish style houses and the hotels also follow this same decor.

There is a social security hospital. There are also four banks, a market where people can buy groceries, and many conmercial stores that sell domestic products as well as other electric appliances.

In Pacasmayo, a lot of people work in the factory. Cementos Norte Pacasmayo is the main employer. However, some people are fishermen. Another important economic activity is agriculture, where they cultivate rice, sugarcane, and other products.

Near Pacasmayo is the Jequetepeque river, and a valley and town with same name. There is a dam in the river. It is called "Gallito Ciego", that is newer than San Lorenzo in Piura or Tinajones in Lambayeque: An artificial lagoon has formed where the dam ends and extends to the town of Tembaldera. Its length is fifteen kilometers aproximately. The road to Cajamarca city slopes toward the river.

Close to Jequetepeque town there is a "huaca" called "Cerro de Dos Cabezas". It was used as a temple to worship the moon.

The ancient residents in this territory first were the Mochicas and afterwards The Chimus, they lived here and built a city called "Pakatnamu". Today this city lies in ruins. The material they used to make their building was adobe, a brick made of a sandy kind of clay, which had the signature of the person who had made it. Because of the phenomenom of "El Niño" and all the rain it caused, these buildings disintegrated.

A town near Pacasmayo is San Pedro de Lloc. It is the capital of the province. There are viceroyalty style houses and there is an old church. It is a tradition for the people in San Pedro to eat a kind of lizard in typical dishes such as "ceviche" "aji de gallina", "tortilla" and other dishes. The lizard's meat is white and soft. San Pedro is famous for candles that had the trademark "velitas misioneras". They also made crayons. The factory that made these famous candles burned down in 1972.

Another city near by is Guadalupe, which is the main center of agriculture production. There is an old church and near the town there is a hill, wich has a statue of a virgin on the top, which is called "Virgen de Guadalupe". They have a famous fair to honor this virgin in the month of November.

San Jose is another small town that is near Pacasmayo, its main economic activity is also agriculture. It's famous because of a "huecero" (a "huecero" is a person who fixes bones whenever a person has a bone pain) called Cerna who was the grandfather of famous goalkeeper named Rubiños who was goalkeeper of the Peruvian soccer selection in Mexico 70.

Pacasmayo is a very beautiful and quiet town and has a lot of interesting things to visit and places to go where one can relax, learn, and have a great time.