FACTORTIERRA

By Fidel Torres G.  

A visit into the most western nascent of Amazon River. Written and photographed by  Ronald Benites , Special to  FACTORTIERRA. EL CARMEN DE LA FRONTERA, Peru - The mountain range will ever fascinate us by many motivations: the solids' majestic, the landscapes, the cool climate, even the culture. Perhaps it is about that fascination of feeling us closer to the sky, at least for us who feel it so. I love the mountain range - I am learning to love it. If all would depend on me, I  took every time I get to  come here, breathe  pure air, enjoy around. I already declared I am an activist of of this kind of spaces, so the coherent will be ever coming  here as much as I can, like right now. I am in a car  going up from Huancabamba City because my today's task is reaching the Shimbe [pronounce "Shimbeh"]Lake, origin of Huancabamba River , and if  we look at the map, the most occidental nascent of Amazon River . Shimbé or White Lake (Laguna ...

A communitarian rural tourism project in the entrance of Huancabamba Valley.  By Ronald Benites Rangel .  Photos by Emmanuel Fernández Cardoza and Éricka Ramírez Guerrero .  SONDORILLO, Peru - On the length between the place known as Cruz Blanca, the point where the road from Piura to Huancabamba reaches its top altitude, and the so-called Walking City , the mountain landscape is made for falling in love. What or who? It does not matter - just fall in love. With that landscape charming the eye, it will be difficult we realize Cascapampa is about 40 km or 25 miles before arriving into Huancabamba City and 25 km or 16 miles after climbing up from Canchaque . This is a community dedicated to agriculture and cattle, about 170 km or 106 miles away the east of Piura City by car. Cascapampa (probably from Quechuan 'sharp plain')  is on the E ast slope of Andean Western Range, 3180 meters or 10430 feet altitude, forming part of the Huancabamba River's ...

A new interpretation of the most famous cult in Piura opens up two theories.   By Nelson Peñaherrera Castillo   AYABACA, Peru – Is the Señor Cautivo festivity a massive act of Catholic faith, or is it a reminiscence of ancient cults, what eradicated by the Spanish Conquest during the extirpation of idolatries , transformed in a completely new manifestation? Anthropologist Raúl Zevallos Ortiz published an essay suggesting the modern Señor Cautivo pilgrimage could have a remote origin in time.   According to Zevallos, during the Pre-Inca time, the people of Piura Department lowlands, mostly a desert, began to research where their existence source came from – water . Piura Coast is irrigated by two rivers: Piura and Chira.   The first one starts at actual Huancabamba Province southern sierra and is irregular flow, what means full in rainy months and almost dry during the lowwater. The second one has two sources: the most northern is in Loja, Ecuador, and the souther...

The science already has an answer about why Piura Andes' medicinal plants heal.  All photographs provided by Fidel Torres .  PIURA, Peru - The potential of medicinal plants in Peru is enormous in terms of biodiversity, but restricted in terms of usefulness. The  investigations are focused on their power for treatment or healing diseases, but they are not enlarging their own perspective to other activities requiring them too, as cosmetology or nutrition.  This narrow vision also limits the economic potential for the communities where these species grow. In the other side, many of these investigations only arrive to gather the knowledge of the communities where that  biodiversity is located, treating them as a source but blocking them to participate into the scientific process. Add to  this the risk that biopiracy follows to represent, that gets data and results but it does not patent them as owned by this  country but it compromises them as ...