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Location:
Center of Perú.
Area: 25 320 km2.
Capital: Cerro de Pasco (4338 masl)
Altitude: Minimum: 256 masl (Puerto Bermudez)
Maximum: 4380 masl (Cajamarquilla)
One of the highest cities in Peru, Cerro de Pasco, capital
of the department of Pasco, in the central highlands,
is also one of the most extraordinary places in the
area. Its rough climate and high altitude contrast with
the placid surrounding highland countryside. Shortly
after the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century,
groups of explorers and missionaries settled in the
region alongside the local chieftains, digging gold
and silver out of the rich mines in the area. News of
the mineral wealth of the area drew hundreds of adventurers
and fortune hunters, who wasted little time in setting
up operations in the area, staking out mines and establishing
residences. This flurry of activity gave Cerro de Pasco
its reputation as a mining town, a reputation which
it still enjoys today. Many buildings, however, date
back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a valuable
heritage of th e
colonial era.
On
the outskirts of the city lies the Huayllay National
Sanctuary, a set of natural stone formations shaped
like animals and humans, which appear to change constantly
depending on the position of the sun, a work of art
of Nature. Other places worth visiting include Oxapampa,
a picturesque town with German influences in its architecture
and local dress, and the waterfalls of El Incanto and
El Velo Azul.
Here, visitors
can taste the delicious and traditional pachamanca (meat
and vegetables cooked over hot stones underground) to
the strains of the Chonguinada (a local festive dance)
or witness in May the time-honored Festival of Las Cruces,
the main religious celebration in the region and which
involves the city's neighborhoods.
info@peruexpediciones.com
 perutour@hotmail.com
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