Cajamarca

Cajamarca is one of the 25 regions of Peru, located in Northern Andes Mountains that span the highlands and reach into the Northern Amazon jungles. The population of the entire region of Cajamarca totals about 1.4 million, or 5.2% of the nearly 27 million inhabitants of Peru.

The region of Cajamarca is divided into 13 provinces; one of these provinces is also named Cajamarca and has a population of 277,433 inhabitants. The capital of this region (and the province) is also the city of Cajamarca which is located in the southern part of the region at approximately 8,800 feet and has 156,821 people—50% of these individuals are women. The average temperature in the city of Cajamarca is 55 degrees, as the rainy season occurs between the months of October and April and May through September is dry and sunny.

Cajamarca is considered the 5^th most poverty stricken region in Peru; more than 80% of the population is considered poor (76% below the poverty line and 12% below extreme poverty line. The average annual income per person is equivalent to $710. The infant mortality rate in the region of Cajamarca is 47 per 1000 births with 0.73 doctors per 10,000 habitants; Cajamarca also occupies the greatest number of adolescent mothers and is one of the most prominent areas of adolescent alcoholism in Peru.

Of the nearly 157,000 residents of the city of Cajamarca, the urban populations who live in conditions of poverty generally reside in the neighborhoods located in the highest parts of the city (out of the central areas). Although the activities of tourism and mining produce employment and income in Cajamarca, these career paths are unavailable to the poorest of the city because of illiteracy and therefore, very little of this money ever reaches them.

The government and other nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) help promote development to combat poverty, however these programs often take on welfare characteristics and do not provide long-term sustainable changes for individuals to lift themselves out of poverty.

Within the city of Cajamarca, there are 20 extremely poor neighborhoods, consisting of approximately 15,000 individuals. Many of these individuals are immigrants of families from other parts of the province of Cajamarca. Included in these neighborhoods are the pilot areas where DHF is working including: Barrio El Estanco, Barrio Pachacutec, and Barrio La Esperanza. These neighborhoods border one another and are roughly a 15-minute walk from the center of the city to these upper neighborhoods. Within these three neighborhoods live 1,000 families, each with an average of 5 family members, bringing the total population of this pilot area to approximately 5,000 people. (Sources: El Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI); Málaga-Webb Asociados, Plan Estratégico Regional Exportador - Región Cajamarca, Marzo 2004)

530 miles northeast of Lima, and a beautiful 120-mile drive into the mountains from the coast, lies Cajamarca, at 8,928 feet above sea level. Cajamarca is where Atahualpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Inca, was resting with his 60,000 warriors at a nearby hot spring, when the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro asked to meet with him. Feeling no threat, and rather interested in the white newcomer, Atahualpa agreed to meet him in the main square, Plaza de Armas, of Cajamarca. Most of Atahualpa's troops stationed themselves outside the square, but 6,000 of them entered with Atahualpa. Pizarro's men, numbering only a couple of hundred, hid behind the doorways within the square. As soon as Atahualpa entered, the Spanish stormed, firing cannons, and swinging swords from horseback. Atahualpa's troops were overwhelmed by the cannon and horses, which they had never before seen. Stunned, they turned and fled. They were unable to escape the narrow plaza quickly, and by the time the battle was over, 7,000 Inca lay dead. Thus, in 1532, Pizarro was able to capture the king of the Inca Empire with only 200 men.

Pizarro detained Atahualpa in a building now known as the ransom room, the Cuarto del Rescate. Atahualpa offered to fill the prison room once with gold and twice with silver in exchange for his release. Pizarro took Atahualpa up on the offer of gold and silver, and was planning on extorting further wealth from him when he was caught trying to plan his escape. Pizarro promptly executed him and installed his younger brother as a puppet leader. The rest is history. Peru became a Spanish colony, and remained so until its liberation in 1824 by Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin.

There are many excursion possibilities in immediately surrounding Cajamarca: More information on these attractions can be viewed here.

Inca Baths, thermo-medicinal hot springs where the Inca used to go after long trips, the
Ventanillas de Otuzco (Otuzco Windows), a cemetery carved into a wall of volcanic rock,
Cumbemayo, a demonstration of pre-Incan hydraulic engineering still functioning today, that is located in a wonderful natural area,
The old hacienda La Colpa, where the cattle go to be milked at the sound of their name,
Kuntur Wasi, a commercial center that dates to the year 1100 B.C. and its site museum with the numerous examples of the oldest objects of gold in the Americas,
The Porcón farm, an agricultural and cattle cooperative surrounded by a pine forest, ideal for spending a day out of the city, visiting its small zoo of vicuñas, deer, little spotted cats, monkeys, and eagles, buying its milk products, or simply enjoying the landscape.