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Pucallpa is the capital of the Ucayali region in eastern Peru, a river city on the banks of the Ucayali, the main headstream of the Amazon. Its name means red earth in Quechua, and the Shipibo call it May Ushin, with the same meaning, after the reddish clay soil. With the towns of Yarinacocha and Manantay it forms the second largest city of the Peruvian Amazon after Iquitos, with about 370,000 people.
The Shipibo-Konibo and other Pano peoples have lived along the Ucayali for thousands of years. Franciscan missionaries settled Shipibo families here in the 1840s, and the town grew during the rubber boom, though its exact founding date is still debated. It stayed isolated until 1945, when a road through Tingo María finally linked it to Lima.
Today Pucallpa lives from river trade, timber and tourism. Visitors watch the boats at the busy river port, take boat trips on the oxbow lake of Yarinacocha and visit Shipibo-Konibo villages known for pottery and textiles covered in the maze-like kené designs.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the main church of the Ucayali region, was opened on 8 December 2005 to replace an earlier church of the 1950s. It was built with donations and the labour of thousands of local people, and with the main square and city hall it forms the heart of town.
The main square of Pucallpa lies in the urban centre, the old core from which the town spread out from the Ucayali in the 19th century. With the cathedral and the provincial city hall on its sides it is the centre of local tourism, and an obelisk and a fountain stand among its gardens.
Built in 1950 and 1951 to a design by Carlos Prentice Chávez, this was the first square of the city. It stands close to the Ucayali and its busy wharf, and its 25-metre clock tower, decorated with mythical creatures and scenes of local history, once guided the boats approaching the town.
The second most important river port of the Peruvian Amazon after Iquitos, this landing on the Ucayali links Pucallpa with the rivers Tambo, Urubamba, Pachitea and Aguaytía. Riverboats take four to six days to cover the 990 kilometres downstream to Iquitos, loading cargo and passengers on the bank.
Formed by the meeting of the Tambo and Urubamba rivers, the Ucayali flows north for about 1,600 kilometres until it joins the Marañón to become the Amazon. Together with the Apurímac and Ene it is now considered the main source of the Amazon, and most of its length is navigable by large river boats.
This large lake north-west of the city is an old meander of the Ucayali, cut off from the river as sediment filled its entrance. It is named after the yarina palm that once grew around it, and mestizo hamlets and Shipibo-Konibo villages line its shores, reached by boat from Puerto Callao.
The capital of the Yarinacocha district, joined to Pucallpa by Avenida Yarinacocha, grew up on the shore of the lake between 1948 and 1964. Its port and lakeside promenade are the area's main attraction, and from here boats leave for trips on the lagoon and to the Shipibo-Konibo villages.
This 28-hectare forest park on the south side of the city protects more than 400 species of Amazon plants and animals, among them monkeys, caimans, jaguars, otters and toucans. It also holds the Regional Museum, with fossils from local rivers, including the jaw of a huge caiman 10 million years old.
On the far shore of Lake Yarinacocha, 20 kilometres north-west of Pucallpa, this is the oldest and largest Shipibo-Konibo community in the area. Its people live from fishing, hunting and farming and also sell ceramics and textiles, and it can be reached by road or by a 45-minute boat ride.
Shipibo-Konibo ceramics, painted in several colours, have been made for about 1,200 years and are among the best-known arts of the Amazon. The craft is passed down from woman to woman, and in the past a potter chose one of her granddaughters, who came to live with her to learn the art as a girl.
Kené are the maze-like geometric designs that the Shipibo-Konibo paint on pottery, cloth, wood and the body. Many are inspired by dreams, ayahuasca visions and nature, and they express a search for beauty and balance with the world. In 2008 Peru named them part of its national cultural heritage.
Shipibo-Konibo women are known for their beadwork and textiles, and when kené designs are embroidered onto cloth they are called kewé. The stitched cloths carry the same maze-like patterns as the pottery, and in villages such as San Francisco they are sold to visitors alongside ceramics.
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