Yurimaguas is a thriving port-town http://rs6.loc.gov/hlas/subjects.html#Y in the Loreto Region

Loreto Region

Loreto is Peru's northernmost region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest region and also one of the most sparsely populated ones, due to its remote location in the Amazon Rainforest...

 of northeastern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian Amazonia. Historically associated with Maynas (Pais de los Maynas

Pais de los Maynas

Maynas was one of the missions the Jesuits created in South America. The missionaries started their descent from Quito in Ecuador mostly using the Rio Napo as their route. They used the common missionary techniques, found in other Jesuit missions like Paraguay, Chiquitania, Moxos or Orinoco...

)Pais de los Maynas

Pais de los Maynas

Maynas was one of the missions the Jesuits created in South America. The missionaries started their descent from Quito in Ecuador mostly using the Rio Napo as their route. They used the common missionary techniques, found in other Jesuit missions like Paraguay, Chiquitania, Moxos or Orinoco...

, the culturally diverse town is affectionately known as the "Pearl of the Huallaga

Huallaga

Huallaga may refer to:*Locations in Peru:**Huallaga Province**Huallaga River**Huallaga Valley...

" ("Perla del Huallaga"). Yurimaguas is located at the confluence of rachel the majestic Huallaga

Huallaga

Huallaga may refer to:*Locations in Peru:**Huallaga Province**Huallaga River**Huallaga Valley...

 and Paranapura Rivers in the steamy rainforests of northeastern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

,http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:PEXX0034. It is the capital of both Alto Amazonas Province

Alto Amazonas Province

The Alto Amazonas Province is one of the seven provinces in the Loreto Region of Peru. Located in northeastern Peruvian Amazonia, the culturally and biodiverse Province of Alto Amazonas is divided into six districts...

 and Yurimaguas District, and had a population estimated at about 64,000 inhabitants (2002).

With a long and illustrious history (see Samuel Fritz

Samuel Fritz

Samuel Fritz was a Czech Jesuit missionary, noted for his exploration of the Amazon River and its basin.-Life:Fritz was born at Trautenau, Bohemia. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1673. In 1684 he was sent to Quito as a missionary. For forty-two years Fritz acted in this capacity among the...

, "Misión de los Omaguas

Omaguas

The Cambeba people are an indigenous people in Brazil's Amazon valley. They speak the Omagua language...

, Yurimaguas, Aizuares, Ibanomas y otras naciones desde Napo al rio Negro" in Pablo Maroni

Pablo Maroni

-Life:He entered the Austrian province of the Jesuits on 27 October 1712, and, like many German and Austrian missionaries of that time, went in 1723 on the mission in Upper Marañon that belonged to the Quito province of the order. He worked for several years as professor of theology at Quito and...

's 1738 Noticias auténticas del famoso río Marañón

Marañón

Marañón may refer to:* Marañón, Navarre, a town and municipality in Spain* Marañón River, in Peru* Marañón Province, in Peru* Valle del Marañón, a valley in Peru* Gregorio Marañón , Spanish physician, historian, writer and philosopher...

or Journal of the Travels and Labours of Father Samuel Fritz in the River of the Amazons 1686-2008, reprinted in 1922), Yurimaguas is a tourist destination http://www.yurimaguas.net/, especially during the August 15 annual Catholic festival of the Assumption

Assumption of Mary

According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...

. Long dominated by the presence of the Church, the town is home to the Apostolic Vicariate

Apostolic vicariate

An apostolic vicariate is a form of territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church established in missionary regions and countries that do not have a diocese. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more...

 of Yurimaguas, Loreto Region

Loreto Region

Loreto is Peru's northernmost region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest region and also one of the most sparsely populated ones, due to its remote location in the Amazon Rainforest...

. Visited in 1855 by the famed botanist Richard Spruce

Richard Spruce

Richard Spruce was an English botanist. One of the great Victorian botanical explorers, Spruce spent approximately 15 years exploring the Amazon from the Andes to the mouth, and was one of the first Europeans to visit many of the places where he collected specimens.The plants and objects collected...

http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/botany/spruce/RESOURCES/diary_1855.dsml, Yurimaguas remains an important commercial center for subsistence and market oriented farmers or ribereños (who cultivate sugar cane, banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s, cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, manioc and other comestible produce) and fishermen (see Rhoades, Robert and Pierre Bidegaray Los Agricultores de Yurimaguas. Lima, Peru: Centro de Estudio Amazonas. 1987, or the English version The Farmers of Yurimaguas: Land Use and Cropping Strategies in the Peruvian Jungle. Lima:International Potato Center

International Potato Center

The International Potato Center is a root and tuber research-for-development institution located in Lima, Peru...

 & CIP, Peru).http://www.lanra.uga.edu/rhoades/rhoades-cv.html.

Yurimaguas is notable for being the last urban center in Loreto connected by highway with the rest of Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

: a recently paved road links Yurimaguas with Tarapoto

Tarapoto

Tarapoto, known as the "City of Palms", is a thriving commercial hub in northern Peru, an hour by plane from Lima, situated in the San Martín Province of the San Martín Region, located in the high jungle plateau to the east of what is known as the selva baja...

 and Moyobamba

Moyobamba

Moyobamba is the capital city of the San Martín Region in northern Peru. Called "Santiago of eight valleys of Moyobamba" or "Maynas capital". There are 70,000 inhabitants, according to the 2009 census. Some 3,500 species of orchids are native to the area, which has led to the city's nickname of...

, located in the tropical Andes (high-jungle), or as it is known in the vernacular, the montaña. While the Moisés Benzaquen Rengifo Airport

Moisés Benzaquen Rengifo Airport

Moisés Benzaquén Rengifo Airport is an airport serving Yurimaguas, a town in Yurimaguas district, Alto Amazonas province, Loreto region, Peru. It is owned and operated by CORPAC S.A., a civil government agency.The airport receives charter flights...

 was first established in Yurimaguas in 1937, it is now barely functioning (the collapse of the Peruvian airline Aero Continente left only two airlines serving the airport). For the majority of the populace, transit is dominated by river travel. In the ports of Yurimaguas trade is in tropical forest produce, particularly hardwoods, petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

, contraband

Contraband

The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....

, and goods (licit and otherwise) from the Andean highlands or Pacific Coast sent down-river to Iquitos

Iquitos

Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, with a population of 370,962. It is the capital of Loreto Region and Maynas Province.Located on the Amazon River, it is only above sea level, although it is more than from the mouth of the Amazon at Belém on the Atlantic Ocean...

 and beyond (the Port Authority of Yurimaguas, ENAPU is in charge of the International Puerto de Yurimaguas, Peru). Yurimaguas boasts a magnificent Cathedral built by the Passionist

Passionist

The Passionists are a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Paul of the Cross . Professed members use the initials C.P. after their names.-History:St...

 Order, and modeled after the Cathedral in Burgos

Burgos

Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...

, Spain.