"The Pearl of the Andes"

"The Pearl of the Andes"

domingo, 27 de noviembre de 2011

TARMA “The Pearl of the Andes”

INTRODUCTION

This blog has been created by Aaron Aguilar, Sandra Aquijes, Dafne Ames and Yalylle Cardenas, students of Tourism, Hospitaity Management and Culinary Art from the Ricardo Palma University, with the objective of making known the beauties of Tarma and promoting the domestic tourism.
We should start saying that Tarma is an excellent place to be visited by people who want to get in harmony with the nature and with the traditional customs of the zone.
It is located in a valley in the center of Peru, just 5 hours away from Lima and it is known as “The Pearl of the Andes” because it is surrounded by a variety of flowers.
Visitors will find a variety of activities to do and a lot of cultural places to visit meanwhile they also taste the traditional culinary art of the community.


LOCATION
The city of Tarma is located in the center of the province of Tarma, Junin, about 230 km east of Lima. It is located at 3,050 meters above sea level in the valley of Tarma, formed by the river of the same name on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera de los Andes. Tarma Valley is famous for its cultural landscape, with large plantations of flowers and herbs, so it is called Valley of Flowers.





WEATHER

Temperate and dry, average annual temperature 53,6º F. (12°C.)



TYPES OF VISITORS

Tarma is a city that is visited more and more often by Lima people, due to the city’s close location to the capital, the lovely climate, the beautiful flowered valleys, and also because it is a strategic point of communication between the highland and the central jungle.

ACCESSIBILITY
There is a very good accessibility to reach Tarma. There are a lot of carriers that could take there for few soles (no more than 50 soles); this bus trip lasts 6 hours.  On the other hand, if you want to go by road from Lima, you have to take the Central Highway and drive until the 230 kilometer. Passing Ticlio, you will find Tarma. The trip by road lasts 4 hours, but you have to be careful with the tight turns and with the large buses and trucks that pass by.
It is also possible to reach Tarma by air, since new airlines have included Jauja as a new connection with the Jorge Chavez International Airport. Jauja is approximately 50 kilometers away from Tarma; that is to say, an hour away by bus.




HOSPITALITY
It has a wide range of comfortable accommodations in all segments. In the upper-medium segment there are certain hotels and ranches.

COMMUNICATIONS
Tarma has all the modern means of communication in telephony, mail, television and fax. These services are usually given by the hotels, and in some public places.

CAUTIONS FOR TRIPS TO HIGHLAND

Soroche is a quechua voice that means "sickness of the heights", or sickness of the mountain, produced by the decrease of oxygen in the air. The effects that produce are sickness, headache, and lack of appetite.

People that are in good physical conditions are less susceptible, or almost unlikely, to suffer soroche. When arriving to a city with great altitude, to avoid soroche it is recommended, not to carry out physical efforts and to rest the first hours for the acclimatization, this way there is no possibility to be affected.

Usually people use an infusion called "mate de coca" which is offered at the visitor's arrival or you can find in any restaurant even the hotels, this is a healthy and hot drink that avoids the soroche. This infusion is made with the leaves of coca, and it is not considered a drug.



Travel agencies, Accomodation and Gastronomy of the zone

Visitors can find many tourist services from the cheapest to the most expensive. It depends on the kind of vacation you want to have. In this new post, we are going to show the different options of travel agencies, accomodations and the variety of dishes you can taste during your visit.


-TRAVEL AGENCIES

In Tarma we can find many travel agencies and tour operators which offer a variety of tours around/inside the city and also to other small towns near Tarma. Here we present the list of official travel agencies:


Name
Address/e-mail
Telephone
1
Centro Tours
2 de Mayo street 658/ avtcentrotours@hotmail.com

2
Kantuta Tours
Lima 402 street floor 2

064 – 322923 / 964634494 / 991681943 RPM: #991681943
3
Coyotes Tours
Lima 555 street floor 2/ fatima33-08@hotmail.com
064-311625
4
Sory Tours
 Arica 142 street
064-322792
5
Panda Tours
Pasco 566 street/ ricardokukurelo@hotmail.com
064-317483
6
Tour’s Peru
Lima 847 street/ jorinp@hotmail.com
064-786110
7
Sol de los Andes Tours
Lima 419 street/ josenoli_p1@hotmail.com
064-322038
8
Linktravel S.A.C.
Amazonas 745 street/ info@linktravel.gob.pe
064- 621729
9
Max Adventure
2 de Mayo 682 street/ maxtraveltarma@hotmail.com
064-323908
10
Taruma Tours
Moquegua 648 street/ taruma_tours@hotmail.com
064-792794
11
Sumag Tours
Lima 350 street floor 2/ sumagtours@hotmail.com

12
Reguicuy Marcata
Malecon Galvez street 642/ reguicuymarcata@hotmail.com

13
Destinos Tours
Moquegua street 648- office 16A/ jorimp6@hotmail.com
064-786110
14
Servitur
Moquegua street 626


TYPE OF ACCOMODATION
We can find different kind of accommodation from 15-150 soles per night. It depends on the selection of hotel and the services that it offers.

RANCHES 
They have a lot of history inside the buildings. We recommend this type for families or groups who want to be in touch with nature. They are located 15 minutes far from the centre of the city. Typical breakfast is included.

Name
Address/ website
Telephone
1
Hacienda Santa María
Sacsamarca Vista Alegre 1249/ www.haciendasantamaria.com
064-341041
2
Hacienda La Florida
Carretera Central km 39/ www.haciendalaflorida.com
064-321721
064-321041



HOTELS
There is a 5 stars hotel which has many facilities and services. It is located near the centre of the city.

Name
Address/ website
Telephone
1
Los Portales 5*
Ramon Castilla street 512/ www.hotelportalestarma.com
064-321410
064-321411
2
Hotel Vargas (no stars)
Dos de Mayo street 627
064-321721



GUEST HOUSES

 Name
Address/ website
Telephone
1
Amazonas
Amazonas street 798
064-321744
2
El Caporal
Lima street 616
064-323636
3
Central
Huanuco street 614
064-322625
4
Residencial El Dorado
Huanuco street 488
064-321914
5
Casona de Rey
Pacheco avenue 598
064-317238


HOSTELS

 Name
Address/ website
Telephone
1
San Antonio 2*
Huancavelica street 780
064-322575
2
Albania
Amazonas street 534
064-321399
3
Normandie
Maria Delgado de Odria Avenue
064-341028


GASTRONOMY OF THE ZONE

Typical dishes:
  • Uman caldo: It is a sheep's head soup with mint and chilli.
  • Yaku chupe or Green soup: It is a potato soup with bone broth, cheese and herbs.
  • Huallca chupe or Wallpa chupe: It is a chicken soup with vegetables and noodles.
  • Patasca: It is a innards soup with corn, mint and giblets.
  • Patachi: It is a wheat soup with beans, bacon an meat.
  • Pachamanca: Various meats, potatoes and tender corn cooked underground between hot stones with aromatic herbs.
  • Cuy chactado: Breaded fried guinea pig with white corn roasted served with boiled potatoes and huacatay (a kind of chilli).
  • Puca picante: Pork rinds legs served with well-seasoned potatoes.
  • Picante de cuy: It is a dish made from guinea pig, red pepper, garlic, onions and accompanied with yellow potatoes and sometimes with some rice.
  • Fried trout served with salad and potatoes.


    Typical drink:
    • Chicha de Jora: It is made of jora corn. It was the favorite drink of The Inka nobility.

    Where to eat?


    Here we present a list of good restaurants where you can taste the typical food of the zone. The prices are affordable and the taste is very good. 

    • "Lo Mejorcito de Tarma". 501 Arequipa street.
    • "Los Portales de Tarma": It is the restaurant of the 5* hotel.
    • "La Olla de Barro". In front of the Muruhuay Church-Muruhuay.
    • "Muruhuay".