Panguana’s neighbors

Home / Panguana’s neighbors

At some distance from Panguana there are several villages, upstream the communities of the Asháninka and downstream, on the other side of the Río Pachitea, the town of Yuyapichis, which can be reached by car from Pucallpa.

In the 1980s Yuyapichis still was just a hamlet with few families, all of which had lived in the area for generations. Today the district is home to more than 5,600 people, and the small town is growing fast, especially due to immigration from the Andes and other regions. The local infrastructure has changed rapidly since a road link to the Carretera Marginal has been established, and now there is a growing number of the so-called motocars, which have become ubiquitous in the entire Selva region. By now it is possible to buy in Yuyapichis almost all of life’s essentials, which are brought there from Pucallpa in trucks and all sorts of other vehicles via the road from the south.

For travelers to Panguana, Yuyapichis is the last opportunity to buy any goods before heading into the rainforest.

Ankunft der Forschergruppe in Yuyapichis im Herbst 2013 und Warten auf den Weitertransport
Researchers have arrived in Yuyapichis in the spring of 2014, and are waiting to be taken onward

Impressions froms Yuyapichis

A number of families that are ethnic Asháninka, Caucasian or mestizos have been settling for generations along the lower course of the Río Yuyapichis or at places upstream of Panguana. However, many of them do not live on their respective parcels of land any more but have moved to Yuyapichis or even farther away. By now, some of them have sold their plots to Panguana, which has allowed successive extension of the protected area. We are looking forward to further additions in the near future.

Most settlers raise livestock or cultivate manioc, corn, beans, rice and various fruit such as bananas, papaya and pineapple.  One of Panguana’s neighbors for many years is an Austrian-born livestock farmer, whose tractor has been very useful for many logistical services at Panguana.