Chulucanas and La Encantada

Chulucanas lies in the Alto Piura valley, Morropón province, 60 km east of the regional capital; the craft hamlet of La Encantada is 5 km from the district capital. The drive takes 50 minutes on the paved Interoceánica Norte highway, with frequent colectivos and minibuses.

Chulucanas pottery holds a Designation of Origin and derives directly from the knowledge of the pre-Hispanic Vicús civilisation. Potters use no mechanical wheels: they shape pieces with a paddle and river stone, apply local clay slip engobes and fire them in artisan kilns where smoke comes from the slow burning of dried mango leaves. This negative painting and firing technique, by oxygen reduction, gives vases and sculptures their unmistakable mirror-black sheen and ochre contrasts.

In La Encantada visitors tour living workshops and meet master artisans heir to the founding knowledge of Max Inga and Glicerio Saavedra, joining clay-beating and firing demos. On the outskirts lies Yapatera, the rural centre with the country's highest density of Afro-Peruvian population, keeper of peasant décima poetry and cumananas, with community gatherings, homemade sweets and northern creole music.

The valley also offers tours of mango and lime export plantations and visits to Cerro Vicús.