Paso de Porculla
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The Olmos-Marañon highway begins from the detour that is located in the kilometer 865 of the South Pan-American highway. From the city of Chiclayo up to the detour of Olmos (department of Lambayeque), there are 104 kilometers of distance towards the north.
Anyone could arrive easily to the summit of the Andes after an hour and fifteen minutes of ride exactly. The Paso de Porculla is a key point in the geopolitical aspect of the country, not only because it makes the Peruvian Amazonía accessible (by the shortest and lowest road) from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, but also because it is the place where the northeastern trans-Andean oil pipeline crowns the mountain range of the Andes. Then it descends towards the coast of the Pacific Ocean up to the port of Bayóvar, in the department of Piura. It was also mentioned by the wise Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo in his project of an interoceanic channel of navigation from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazonas (April 9, 1924).
The Paso de Porculla is located in the department of Piura. From here, it begins the quick descent to the town of Pucará, followed by the valleys of Huancabamba and Chamaya. The Chamaya river is a tributary of the Marañón, and flows parallel to the road.
After passing through the town of Chamaya, it appears a spectacular bridge called 24 de Julio bridge. This bridge is also known as Corral Quemado bridge.
It is the first meeting with the fabulous Marañón river. This river has torrential waters, and it's full of legends and beauty. This bridge replaced the ancient and famous "raftsmen of the Marañón", who did the rudimentary and dangerous crossing of this river from shore to shore for many years.
After crossing the steel and cement structure of the bridge –one of the longest bridges of Peru–, you enter to the territory of the department of Amazonas. This means that the traveler has crossed three departments already: Lambayeque, Piura and Cajamarca, before coming to the department of Amazonas.
Marañón is one of principal rivers of Peru's territory. The Marañón with the Ucayali, form the Amazon river in the department of Loreto. The Amazon river is the monarch of the rivers of all the world.
10 kilometers after crossing the 24 de Julio bridge, there are two highways:
- One that continues in the search of reaching another navigable point of the Marañón, in Sarameriza.
- The other one that goes towards Central Huallaga in the department of San Martin.
A branch of this highway takes the traveler up to the city of Chachapoyas, capital of the department of Amazonas.
