Piura is a region in North Western Peru. It is bordered by the Tumbes Region and Ecuador on the North, the Lambayeque Region on the South, the Cajamarca Region on the East and the Pacific Ocean on the West. Its capital is the city of Piura and its main port is located in Paita.
The territory of Piura Region has a smooth topography in the Coast and a rough one in the Sierra. There are many Desert Plains in the region. The Sechura Desert, located South of the Piura River, is Peru's largest desert. The Bayovar depression, which is the lowest point in the country, is located in the desert. The morphological forms most common are the dry ravines that suddenly become copious when there are heavy rains. Other features are half-moon shaped dunes, the marine terraces such as those of Mancora, Talara, and Lobitos; fluvial terraces formed by the Chira and Piura Rivers.
To the East the territory is rougher. Valleys more or less deep have been eroded by fluvial waters. The major peak surpasses 3000m. The Porculla Pass (Paso de Porculla), to the South West of the territory is only 2138m deep and is the lowest of the Peruvian Andes.
The Rivers crossing its territory belong to the Pacific watershed and to the Amazonas Hydrographic System. The Chira River is the most important and flows its waters into the Pacific Ocean. The Piura River, whose banks hold the city of the same name, only flows its waters into the sea during summer, which is the rainy season.
The climate is desert type and semi-desert type in the Coast and Western Andean watersheds, sub-tropical in the Eastern watersheds. The rain is scarce, but when the 'El Nino' phenomenon arises, the rain is copious and makes the dry ravines become alive giving rise to floods and great morphological movements.
Punta Parinas, the Western-most point in the South American mainland, is located in the Piura region.
Piura is the land of Carob Trees (Locust Bean), a flowering evergreen shrub. It is known as Algarrobo in Latin America. They are able to survive long drought periods, but to grow fruit , they need 500 to 550 mm rainfall per year. Their deep root systems can adapt to a wide variety of soil conditions and are fairly salt-tolerant. Its development has been favored by the petroleum industry and for the fishing boom. Carob is mildly sweet and is used in a syrup form as an ingredient in cakes and cookies, and as a substitute for chocolate. Carob contains absolute no caffeine and no theobromine as chocolate does, so it is no toxic to some mammals.
Talara is a province in the Piura Region. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the West, the Paita Province on the South, the Sullana Province on the East, and the Tumbes Region's Contralmirante Villar Province on the North.
Talara had the greatest reserve of oil in all Peru. The Talara Province is divided into 6 districts: -El Alto, -The Brea, -Lobitos, -The Organs, -Mancora, -Parinas.
One of the attractions of Talara city is its gastronomy, you can find good seafood restaurants. There are many of them at Caleta's San Pablo, a district of Talara.
Cebiche de Mero, and cold beer are the popular food in town.
