Puerto Maldonado

The forests of Madre de Dios were home to Indigenous Amazonian peoples long before outsiders arrived. Because the region was harder to reach by the major rivers, it was among the last parts of the Amazon basin to be explored during the rubber boom of the late 19th century. Rubber barons, among them Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald of Iquitos, along with Brazilian and Bolivian interests, brought in workers whose diseases caused epidemics among the Indigenous peoples of the Manu River from 1889 to 1892; another epidemic followed in 1896.

Fitzcarrald found a short overland route — the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald — that let rubber be carried down the Madre de Dios to the Madeira, the Amazon and the Atlantic, and he picked out the site of today's city as a strategic point. He died in 1897 when his ship sank in the river at the point where the city was later founded. In 1902 an expedition led by Juan Villalta founded Puerto Maldonado on 10 July as a station at the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios, naming it after Faustino Maldonado, who had explored the river in 1861.

The department of Madre de Dios was created in 1912 with Puerto Maldonado as its capital. Rubber collapsed once plantations in South-East Asia undercut South American production, and the town turned to mahogany logging, Brazil nuts and gold. The Tambopata National Reserve was established in 2000, and the Interoceanic Highway to Brazil, with the Billinghurst Bridge over the Madre de Dios, was completed in 2011.

Puerto Maldonado is a frontier town, shaped by waves of newcomers from the Andes and the rest of Peru drawn by rubber, timber, gold and land, alongside the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon who live along the rivers; among the peoples of the wider area are the Machiguenga. The result is a mixed, informal and fast-changing culture.

The rivers are central to life and identity. The confluence of the Tambopata and the Madre de Dios is the reason the city exists, and the city's Obelisk carries sculptures by a local artist that tell a story of the jungle.

Conservation and ecotourism have become part of the city's identity as well. The nearby Tambopata National Reserve, Bahuaja-Sonene National Park and Manu National Park protect some of the most pristine primary rainforests in the world, and the clay licks where macaws gather have made the area known to naturalists and visitors. Guides, boatmen and researchers are a visible part of town life.

Puerto Maldonado had about 79,000 people at the 2017 census. It is the capital of Madre de Dios, and its centre sits on slightly raised ground that does not normally flood in the wet season, though roads can become impassable.

The economy rests on logging, artisanal small-scale gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, boat building and ecotourism. The area has been almost logged out, and only one sawmill remains. Gold dominates: at least 30,000 miners work in the region around the city, much of the gold is mined illegally with mercury, which has cleared forest and polluted rivers, and the mining zone around La Pampa is best avoided by visitors. Some groups fear that the Interoceanic Highway encourages illegal logging, hunting and settlement in areas once hard to reach.

The rhythm of the day follows the heat: early starts, a slow middle of the day and a busy evening around the Plaza de Armas, when moto-taxis fill the streets. The airport, with flights from Lima and Cusco, and the boats up the Tambopata link the town to the lodges and to the rest of the country.

The cooking of Madre de Dios is Amazonian. Juane, rice with meat, egg and spices wrapped in bijao leaves and boiled, is one of the main dishes of the Peruvian jungle, and river fish are eaten grilled, fried or in soups. Brazil nuts, collected in the forests around the city, are a major local product, sold in the market and used in ice cream.

The market is the best place to see what the forest and rivers provide: fish, tropical fruit, nuts and plantains, as well as the ingredients that migrants brought from the Andes. Cheap restaurants near the market serve ceviche and river-fish dishes, and ice-cream shops around the Plaza de Armas make flavours from Amazonian fruit and Brazil nuts.

Around the main square, cafés, bakeries and restaurants serve both Amazonian and national dishes, and at least one bar mixes cocktails with local flavours, with a view over the confluence of the two rivers. In the forest lodges, meals are part of the package and draw on the same river fish, fruit and Brazil nuts.