Roaming South America

Lagunas — A 350-Year-Old Amazon Town Still Alive

March 13, 2026

Lagunas, Perú - population probably somewhere around 10,000 (depending on source, 7,000 - 15,000). It is located on the Huallaga River east of Yurimaguas. Yurimaguas is the end of the paved road in the Amazon region of north-eastern Perú. From Yurimaguas, you take a boat to Lagunas. Lagunas traces its origins back to 1670, when Jesuit missionary Juan Lorenzo Lucero founded it as Santiago de la Laguna. It was established near a natural lagoon and inhabited originally by local indigenous groups, particularly the Cocama and Cocamilla. This makes it one of the earliest mission towns in the Loreto Amazon, predating many better-known regional centers.
Reference: Loreto News Journal

There are two options - "Rapido" is the fast boat, it takes around 4 1/2 - 5 hours depending on stops along the way (I did this boat going to Lagunas); The slow boat, a cargo ship with either 2 or 3 decks, is indeed slow. The one I was on a 2-deck ship for the return trip took somewhere around 10-10 1/2 hours (I wasn't watching the time). And that was against the current. The port has no dock. So, when you embark or disembark, you'll be doing so on a plank of maybe 1" x 12". I watched many people disembark, including some quite large women doing it with the help of two men. Kids enjoyed running down the plank, adults grinned and grimaced, and most took the hand of one man on the ground to steady themselves. There was a mototaxi (3-wheeled motorcycle-taxi) that had to be unloaded by hand. Six men took care of that surprisingly handily. Another much smaller cargo boat was also unloading, but that was a lot of heavy bags of various things. They hefted those bags over their backs and carefully descended their plank to load the bags into any of three different vehicles for further delivery. At this time, the river is on the high side, so it appears. The water encroached into the one street for almost half a block. The vehicles were parked in the water to be loaded.

History of Lagunas

Naturalist Antonio Raimondi, who explored Amazonia in the 1800s, noted Lagunas as an important river port on the Huallaga — navigable for steamships at that time — and recognized it as a principal hub upriver from Yurimaguas. That means the town wasn’t just a village — for centuries, it was a river transport anchor linking local traffic with larger Amazon routes.

In the 1600s–1700s the town functioned as a Jesuit mission center. The Jesuit presence helped shape local settlement patterns, agricultural practices, and the spread of Catholic festivals and rituals. When the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish territories (1767), missions slowed or shifted, but Lagunas remained as both an indigenous and mestizo river hub.
Reference: Loreto News Journal

The surrounding area is traditionally home to indigenous peoples, the Cocama / Cocamilla, whose language (Kukama-Kukamiria) is still spoken locally. Nearby groups, including the Chamicuro, historically relocated into the region during colonial times. So while not large, Lagunas sits atop layers of Amazon social and linguistic history, blending native culture with colonial and post-colonial influences.
Reference: Wikipedia
Wikipedia

"Modern" Lagunas

Today, Lagunas functions as:

• A transport node on river routes between Yurimaguas and farther upriver towns. Reference: Wikipedia
• A service center with basic commerce, markets, a school, municipal offices, and a parish church. Reference: Wikipedia
• A gateway for Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve: from here you can arrange excursions into one of Peru’s largest protected Amazon wilderness areas. There is one tour agency in town, and it gives guided tours of the Reserve. Those tours start at 3 days and extend out to 3 weeks. The tour guides speak only Spanish, so be ready to keep an offline capable translator handy. There's internet access in Lagunas, but outside of town, no. Reference: Y tú que planes?
• It also hosts events like local carnival traditions that blend indigenous and Catholic elements. A notable recent moment: in 2019, a strong earthquake damaged the town’s main church, which was rebuilt and reconsecrated with widespread local participation as a community spiritual focal point. Reference: Querida Amazonía

To Summarize Lagunas

Lagunas is not just “another riverside village.” It’s:

• One of the oldest continuously occupied towns in Loreto
• A historical Jesuit mission site
• A regional river navigation hub
• A place with deep indigenous cultural roots
• A practical base for jungle adventure or local life

My Impressions

This town is quite pleasant, nothing beautiful or eye-catching, just peaceful and full of friendly people, happy to see tourists in town. There's a mercado, and the main street is mostly filled with more vendors in the mornings, starting around six, and they're cleared out by ten am. The central plaza is nice for such a tiny community. And about two blocks away is another plaza/park where the town church is located. The town does have a half-dozen or so paved streets; all the rest are dirt. And there are a couple of streets being paved. There's a neighborhood where many houses have murals painted on them. Most are older works, but still nice. I have photos of every one of them in my photo album. Lagunas Photos. Across town is a futbol (soccer) field which was used for a concert the weekend I was there. In the town center is another futbol field (this one with grandstands) and it was also being used for concerts that weekend).

There are shops for most things a person needs for their daily life, but not a lot of choices for restaurants, pharmacies, hardware stores, and no grocery stores. There are stores with grocery items, but also a lot of miscellaneous stuff. There is little in the way of "cooler" or refrigerated foods. There's a liquor store that has three coolers, two other variety stores with two coolers, and other than that, many small variety stores have one cooler (the single door size). In the market, you can get a variety of vegetables and tropical fruits, as well as meat, more chicken/pork than beef.

While there's no hotel, there are many hosterías, which are hostels or very basic hotels. So, finding a place to stay without reservations is not a concern. Just don't count on Google Maps; what you see on that is a fraction of what's actually here. What can you expect to pay for a night? At the current exchange rate of 3.7 soles to US$1 - less than US$10 per night. Meals will be from 1 to 5 dollars.

So, should you visit Lagunas? Absolutely, if you want to take a guided tour of the Amazon. Otherwise, it's not a place you should go out of your way to visit. It's quiet, slow, the people are very friendly and welcoming, so it's a great place to come and relax, chill out for a while. I'm glad I did.