Colán

Colán is a long shallow beach north of Paita, and its character comes from the houses: a row of wooden holiday homes built out over the sand on stilts, built by Piura families through the twentieth century, facing west with very long sunsets over flat water. The beach shelves gently and the water is warmer than most of the Peruvian coast, which is why northern families have summered here for generations. The complication is erosion. The shoreline has retreated substantially over the past two decades - storm surges, El Niño events and changes to the coastal dynamics have taken sand and undermined foundations, some houses have been lost and others are propped, and defensive works have been argued over locally without a settled solution. Also at Colán is San Lucas de Colán, a church founded in the sixteenth century and claimed as among the oldest on the Pacific coast of South America, on a bluff above the beach.

What you actually see

• The stilt houses - a row of wooden holiday homes out over the sand.
• The erosion - retreating shoreline, propped foundations and lost buildings.
• The sunsets - west-facing over shallow flat water.
• San Lucas de Colán - the sixteenth-century church on the bluff above.

When to go

December to April, the Peruvian summer, when the houses are occupied and the water is warmest. Outside that it is quiet and much is shut.

Honest expectations

Erosion is visible and ongoing, with damaged and abandoned buildings along the front. Facilities are seasonal and much closes outside summer. No lifeguards. The church is often locked outside service times.

Nearby

Paita is south; Isla Foca and Yacila are along the same coast.