Granja Porcón

Granja Porcón is a cooperative of several hundred families in the hills above Cajamarca at around 3,000 metres, formed out of land reform in the 1970s and organised around an evangelical Christian identity that shapes the community's rules and daily life - biblical texts painted on buildings, no alcohol, communal decision-making. Economically it runs on pine plantations, established from the 1970s on eroded grassland and now covering thousands of hectares, along with dairy, cheese, trout ponds, and handicraft. Tourism was added as a further line: visitors come for the day or stay in cabins, walk in the pine forest, see the dairy and cheese production, and visit a small zoo of Andean animals kept on the site. It is an unusual place - a planted conifer landscape in the Andes, and a community that runs on principles very different from its neighbours.

What you actually see

• The pine forest - thousands of hectares planted from the 1970s on eroded ground.
• The cooperative - several hundred families running the enterprise communally.
• The dairy - cheese production, trout ponds and farm operations.
• The evangelical character - the rules and texts that shape community life.

When to go

May to September for road and walking conditions. A day trip from Cajamarca or an overnight in the cabins. Book lodging ahead.

Honest expectations

The planted pine is a monoculture, not native forest, and the ecological arguments about it are real. The small zoo keeps Andean animals in modest enclosures. No alcohol is permitted on the property. Cold at 3,000 metres and often wet.

Nearby

Cajamarca is south-east; the Combayo burial niches are in the hills east.