Majes River Shrimp

The camarón de río is a freshwater prawn, Cryphiops caementarius, that lives in the rivers of the southern Peruvian coast and is at its most abundant in the Majes-Camaná system in Arequipa. It has been fished there for centuries and it underpins a whole set of dishes: chupe de camarones, a thick soup of shrimp with milk, egg, potato, rice and huacatay that is the emblematic Arequipeño dish; camarones al ajo; ocopa with shrimp; and simple grilled preparations. Restaurants along the valley and in Camaná serve them, and Arequipa's picanterías build menus around them. There is a legally enforced closed season, usually from around January to March, to protect breeding, and fishing outside the rules and upstream water abstraction have both put pressure on the stock. Prices are high and reflect scarcity.

What you actually see

• Chupe de camarones - the thick shrimp soup that defines Arequipeño cooking.
• The species - a freshwater prawn native to the southern coastal rivers.
• The valley restaurants - Majes and Camaná places built around the catch.
• The closed season - a legal ban, usually January to March, to protect breeding.

When to go

April to December; the closed season means shrimp on a menu in January to March is either frozen or illegally caught. A long lunch in the valley.

Honest expectations

Expensive, and prices rise as stocks decline. Anything sold fresh during the closed season is illegal - do not order it. Chupe is very rich. The valley restaurants are a long drive from Arequipa.

Nearby

Toro Muerto is in the Majes valley; Camaná is on the coast at the river mouth.