Monsefú

Monsefú works in straw and thread. The straw weaving uses palm and junco to make hats, bags, fans and mats, and the finest hats take weeks; the embroidery covers blouses, tablecloths and the traditional dress of the region, worked in dense coloured thread. Both are sold at the market and from workshops around the town. Monsefú is also a food town - it is known for its picanterías serving northern coastal cooking, and for chicha de jora - and each July it holds the FEXTICUM, a festival of traditional expression that brings craft, food, music and dance together over several days and draws people from across Lambayeque. The rest of the year it is a working town, and the interest is in the market and the workshops rather than any monument. It is a short ride from Chiclayo and often combined with Santa Rosa and Pimentel on the coast.

History

In his Arte de la lengua yunga of 1644 the priest Fernando de la Carrera derived the name from Omænssefæc, "God punishes the one who offends the earth". Before the Spanish, Monsefú belonged to the chiefdom of Cinto under the name Chuspo; floods in 1578 and disease in 1612 drove the survivors to the present site, and the town was raised to a city on 26 October 1888 (Wikipedia, Monsefú).

The main sights

• The straw weaving - hats, bags and mats in palm and junco, the best taking weeks.
• The embroidery - dense coloured thread work on blouses and regional dress.
• The picanterías - northern coastal cooking and chicha de jora.
• The FEXTICUM - the late July festival of craft, food, music and dance.

When to go

Year-round for the market and workshops; late July for the FEXTICUM. Two to three hours, longer during the fair.

Things to know

An ordinary working town with no sights as such. Machine-made goods are sold alongside handmade - check the weave. Hot and humid. Facilities are basic outside festival days.

Nearby

Chiclayo is north-east; Pimentel and Santa Rosa are on the coast west.