ININPE - San Marcos

SAN MARCOS

GEOGRAPHY
The community of San Marcos is located in the Peruvian northeast, in the north of the department of San Martin. Politically it belongs to the province of Moyobamba and to the district of Soritor. It is located on the right side of the Ochique River.

San Marcos is surrounded by exuberant and wonderful mountains, which give it a beautiful landscape. What's more, San Marcos enjoys having a lot of different water sources. For instance, the Ochique River was and still is one of the greatest sources of food. There is a little stream called Ca¤o which crosses through the middle of the village. On the other side of the village is a larger stream called Quebrada Huicungo, which passes through many of the villager's properties and is used for irrigation.

The geographic resourses are great sources to the social-economic development of the village. Such sources, along with the rain, facilitate the growth of crops. The weather is very special, that is, it is neither too cold, nor too hot. On the average, the temperature is between 20 and 26 C (68 and 79 F) all year around. There are four seasons, but the most prominent ones are the winter (January to April) which usually is rainy and the summer (June to August) which usually is dry.

Taking into account the closest well-known cities, San Marcos is bordered in the north by the district of Soritor, in the south by the province of Rodriguez de Mendoza, in the east by the province of Lamas, and in the west by Rioja.

HISTORY
In May of 1963, Mr. Gonzalo S nchez visited his sister who lived in a place called Retiro, which was located close to Soritor. On this visit, he was impressed by the richness and fertility of the soil. For this reason he decided to stay. Immediately he looked for a place where he could engage himself in agriculture and/or cattle raising. Mr. Juan Domingo G rate, who was believed to be the owner of many acres of land, offered Mr. S nchez a piece of land of 62 hectares located on the right side of the Ochique River. After checking it out, Mr. S nchez decided to buy it. Then he went back to Santa Cruz, where he originated from, to bring his family to the new property.
Once in Santa Cruz, Mr. S nchez told everybody about the land he had seen. In November of 1963, he returned to the property accompanied by Hernesto Roque and his family along with Jos‚ Santa Cruz and Anastacio Roque.

In February 1964, Jos‚ Santa Cruz went to Santa Cruz to bring his family. Immediately he returned with his family and his brothers-in-law, Pablo Soto and Heriberto Vallejos, and also Anan¡as Becerra and Javier S nchez. In April of the same year a third group arrived consisting of Hip¢lito Roque with his family and Julio Vallejos with his family.

Later, on December 28, 1964, these pioneers gathered together and decided to give their village the name of San Marcos. Immediately, they named authorities who later tried to make arrangements for the official existence of San Marcos, which would give it rights to get help from the government.

In the same year the first primary school was created. The first teacher was Jos‚ Montalv n. Thus, San Marcos was growing quite fast, when they got a kindergarten school, a secondary school, water services, and a health center.

Presently, San Marcos has a lot of new villages around. It is now a structured village with planned streets.

However, it is still having problems with transportation, because there is not a bridge over the Ochique River. During the rainy season, the river is full, so it is difficult for the cars to pass over. Fortunately, after much hard work, it seems that San Marcos is about to get its bridge. The government of Fujimori has been very supportive of this project.