Piura is a peaceful town where nightlife is mellow and sometimes nothing more than a stroll through the plaza with an ice cream. But if you’re hell-bent on finding some action, try block 5 of Ayacucho, where you’ll find Pepe’s Pizzeria and Alex Chopp, popular nightspots.

There is also the friendly Raices Restaurant Pub (443 Libertad, doors open at 8 p.m. Mon.–Sat.), which boasts US$1 drafts and Thursday night karaoke.

Several blocks south, Art Rock (Apurímac 341, tel. 073/974-5870, 6:30 p.m. until close, daily), owned by a young Peruvian-Swiss, has a dark wooden patio decorated with ceramic masks, live music, and a long list of cocktails. Art Rock also opens for breakfast.

In the new shopping center Plaza Sol, catch a hit international movie at Cine Planet (Huancavelica and Arequipa, 3–11 p.m. daily, US$2–2.50).

The Easter Week celebration of Catacaos is famous around Peru—especially its Palm Sunday procession, a re-creation of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem that features a locally famous white burro.

One of North Peru’s most sacred shrines is that of El Señor Cautivo in the small mountain town of Ayabaca, where pilgrims from Ecuador and Peru converge October 12–13.

During the first week of October there is a festival of tondero, a livelier version of the marinera, at the Club Grau (Av. Los Cocos Nr. 120, tel. 073/30-8020) in Piura.