Mollendo

Mollendo is a town on the Pacific Ocean in the Arequipa Region of southern Peru and the capital of Islay Province and of Mollendo District. It was the main port of the southern coast until Matarani, 12 kilometres to the north, was developed in the mid twentieth century; the old port now serves fishermen and is in ruins, and from about 1830 to 1880 it was a key port of the guano trade. A railway from Arequipa once ran daily and now runs only as a summer express on Saturdays. The beaches are the main attraction, and from December to April the population more than doubles as people from Arequipa spend the summer there. Mollendo exports wool and has industries making cement, textiles, canned fish and cheese. The coast around it came under Inca expansion into Arequipa and Moquegua, and the Tambo valley served as a supply depot. A ship of the Peruvian Navy, BAP Mollendo, is named after the town.