Many of us have heard of or passed through the town of Quincemil on our way to Puerto Maldonado, but very little we have heard of its history and why it is called that way.
The town Quincemil is located in the Peruvian jungle – Cusco at approximately 619 meters above sea level. This area is difficult to access due to its rugged topography and heavy rains. This area is considered the most rainy of our country.
There are many stories that tell the origin of the name of this town. One of them tells us that the origin of this name was due to the fact that in the 1950’s rains reached a value of 15100 millimeters in a single year. Another tells us that in the golden age travelers came from 15 thousand kilometers away. In addition, some villagers claim that the name was due to the 15 thousand soles that were stolen by a group of Russians who were looking for gold.
But recently I heard a new story about this town. The narrator told me that this village had previously only one owner. He tired of the work of planting and decided to sell his property to peasants from another town for the price of S /15000 new soles. Once he received this money he went with some of its things to the city of Puerto Maldonado. On the trip east he fell asleep under a tree. The next day he noticed that the bag in which he carried the money was not there.
He searched and looked all over the place at every stop he had made on the long road and did not get to find it. Some peasants saw this man was desperate and asked what had happened. Once he finished the story they also started looking for his bag, it was never found and from that day they named the area Quincemil.
Nowadays this history is little known, since many of the inhabitants of this zone do not agree in which history is the real one. What we do know is that there are other histories besides those that mention the origin of this town.
