Otuzco is a city in the La Libertad highlands with narrow streets and elevated houses of wide doors and tiled roofs.

Within a few kilometers of Otuzco the land changes from hard, rocky terrain to the warm, almost tropical fertile lower valleys that are famous for their year-round cultivation of pineapples and sugar cane.

As Otuzco is a small mountain community with a basic, self-sufficient economy, cash is the usual method of payment, there are no large banks or automated teller machines.

[citation needed] In recent years, Electricity, mobile phone towers and the internet have slowly spread throughout the mountain areas surrounding Otuzco.

While there may be some areas without signal due to the mountains, mobile phone coverage is relatively widespread in and around the town and several internet cafes operate within Otuzco.

The quickest method of transportation is colectivos but these can sometimes be the most dangerous as they generally travel at a higher speed through the winding mountain roads.

All companies operating services to Otuzco leave from Avenida Union, a main road approximately 5 kilometers from downtown Trujillo.

Unlike Cuzco, which has been transformed into a commercial tourist destination, Otuzco has remained relatively traditional with people still going about their daily lives as they have for generations.

The primary charm of Otuzco lies in the traditional lifestyles and customs of the people;[peacock prose] people are dressed in their colorful traditional clothing, selling their wares in the streets and markets, coaxing their donkeys along the roads and trails in a town where the majority of the buildings are still built the way they have been for centuries.

In recent years the Peruvian economy has grown and been successful, and the government has increased its investment in education; this can be seen in small towns such as Otuzco where computers, books and materials are now being made available to children.