Cajabamba's claim to fame

José Sabogal is Peru's most famous painter to-date, and as he was born in Cajabamba, he represents a pretty big claim to fame for this little sierra town. Sabogal was known as the leader of the indigenista artistic movement in Peru, using his paintings to show the beauty and reality of life in the country's rural campo.

Sabogal is sufficiently important that there are still streets named after him in both Cajabamba and Cajamarca, even long after his death in 1956. Thus I was quite surprised when, at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last night, I met an older gentleman who introduced himself as José Sabogal. The long-past death of the famous artist did not stop me from exclaiming to my new friend: "like the painter!" He gave me a kindly look that said "I get this all the time," and informed me that, claro, José Sabogal was his great-uncle. So it seems that 50+ years later, Cajabamba can still call itself the home of José Sabogal - maybe this will help us get some more tourists? :)