Chupe de camarones is a thick soup of river prawns with maize, poached egg, carrot, chard and celery, broad beans and soft cheese. Pink crustaceans as thick as your index finger are boiled whole in the pot, their claws poke above the surface, and their eyes peer out from the vegetables.
The prawns are emblematic of the valley where visitors drive inland from the coast to lunch at one of the riverside restaurants. “Welcome to the District of Calango” says 
a roadside sign under a large pink prawn moulded in clay, while restaurant signs list their dishes (arroz con camarones, ceviche de camarones, camarones fritos, camarones salteados…) under a chalk drawn prawn.
Higher up the river, beyond the shops and restaurants, it may be the same creatures that are engraved high up on the face of a great black rock. Or mythic lobster men, holding up the sky.