The North of Peru
I now take you in the North of Peru! While the majority of people want to visit Machu Picchu, the North remains a hidden gem for those willing to venture off-the-beaten-path. There are amazing ruins to discover that pre-date the Inca civilization. There are so much more to visit than what you will see here and a thing is for sure: I want to go back! During my trip, I didn’t make any exception… still archaeological sites. I visited museums too… but it wasn’t by choice… simply because I was doing group tours.
Caral
Let’s start with Caral, the origin of Andean culture! More than 5000 years old, Caral developed at the same time as other great cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. The Sacred City of Caral-Supe, is located on a dry desert terrace, 182 kilometers north of Lima. It is considered the oldest city in the Americas and one of the oldest in the world. No other site has been found with such a diversity of monumental buildings or different ceremonial and administrative functions in the Americas. Caral is impressive in terms of the design and complexity of its architecture and is remarkably intact because of its early abandonment and late discovery. Entrance fee: 11 soles.
Chan Chan
Let's continu up North, near the city of Trujillo, Chan Chan city was built around 900 AD and reached its peak in the 15th century, shortly before falling to the power of the Inca Empire. Up until now, it remains the largest adobe (mud brick) city in the world. It was a masterpiece of Chimu culture in its time, and also a large burial site… as Chimu people sacrificed animals and humans. And, to top it all, when the king died, all his wives were poisoned and buried in the complex with him... (apparently ). Like in many guided tours, I hated that we weren't there long enough to see it all. The site is huge and you visit only a small part. If you can go alone, do it! The entrance fee is 10 soles.
Temples of the Sun and Moon
Around 5 kilometres from Trujillo, Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, a.k.a Temples of the Sun and Moon, are examples of a different culture that was dominant in the area much earlier (about 700 years) than the Chimu dynasty, which was responsible for the construction of
Chan Chan. Huacas del Sol y de la Luna is the result of the culture of the Moche period. Huaca de la Luna is a complex of five
Moche temples built on top of each other. This archaeological site is also an adobe brick pyramid was so much cooler than I expected and all of the painting is original. It is also 10 soles for the entrance.
Archeological complex El Brujo
After driving an hour and a half North of Trujillo in road between the sea and the desert, you get to El Brujo Archaeological Complex, an ancient archaeological site that was occupied from preceramic times. The archaeological complex was opened to tourism in May 2006, when the National Geographic magazine announced the discovery of the tomb of the Lady of Cao worldwide. In 2009, the Cao Museum was opened to exhibit and preserve the remains of the Lady of Cao, a cultural heritage of 14 thousand years old. The El Brujo was one of the most important religious and political centers of the Moche culture (100 - 750 AD), as well as one of the most beautiful pyramids built by them. The museum of Lady of Cao is inside the complex. I took a quick look far from the guide’s explanations… Entrance ticket costs 10 soles.
Miscellaneous
Before going up more North, I just want to specify that I stayed in Trujillo for 3 days to visit the archaeological sites close to the city.
Like any other cities, it has it’s plaza the Armas where you can find many travel agencies, churches, restaurants, stores and markets.
It’s a cute place with colourful buildings and a nice place to stay while visiting. But, you can go to Huanchaco, which is basically Trujillo's suburb, and has a beautiful beach. Huanchaco is a surfer's paradise. The most unique thing about Huanchaco is that you can ride a caballito de totora with one of the fishermen, who use the caballitos in the morning to go check their fishing nets and crab traps.
You can enjoy a day at the beach and even take surf lessons. And last but not the least, before going to see the temple of the sun and moon, you can stop and take pictures of giant erotic pre-hispanic ceramics replicas in the city of Moche. The Moche civilization’s
Huacos Eróticos are explicit pottery showing love scenes, religious rituals, everyday activities and even fertility rites.
Tucume Pyramids and Las Balsas Huaca
Completely unknown to most tourists, northern Peru just happens to host one of the largest and most important groupings of ancient pyramids in the world. The Lambayeque Valley is home to three separate pyramid cities, an astonishing 250 pyramids in total. Túcume Archaeological Site is located about an hour drive from Chiclayo and apparently, the site of Túcume has always possessed special sacred importance to the people of the area. This imposing complex of 26 mud brick pyramids was built by the Lambayeque (also known as Sican) culture in the beginning of the 10th century. The local name for Túcume is Purgatorio, which is the Spanish word for Purgatory. How the site got this name
exactly is somewhat hazy, but local legend tells of Spanish colonists lighting massive fires to terrorize the local population, claiming that Túcume was the gate to Purgatory.
Huaca las Balsas is one of the 26 pyramids in the archaeological complex of Túcume, also called the “Valley of the Pyramids.” This Huaca is located at the south-west end of the complex, it has 7 construction phases superimposed, all of them decorated with mythical motifs and complicated rites that commemorate it. Huaca Las Balsas is one of the smallest buildings in this archaeological site, however, it stands out for its clay reliefs.
Cost of entry is 8 Soles each for either the A circuit or the B circuit, or 12 Soles each for both.
The Royal Tombs of Sipan
The Indiana Jones in you will probably like to immerse itself in the grandeur of an ancient civilization. First, you can walk to see the actual tomb where they found a unique collection of gold, silver, bronze and ceramic objects that tell the greatness of Lambayecan culture. Admire replicas of tombs of the Lord of Sipán, the name given to the first of several Moche mummies found at Huaca Rajada. The Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum is the most important cultural precinct in northern Peru and one of the ten best
in South America. Inside it houses, as the main exhibit, the complete skeleton and burial goods of the Lord of Sipan, ruler of the Mochica civilization, whose existence dates from 600 to 650 AD. As you know, I’m not really a fan of museums but I still went inside to look around 10 minutes. Entrance is 10 soles.
Bosque de Pómac Historic Sanctuary
Depending on what you want to do, if you have kids or not and if you are doing a guided tour, you have many options of activities. You will learn about the ‘’magic and mystery of the Sicán kingdom,’’ as well as its enigmatic adobe pyramids and the amazing landscape in which they developed. Pomac Historical Sanctuary objective’s is to protect and strengthen the landscape-cultural conservation of the most representative area of the equatorial dry forest ecoregion, as well as the biodiversity of this ecosystem that has around 90 species of birds and a historic carob tree of more 500 years old (you can see a part of it on the picture.)
Personally, I felt like in a safari. I went through by car and there are a couple of spots where my driver stopped so I could see the arbol milenario (same picture of the tree) and cross a river bare feet to go see pyramids. It was a nice afternoon but, like any other places in the North or South of Peru, don’t forget that it’s in the desert so…. Soooooo hot! There was more than 3 pyramids but with the heat, I only went to see one. Foreign nationals: 30 soles. Adults: 11 soles and children 5 soles.
Ventarrón
Ventarrón Archaeological Complex is a small isolated mountain in the lower valley of Lambayeque, about 40 minutes from Chiclayo.
The site is a 4,500-year-old temple with painted murals and structures that I didn’t see elsewhere.
The temple is considered to be the origin of civilization on the northern coast of Peru and features the oldest murals in America.
It is an extensive ceremonial center whose construction was made between 2,600 and 1,600 BC.
The structure was built using adobe bricks made from river sediment, making it an innovative construction structure. Inside, a staircase was discovered leading to an altar but stairs were not common in pre-Incan constructions…
So, as the reason I don’t like to have guides… is what I read really true? Who knows, but the site is beautiful and really interesting.
Like in all the 6 sections, it was really hard to choose which pictures to include in this page.
So here's a little extra!
