Nazca Lines: A place of amazing history and mystery

11:41. Paracas, Dec. 1. Motivations that lure visitors to Peru’s Ica region may be many — from its natural landscapes to its gastronomic offer — but its history and archaeological sites remain the top reasons to arrive in this coastal location. And what better way to immerse into Ica’s legacy than by visiting the enigmatic Nazca lines.

Peru’s emblematic Nazca lines provide a highly attractive destination for Annual Executives Conference (CADE 2016) attendees, who can visit the attraction and learn about this major remnant of ancient Peruvian culture.

The geoglyphs are large, detailed designs depicting geometric and zoomorphic figures covering an area 50 km long and 15 km wide. These magnificent archaeological site can be found between km 419-465 on Panamericana Sur highway.

First reports on these intricate patterns were made by Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xespe in 1927. Later, in 1939, U.S. scientist Paul Kosok carried out a number of investigations on the lines as well.

However, it wasn’t until 1946 that more thorough research works emerged, when German researcher Maria Reiche became interested in the geoglyphs. She would dedicate the rest of her life to their study and preservation. 

Various theories have been put forth to explain the origin and use of the lines, and some researchers affirm they date from 550 A.D. 

As for their purpose, the Lady of Nazca interpreted them as a gigantic solar and lunar calendar used by ancient Peruvian astronomers. 

Two traits characterize these markings: their massive size and shallow depth, which ranges from 15 to 30 cm. 

Over thirty of these drawings have been reported to date, including marine creatures, land animals, as well as geometric and anthropomorphic shapes.

The largest geoglyphs are a bird of nearly 300 m, a lizard (180 m), a pelican (135 m), a condor (135 m), a monkey (135 m) and a spider (42 m).

The arid Nazca plains also play canvas to a whale, two llamas and various birds: a heron, a crane, a pelican, a seagull, a parrot and the symbolic hummingbird.

Tourism

There are two alternatives to see these enigmatic figures: from the ground and from the air.

Visitors can climb ‘El Mirador’ (observation tower) built overlooking the archaeological site to appreciate two of the famous lines, the hands and the tree, as well as many other figures carved into the desert.

The other option is flying over the geoglyphs. In this sense, Nazca’s Maria Reiche Airport offers 30-minute tours to take in the view from above and marvel at the main figures.

The Nazca lines and geoglyphs were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 17, 1994.

Source: Andina from Peruto The World

Lima-Jaen daily flight to boost tourism in Northern Macro Region

16:59. Lima, Sep. 30. Tourist attractions in the Northern Macro Region of Peru, mainly those of Amazonas region, will experience a strong growth thanks to a Lima-Jaen direct flight that LATAM airlines will operate starting today, Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Eduardo Ferreyros informed.

The airline expects to fly more than 100,000 passengers a year between the two destinations. This way the new route will diversify the tourist experience in Peru.

“This will also improve the Alto Utcubamba tourist circuit with a reduced travel time to Chachapoyas —starting point to visit sites like Gocta Falls, Kuelap Archaeological Complex, Sarcophagi of Karajia, Revash's mausoleums and Leymebamba district,” he indicated.

The good news adds up to the soon-to-be-opened Kuelap cable-car system in Chachapoyas.

Cable cars will run for 4km up to the said site and take 20 minutes. The work has been undertaken by Mincetur since 2015.

The Jaen daily flight will be the 17th destination added by LATAM Airlines, which celebrates its 17th anniversary of Peru service this year.

Source: Andina from Peru to The World

Chan Chan, Sun city

Freedom. The ruins of Chan Chan lie in the Moche Valley, midway between Huanchaco and Trujillo, in the department of La Libertad and covers an area of about 20 square kilometers. It is an archaeological complex formed by 9 citadels or small walled cities belonging to the Chimu culture. It is considered as the city of the world's largest mud.

It is estimated that in Chan Chan, which means "Sun Sun" because many theories say the city endured a great sun exposure, lived from 20 to 30,000 inhabitants and various kinds of architecture can be seen. Visit and follow it with accredited guide tourists to discover the remains of an ancient Peruvian culture, and marvel at the quality of the architecture of the Chimu.

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu kingdom, originally covered more than 20 km2 from near the port of Huanchaco to Cerro Campana. Archaeologists estimate that housed more than 100 thousand people.

In its structure plazas, housing, warehouses, workshops, streets, walls and pyramidal temples. Its enormous walls are profusely decorated with geometric figures, stylized zoomorphic and mythological beings. The tour of the archaeological site is complemented by a visit to the museum.

Source: RPP.

Visit Chan Chan!

Moche Route Tour 3D/2N

Archaeology and Nature Tour 4D/3N

Archaeologists find cemetery pre - Inca in district of Huanchaco

The remains were found on April 18, though excavations began on 11th September in the district of Huanchaco, Trujillo province in La Libertad. The works are part of Huanchaco Archaeological Program, which is sponsored by Peru Innovate Program, the Ministry of Production and the Research of the National University of Trujillo (UNT).

The human remains belonging to the Inca and Chimu cultures, between 500 and 1000 years old, were found in what would be a pre Inca cemetery, in an area of 40 square meters, a few meters from the side of the Virgin church Candelaria del Socorro, a tourist area of the traditional spa. Each found tomb consists of bones, pottery, necklaces and dunks.

Archaeologist Carlos Osores Mendives said eight complete individuals and other loose debris individuals were found. "In total we could it speak eight intact tombs and loose bones of more than a dozen people possibly" he said.

After the discovery of the pieces, these will move into UNT lab for analysis and determine their cultural affiliation and identification of individuals. Still they work in the area archaeologists digging and it is possible find more graves and individuals.

Source: Portal de Turismo. 

Visit Trujillo:

Moche Route Tour 3D/2N
Archaeology & Natural Tour 4D/3N 
Lost Cities of the Northern Peru 6D/5N
Archaeology Tours in the Northern Coast of Peru 6D/5N
Treasures of the Northern Kingdoms 8D/7N

National Museum of Archaeology of Peru will be built in Lurin

National Museum of Archaeology of Peru (MUNA) will be the largest in the country and its rooms showcase the immense historical and cultural center of one of the cradles of world civilization legacy. That will come true in a sector of the archaeological site Pachacamac (Lurin, Lima), to display in the same space more than 500,000 pieces of historical and cultural value of ancient Peru, and present.

MUNA is the acronym for the future National Museum of Archaeology of Peru, the colossus of five levels to be erected at kilometer 31 of the Panamericana Sur. In the MUNA the archaeological heritage of the country will be divided into two main sectors: past and present. In its halls evidence of all cultures and civilizations that developed in the current Peruvian territory before the arrival of the Spaniards, including the 100 tombs found around the museum are displayed in Lima.

Source: La Republica.

Visit Lima.

Lima Colonial Capital Tour 3D/2N

Ninety archaeological sites identified in Arequipa

An important finding in Arequipa. A total of 90 archaeological sites were identified in the district of Ayo province of Castilla, during a field inspection carried out in the last two months of 2015, with the purpose of verifying the cultural and tourism potential that exists in this locality.

In the archaeological inspection platforms identified in 70%, housing sectors by 20% and funerary complexes by 10%. The discovery of walls, towers, platforms and irrigation canals of various dimensions was reported.

Orthogonal architectural structures (rooms and courtyards) and circular plants (chullpas), built with volcanic stone and mud mortar were also found.

In the vast majority of sites fragments of ceramic household and remains a lesser amount of ceramic decorations ceremonial use in high and low relief, in which they have used colors like red, green and white were located; possibly belonging to the Huari culture (600 A.D.-100 A.D.) which they were established in Arequipa and southern Peru.

Source: Peru 21.

Visit Arequipa!

Arequipa with Colca extension 4D/3N

Learn the 5 most popular museums in Peru

For those who want to dive into the history of this country and Latin America, TripAdvisor established a list of the most prominent museums according to its users.

Peru is an ideal destination for cultural tourism, for all its Inca past, how many remains have been preserved and its more recent history, in which highlight various characters.

For those who want to dive into the history of this country and Latin America, the major travel site, TripAdvisor, created a list of the most popular museums in Peru according to its users.

1. Larco Museum, Lima.

2. Royal Tombs of the Lord of Sipan, Chiclayo.

3. Cao Museum, Trujillo.

4. Mate Mario Testino Museum, Lima.

5. National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History, Lima.

Source: America Economía.

Lima Colonial Capital 2D/1N

Moche Route Tour 3D/2N

Archaeology an Natural Tour 4D/3N

The mysterious Moon Temple Machu Picchu

Located on the steep slopes falling on the north side of Huayna Picchu, Temple of the Moon was already known by Hiram Bingham called the 'Great Cave'. Federico Kauffmann said that must have been a place of worship of great importance for the care with which they were worked walls lining the grotto.

Although at that very moment thousands of people swarmed through Machu Picchu, in the Temple of the Moon was not a soul. And that's the best way to enjoy the Inca monuments in silence. We only came the sound of restless Urubamba river flowing towards more whimsical tropical latitudes.

There are two ways to peer into the Temple of the Moon, the first, most spectacular and courageous, requires climbing to the top of Huayna Picchu and then begin a long descent. The second involves taking a path that branches off to the left at the very base of Huayna Picchu, where you can see live rock made ladders and walls that separate you from the abyss, before the road crash in the jungle. The Temple of the Moon is 2,050 meters high, it is 400 meters less than Machu Picchu.

Source: La Republica.

Visit Machu Picchu in Peru!

Machu Picchu Full Day Tour

Machu Picchu & Huayna Piccu Tour

Museum of Tucume is awarded Best World Tourism Project

The newly opened Museum of Site Tucume in Lambayaque (north of Chiclayo), was awarded "Best World Tourism Project" award from the Association of British Travel Writers (BGTW) due to the tourism potential of the place and the social work done with communities area.

"The Tucume Museum has been honored with this award thanks to his visit in June this year, the British travel writer and author of the book" Trekking in Peru ', Hilary Bradt, who fell in love with this cultural center, "said Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Magali Silva.

The award was presented in November 2015, but the last last weekend proceeded with the official presentation of this distinction in the new premises of the museum, where they unveiled their new identity as 'eco-museum'.

"This is a new concept for Peru, through which communities can preserve, interpret and evaluate their assets for sustainable development," said Alfredo Narvaez, founding director of the Museum of Tucume.

Source: Peru21.

Visit the Northern Peru:

Moche Route Tour 3D/2N
Archaeology and Nature Tour 4D/3N
Treasures of the Northern Kingdoms 8D/7N

Caral continues to surprise to the scientific community and the world

The world scientific community is still stunned with advanced knowledge in agronomy, climatology, engineering, medicine and other sciences that had 5,000 years ago that populated the Peruvian Caral, said the researcher Ruth Shady.

He stressed that to develop agricultural calendars and predict weather events laboratories that allowed them to determine the beginning and end of the sowing and harvesting campaigns, as well as changes that nature has to adapt to them were installed.

"In the field of energy efficiency and fluid mechanics, in Caral force wind took advantage, now known as Venturi principle, channeling it through underground pipes to have very high temperatures in furnaces," he said.

Shady said that when this knowledge was analyzed by physicists from the United States, they are asked how this civilization knew this 5,000 years ago, when Europe was discovered recently in 1740.

"In the field of pharmacology, in Caral We have found that for ailments such as headaches sauce packets containing the active ingredient of aspirin was applied. This ancestral knowledge survives until today," he said.

The researcher of the Caral civilization stressed that other knowledge that continues to surprise has to do with civil engineering, since the earthquake resistance of buildings 5,000 years ago with bases and applied seismic structures.

"A Belgian engineer who saw it said that knowledge that the ancient Peruvians were developed in at least six centuries to Europe and the rest of Latin knowledge of hydraulic engineering, civil, structural and agricultural" he said.

Source: Andina.

Visit Caral Ruins in Lima!

Caral Ruins Tour Full Day -15% Off!
Sanctuary of Pachacamac Half Day -15% Off!

Caral considered one of the 10 unforgettable findings of 2015

Caral considered one of the 10 unforgettable findings of 2015 according to National Geographic. "The Caral is the oldest civilization in the Americas," said Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady to this medium. The archaeological team unearthed three complete runs no clay figurines, two heads of the same material and numerous reliefs of starving characters that are an allegory of drought, famine and death he endured this culture. 

The disturbing expression of the three statuettes has not faded over the millennia. Most depicts a shaman priestess or showing breasts and genitals. The other two statues, with twenty fingers each, representing two characters in the hierarchy. "Women played a prominent religious, economic and political, as can be evidenced in the recovered material role activities," says Shady. "When the Spanish arrived in Peru they said that the natives were weak because they let women rule"

Caral is the cradle of as old as the Egyptian Memphis Andean civilization and culture that flourished in this holy city is considered the oldest in America, at least to date. Throughout the month of June, the Ministry of Culture of Peru has announced a series of findings about 3,800 years old that shed light on a remote culture that survived in an area hit by drought. The archaeological team led by Ruth Shady has unearthed three complete no clay figurines, two heads of the same material and numerous reliefs of starving characters that are an allegory of drought, famine and death he endured this culture.

Source: National Geographic.

Visit Lima!

Caral Ruins Full Day Tour

Archaeological site discovered in Amazon rainforest

On the hill of Atumpucro in the department of Amazonas a new archaeological site was found. Martin Chumbe explorer of Chachapoyas, discovered the composite structures of 150 houses in two hectares.

The Atumpucro complex has houses with rectangular windows, niches and friezes in all circles. The explorer also added that these houses are built on large terraces and breathtaking walls 50 meters long and 3 meters high.

It’s situated on the left bank of the Utcubamba River in the district of San Juan de Lopecancha (Amazonas). Atumpucro can become a new tourist destination where you can also see the Utcubamba River Valley.

Source: TeleSur.

Visit Chacapoyas: 

Chachapoyas Express 4D/3N

Kuelap Discoverer 5D/4N

Chachapoyas Explorer 7D/6N 

Four tombs discovered of 600 years in the Huaca Pucllana

A team of archaeologists from the Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores discovered four tombs possibly the Ychsma culture. Were three women and a grown man, they were buried in the main pyramid of the archaeological site in Lima.

The bodies were located to the southeast, in a seated position, wrapped in fabrics, baskets and ropes, all buried in the Great Pyramid. The finding confirms that this structure was used as a burial place for people considered elite. The characters found in the tombs ichmas are squatting beside reed brackets that hold them in that position. The funeral paraphernalia included pottery and textile tools such as punches and cactus spines.

This finding confirms the presence of the Ychsma culture in the ceremonial center located in the heart of Miraflores. Which it was installed on the central coast of the country between 1000 and 1450 AD.

Source: El Comercio.

Visit Lima: The Colonial Capital Tour 3D/2N

Basque expedition found an Inca sanctuary

Most of the adventure has run for the Inca trail in Vraem region. For two weeks amounted rugged mountains up to 5,000 meters and have ventured into the jungle with a rainy weather that has not stopped to rest.

Fortunately Miguel Gutierrez guided by his intuition on a hill 12 hectares at 3,700 meters by the expedition found an Inca cemetery full of graves hidden in caves.

Following this finding, the expedition also found on the western slope of the Vilcabamba’s mountains an Inca ceremonial center to 5,000 meters, where they photographed what they believe are the remains of inns, tombs, carved relics, platforms, Inca roads, stairs and stands.

The whole mountain seems "huge reservoir" whose archaeological and scientific scope is still unknown but believe there may be children buried after being killed in rituals to the god of water during periods of drought.

Basque expedition follows in the footsteps of explorers like Galician Santiago del Valle and Carmen Martin Rubio, also trapped by the mixture of history, magic, myth and legend surrounding the Inca and his lost city of Vilcabamba.

Source: Efefuturo.

Inca Trail Classic 4D/3N
Inca Trail Discovery 5D/4N

Inca Trail Deluxe 5D/4N
Beyond the Inca Trail 8D/7N

The New Museum of Pachacamac

Pachacamac was the main sanctuary of the central coast for over a thousand years, on the south of Lima. Their temples were visited by crowds of pilgrims on the occasion of the great Andean rituals and going people of the Andes in search of solutions to their problems or answers to their questions.

Pachacamac is regarded as an oracle and its worship was the center of all coastal religion. The word Pachacamac means "soul of the earth, which animates the world." The ancient Peruvians believed that one movement of his head would cause earthquakes. He could not look into his eyes, and even his priests entered the enclosure back.

The new Pachacamac site museum under construction, part of the National System of Museums of the National Institute of Culture. It aims to integrate the archaeological site with the community. It provides information to understand the Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac and place in the history of Peruvian archeology. Among the main buildings we can find: the Sun Temple, pyramids with ramps, Taurichumpi Palace, Temple Pintado, Uhle Cemetery, North and South Streets, Square of the Pilgrims and the Acllahuasi.

You can visit the museum in the old Panamericana Sur Km. 31.5 Lurin district in Lima. A building that will offer visitors modern spaces for the exhibition of major collections that currently houses and efficient research work and preservation of cultural material environments.

Visit Lima: The Colonial Capital Tour 3D/2N

New Nazca geoglyphs

A few months ago a group of Japanese archaeologists from the University of Yamagata were those who discovered new and enigmatic geometric shapes on the floor, 1 ½ kilometers north from the city of Nazca. According to the analysts these geometric shapes date from the III – V century A.D. and belong to Paracas ancient civilization.

These figures are hardly recognizable and sum a total of 24 new geoglyphs, within these the figure of a Llama (a mammal that is used to load and transport) is recognized and other animals that measure up to 20 meters long formed of volcanic stones.

So far they have found 41 geometric figures since 2004, thanks to the agreement signed between the Japanese university and the Peruvian State. These geometric shapes have been recognized by the  Unesco as Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Initially they could not be discovered because of the surface of the desert and the wind, which only allowed to be recognized from the air or from a surrounding hill.

Masato Sakai, head of the research warned that the discovery could be in danger due to the expansion of urban areas, noting that the figures should be preserved and showed to the world.

For more information about Nazca visit: Paracas 

The Amazing Sillustani

In Sillustani 35 kms. from Puno, a mysterious and impressive burial grounds of the Lords of the Colla called chullpas is situated, with square and cone shapes made of stones that fit symmetrically exact. This sanctuary is surrounded by the beautiful Umayo Lagoon only 20 kms. from Lake Titicaca.

The Chullpas can reach up to 12 meters high, with vaulted crypts where mummies were kept inside, almost 90 of them. According to researches the bodies were mummified in a fetal position and placed inside the chullpas. Close to the bodies were placed their belongings, jewelry, pottery and food; due to their beliefs were said that after death the bodies will resurrect elsewhere, where then they will eat and drink.

Higher chullpas settled on platforms and had graves that were buried around that were surely their servers. These numerous monuments were accompanied by other facilities in circles as well as decks and fences designated for rituals.

Even this tourist attraction and funerary sanctuary was the inspiration for the Central Bank of Peru to issue a new edition of the national currency (Nuevo Sol), in commemoration of the Sillustani Chullpas as part of its Numismatics Wealth and Pride.

To arrive to Sillustani we should take the paved road between Puno and Juliaca, 3950 meters above sea level; where you will find one of the largest cemeteries in the world and must see point to visit in Puno.

More information about Puno and Lake Titicaca here.