Peru’s most beautiful ruins are not located at Machu Picchu. The Inca construction there is an example of masterful engineering, and has a jaw dropping location, but, in the end, the ruins themselves are a series of very well-built gray walls. I know, it’s not the Incas’ fault that their decorative elements were spirited away by dashing archaeologists, but that doesn’t change the experience for visitors today.
If you want to see the height of ancient, artistic creativity, you’ll have to head to an archaeological site on the other end of the country: the Huaca de la Luna. The site receives just 300 visitors per day, not because it is hard to get to (it is only about fifteen minutes by taxi from the center of Trujillo, Peru’s third-largest city), but because it has never been mythologized or marketed, which is a shame.
