Explore The Central Sierra
The charming modern city of HUÁNUCO, more than 100km east of the deserted Inca town of the same name, and around 400km from Lima, sits nestled in a beautiful Andean valley some 1900m above sea level. It’s a relatively peaceful place, located on the left bank of the sparkling Río Huallaga, and depending for its livelihood on forestry, tea and coca, along with a little low-key tourism. Founded by the Spaniard Gómez de Alvarado in August 1539, the city contains no real sights, save the usual handful of fine old churches and a small natural history museum. There are plenty of fascinating excursions in the area – notably, the 4000-year-old Temple of Kotosh.
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Temple of Kotosh
Temple of Kotosh
Only 6km from Huánuco along the La Unión road, the fascinating, though poorly maintained, TEMPLE OF KOTOSH lies in ruins on the banks of the Río Tingo. At more than 4000 years old, this site predates the Chavín era by more than a thousand years. A more or less permanent settlement existed here throughout the Chavín era (though without the monumental masonry and sculpture of that period) and Inca occupation, right up to the Conquest. The most remarkable feature of the Kotosh complex is the crossed-hands symbol carved prominently onto a stone – the gracefully executed insignia of a very early culture about which archeologists know next to nothing – which now lies in the Museo de Arqueología in Lima. The site today consists of three sacred stone-built enclosures in generally poor condition; but with a little imagination and/or a good local guide, it is both atmospheric and fascinating to explore one of the most ancient temple sites in Peru.
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Fiestas in Huánuco
Fiestas in Huánuco
If you can, you should aim to be in Huánuco around August 15, when carnival week begins and the city’s normal tranquillity explodes into a wild fiesta binge. Peruvian Independence Day (July 28) is also a good time to be here, when traditional dances like the chunco take place throughout the streets. On January 1, 6 and 18, you can witness the Dance of the Blacks (El Baile de los Negritos) in which various local dance groups, dressed in colourful costumes with black masks (representing the slaves brought to work in the area’s mines) run and dance throughout the main streets of the city; food stalls stay open and drinking continues all day and most of the night.
