Peru Guide
The Central Sierra
Huánuco Viejo
A small market town high up on a cold and bleak pampa, LA UNIÓN is a base for visiting the Inca ruins of Huánuco Viejo (daily 8am–6pm; free), a three- to four-hour hike away. The site sits high up on the edge of a desolate pampa, virtually untouched by the Spanish conquistadors. Although abandoned by the Spanish shortly after their arrival in 1539, the city became a centre of native dissent.
One of the most complete existing examples of an Inca provincial capital and administrative centre, Huánuco Viejo gives a powerful impression of a once-thriving city – even though it's been a ghost town for four hundred years. The grey stone houses and platform temples are set out in a roughly circular pattern radiating from a gigantic unsu (Inca throne) in the middle of a plaza. To the north are the military barracks and beyond that the remains of suburban dwellings. Directly east of the plaza is the palace and temple known as Incahuasi, and next to this is the Acllahuasi, a separate enclosure devoted to the Chosen Women, or Virgins of the Sun. Behind this, and running straight through the Incahuasi, is a man-made water channel diverted from the small Río Huachac. On the opposite side of the plaza you can make out the extensive administrative quarters.
Poised on the southern hillside above the main complex are over five hundred storehouses where all sorts of produce and treasure were kept as tribute for the emperor and sacrifices to the sun. Well away from the damp of the valley floor, and separated from each other by a few metres to minimize the risk of fire, they also command impressive views across the plain.
If you need a place to stay in La Unión when visiting the ruins, there's the very basic, dirty Hostal Dos de Mayo (no phone; Price: Up to $5), or Hostal Gran Abilia Alvarado at Comercio 1196 (no phone; Price: $5–15), which is more salubrious but still has mostly shared bathrooms. There are a few restaurants around the market area and on Dos de Mayo.
There are buses from Huánuco to La Unión but not from here to Huánuco Viejo; the only way to get there is to walk, although given that the route isn't the easiest to follow, it's probably best to take a taxi from the Plaza de Armas ($5–7).