Chavin Ruins

We leave at 9:00 am heading to the ancient archaeological site of Chavin de Huantar. We will pass through the towns of Recuay called the gateway to the Callejón de Huaylas, this being the first city of the Callejón de Huaylas. It is also a city that still preserves its colonial style and was little affected by the 1970 earthquake. We then arrived at the rural community of Catac (3500m) which is one of the largest cheese producers in the department of Ancash. Here we take a detour that takes us to the ceremonial center of Chavin de Huantar. We will see large pastures where locals raise cattle, which feed on the famous Ichu throughout the year.

The next stop on our trip will be Lake Querococha (3980 m) where we will make a brief stop to take photographs. Then we will continue uphill until we reach the Cahuish tunnel (4516 m) almost half a kilometer long. After passing this tunnel we will enter the Conchucos valley. From there the course of the path is downhill until reaching the ceremonial center. We will enjoy a traditional lunch prepared for those who register this ceremonial center. This historic ceremonial center dates back 1,000 years and is considered one of the greatest cultural influences in Peru. Many researchers in architecture, astronomy and other sciences stand out here. We begin with an outline of the route of our tour and then we will see the replica of the Raimondi Stela that is located at the entrance. From there we will continue to the replica of the Tello obelisk. Continuing from there we reach the main square which was built on a sunken platform. Then we will go to the Chavin temple, a circular plaza, where we will see a statue of the main god of this culture, Lanzón. It is located inside a gallery that bears the same name. We will also see the spiked heads of the statues considered to be the guards of the Chavín temple. After this exciting and magical trip our bus will take us back to the city of Huaraz. The trip will take two hours.