North of Peru: Experience

Beyond Your Imagination

Kuelap

Kuelap Archaeological Complex is located in the province of Luya, in the Amazonas Region. This important archaeological site, was Cultural Heritage of Peru in 1998, and is inscribed on the tentative list of UNESCO to be named World Heritage Site. This site was the home where one of the country’s most important pre-Inca cultures lived: the Chachapoyas Culture.

The Archaeological Complex of Kuelap has an area of 460 hectares and contains a group of archaeological sites, such as the imposing fortress of Kuelap, made up of 420 circular buildings, divided into two sectors: under and high village. The highlights of the fortress are the stone friezes, the wall and the circular dwellings.

Moche Route

“Ruta Moche” destination, located on the northern coast of Peru, which mainly covers the regions of La Libertad and Lambayeque. It comprises attractions of cultural and natural importance, such as pre-Inca archaeological sites of Chan Chan Archaeological Complex, “Huaca Rajada - Sipan”, Sican and the Tucume Pyramids; and natural protected areas such as the Private Conservation Area of Chaparri, and the Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary, among others. This destination also stands out for its cuisine with a variety of flavors and for the quality of its ingredients. Because of these characteristics, it is one of Peru’s destinations that motivates a large number of visitor arrivals. In 2011, the World Tourism Organization the Ruta Moche with a UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Governance, highlighting that this corridor will become the second most important tourism destination of Peru.

It is a cultural tourist destination where tourists can experience the ancient Pre-Hispanic traditions of The Moche or Mochica culture (100-750 BC), which remain to this day and are reflected on its archaeological complexes, its exquisite cuisine, living culture, pottery, jewelry, mysticism, its working people, the beauty of its beaches, landscapes and biological diversity of dry forests. All of this factor provide the Moche Route with own identity. These share the same territory, language, customs, funerary practices, technologies food, shelter, housing and cultural value of ecological diversity geographical areas through the millennia. The archaeological complex of Tucume, also known as “The Valley of the Pyramids”, district of Tucume, Lambayeque region is located at 35 km from the city of Chiclayo, capital of this region. It is one of the most important prehistoric monuments of the Moche Route. It has a extension of 220 hectares comprised of houses twenty-six (26) Pre-Hispanic pyramids of considerable size and located in a well preserved dry forest. In this sense, Tucume is one of the largest and most impressive archaeological sites in Peru and South America. The pyramids excavations began in 1989, and in 1993 the Museum of Tucume is inaugurated. This museum is shelter of the archaeological collections found since the beginning of the excavations until 1994. The construction can be distinguished from other museums in the region because it was built using local materials and traditional techniques. In the museum, local scientists are developing protection and conservation tasks of the archaeological and cultural heritage of Tucume

This museum is one of the most visited cultural spaces in Lambayeque region and has consolidated as one of the main attractions and the principal reason of visiting the region for the international and domestic tourists, who enjoy learning about the Moche culture, its significance and way of life. Its attractiveness is based on the archaeological collection that includes ethnographic objects, mainly ceramics, textile and materials associated with traditional shaman’s ceremonies, showing a thread of continuity between local people of the past and present, linked to gastronomy, textile, handicrafts, jewelry, mysticism and beliefs.