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BEFORE THE INCAS

Dear Readers,
There was a certain moment in the Peruvian history, before the Incas, where everything converged, where from every town in South America went endless caravans toward a centre, to a temple placed between high mountains where ancient spirits dwelled, talking through oracles. A place where the highest elites of the Andean antiqueness arrived and the destiny of thousands of lives was decided. Chavin de Huantar held its importance even after the Incan reign, and today all its magnificent is been rediscovered.
As Chavin, there were other places prior the Incas that held their legitimacy inside the social performance of the Tahuantinsuyu. That is the case of "Toro Muerto", one of the world's most important petroglyphs deposits, where different cultures commercialized their products, middle point between the coast and the Andes.
Make a pilgrimage to the ancient temple of Chavin de Huantar and the practice the barter at Toro Muerto, discover the last pre-Incan culture, see high peaks reflected on beautiful lagoons and taste a delicious fish soup called chilcano. Peru is an inexhaustible source of wonder.
Regards,
José and Cynthia

THE GREATEST TEMPLE

Chavin was incorporated in 1993 into the list of the monuments recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. It is one of Peru's most important archaeological monuments, both for its historical value and for its beauty and design. We know that it was started more than a thousand years before the Christian era. When the Spaniards arrived in 16th century it had already been abandoned for 2000 years; the site was covered by the remains of multiple reoccupations and nobody could see the ancient buildings we know today. Nevertheless, it remained famous. So much so that in 1616, Fr. Antonio Vazquez de Espinoza, a colonial official, made the following reference to Chavin:
"Near the village of Chabin is a great edifice of stone right finely wrought; it was a sepulcher and sanctuary of the most famous of the pagans as Rome and Jerusalem are to us, where the Indians came to make their sacrifices; because the oracle of that place was justly famous and they came from al over the kingdom."
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"TORO MUERTO"

The desert ravine of Toro muerto, in the valley of Majes, contains the most important collection of petroglyphs in Peru. The traveler who wants to reach Toro Muerto should go to Majes, which means passing through Camana with its green fields of rice, its characteristic camanejos and its seaside houses destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2001.
This zone pays tribute to one of the foremost reasons for traveling in Peru: that of good eating; in this case, the good eating of prawns, prawns of Majes, the inexhaustible, excellent and versatile crustaceans that still today continue to be extracted from the river with a pre-Colombian technology, the isanga. Recommended is a taste of capiska, a recipe prepared with prawns that has been passed down from pr-Incan times and consists simply of prawns steamed with mote.
Toro Muerto is an immense, open ravine in a desert of volcanic rock that suddenly collides with the very green remnants of one of the most fertile valleys that are spread out over the Peruvian coast. Scattered over a 5 km area are rocks of sillar corresponding to the Plyocene era and certainly deposited there in a violent manner by the eruptions of Coropuna.
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CHIMU CULTURE

The beginning of Chimu soars around 700 b.C., but its development as an expansive kingdom started early XIV century until the arrival of the Inca army around 1470. Chan Chan was the metropolitan center of this huge regional state, extended along the Peruvian coast from Tumbes to Huarmey valley in the south.
HISTORY
Its history is divided into two moments: the first one, the development of a small not centralized entity in the Moche valley and surroundings. The second one refers to the expansion period. Tacainamo is considered as the founder of the kingdom, the growth to Guacricur and Naucempico, son and grandson of the first, and the last king Minchancaman was capture by the Incas around 1470.
CHIMU SOCIETY
The cult to the ancestors was the base of the politic and social organization of Chimu, and it was uphold in the so-called "split heritage". The authorities were buried with their personal belongings, while the rest were distributed to a group of relatives. This forced to each generation to reproduce the whole set of jewels and sacred objects in charge.
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HUASCARAN NATIONAL PARK

Located in the department of Ancash, the Huacaran National Park is wedged in the Cordillera Blanca, the world's highest tropical mountain chain. It was created in 1975 over a surface of 840,000 acres and included in UNESCO's list of Mankind's Natural Heritage in 1985. The park protects one of the world's most surprising high mountain ecosystems, featuring 663 glaciers, 269 lakes and 41 rivers, as well as dozens of mountains, 26 of which tower above 19,000 feet. It is home to plentiful and diverse plant and animal wildlife including some 800 plant species and several dozen types of animals. Additionally, the park includes 33 pre-Inca archaeological sites like Wilcahuain and is home to dozens of quechua-speaking peasant communities that still practice their traditional farming and livestock herding techniques.
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