CAJAMARCA

CUMBEMAYO

Duration: Half Day
An impressive complex of enigmatic stones, which include a pre-Inca aqueduct cut into the rock, a rock sanctuary and numerous petroglyphs. Although man inhabited the Cumbe Mayo area 9,000 years ago hunting and using rudimentary stone tools, Cerro Consejo was modified from time to time by the Huacaloma, Layzon, Cajamarca and Inca civilizations. With its terraces, tracks, caves and waterholes hewn in the rock it was the most important populated area around the canal and, as such, is perhaps one of the best places for scientists to understand the wise and ancient people who established their dominion over the water.

NECROPOLIS OF OTUZCO AND TRES MOLINOS FARM

Duration: Full Day
Visit to the enigmatic monument known as the Windows of Otuzco. Cavities excavated in a rock face, of different depths and some with carvings in high relief. Academics (among them Julio C. Tello) consider them to be funeral caves. Continue to Tres Molinos, a hacienda where the best cheese in Peru is made. Visitors can buy butter, manjarblanco and other delicacies after a generous tasting session.

PORCON FARM

Duration: Full Day
At the moment Granja Porcon’s population is formed for approximately 150 families that make a total of 860 people. Its economy is sustained in: Cattle raising, breeding of the Brown Swiss and Jersey races for the production of milk; sheep, alpaca and vicuña for the exploitation of wool of high quality; Agriculture, since they are producing diverse potato varieties and have experimental areas for seed production and Afforestation, mainly with pines, focused in the industrial area. In the last years they have started the development of the industry of the milky products, tourism and pisciculture.

But like many other parts of the Andes, here religious ceremonies here incorporate fragments of pre-Columbian worship into the Catholic baroque that finally gave shape to Latin American Christianity. During Easter celebrations, just before dawn, an impressive precession of huge, colorful wooden crosses progresses down the Porcon Valley to celebrate the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem.
Unlike other Easter Week celebrations, Porcon does not dwell on the death of Christ.

On Palm Sunday, four different ceremonies are held: the crowning of the crosses, the greeting of the Lord at the mayordomo’s house (the person in charge of organizing the festivities), and the various responses sung in Quechua and Latin, and finally the procession to the plantation chapel. The crosses are decorated with round and oval shaped mirrors symbolizing the souls of the dead, as well as figures representing the Virgin Mary, the Heart of Jesus and a wealth of symmetrically placed patron saints forming a huge rhomboid.

THE BELEN COMPLEX

An architectural complex dating from the 18th Century, formerly called the “Hospital of Our Lady of Mercy”. This archaeological complex is the very best expression of Cajamarcan baroque and its singular characteristics.

BAÑOS DEL INCA (Inca Baths)