Visit Paracas

Our tours are conducted through the Paracas History Museum, and take the visitor back through hundreds, and indeed thousands of years of human habitation in the area. The main tourist attraction to Paracas are the Islas Ballestas and the Paracas Wildlife Reserve. There are many tour operators which can take you to these two places, but we are the only one that delves into humanity’s past here.

TAMBO COLORADO

The rarely visited Inca adobe masterpiece of Tambo Colorado (House of Colour) was built by the great Inca Pachaccutec, who also created Machu Picchu, in the 15th century. It is only a 45 minute drive from the Paracas History Museum.

Tambo Colorado was an important administration center of the Inca, and taxation station; the road that we will travel to reach it was the Inca Trail that connected the city of Ayacucho in the Andes mountains with the coast of Peru. Prior to the Inca, the great Wari civilization lived there. Pottery remnants are all over the ground to pick up and study.

CHUNKASH

Only 20 minutes by van from the Paracas History Museum we find Chunkash, possibly the spiritual center of the Elongated Skulled Paracas People who worshiped there at least 3000 years ago. The Wari, Chincha, and Inca cultures were also here, as evidenced by the pottery we will observe on the ground.

An amazing adobe pyramid awaits us, well preserved considering its antiquity. From the top we will see other ancient adobe structures off on the horizon.

Other companies and hotels in the area may be able to take you to these places, but will they provide guides who know anything about them? We of the Paracas History Museum have THE local expert; Sr. Juan Navarro, who was born in the area, and has been studying these sites for more than 40 years.

EL CANDELABRO (THE CANDELABRA)

This magnificent geoglyph, which resembles the nearby Nazca Lines but predates them, having been made by the Paracas people, who were here at least 1000 years before the Nazca, is on all of the standard tours of the Islas Ballestas. However, how many of the guides know much about it?

Most guides will tell you that it is an ancient depiction of a San Pedro cactus, whose liquid interior was used as a hallucinogen by the Paracas people. However, there is no evidence to support such a claim. 

It is in fact a 600 foot tall navigational marker made by and for ancient sea farers, and these were most likely the Paracas people themselves. The marker can only be seen from the ocean, and could only have been created by an architect/engineer who guided the work from the sea.

Other amazing trips will be added soon, including ancient grave yards, lost cities and places of deep spiritual significance.