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Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex
Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex (Inscribed)

The Chankillo astroarcheological complex was a nice trip in the morning with a guide for me in order to see the sun rise between two of the thirteen towers. It's only a WHS since two years and it also feels like it's not that popular yet. Especially compared to other Peru WHS (like Machu Picchu :P). According to the guide there was actually big tourism going on until the pandemic and since then even despite the inscription tourism levels are low. We were for the sunrise for which one specific spots exists actually the only tourists in the whole site. Before we walked up to the towers and had a closer look at them even though there is nothing special to see except stone buildings. For walking up there I highly recommand hiking boots. On the way back down I saw my ankles breaking in my sneakers in front of my inner eye. The hill is a mixture of loose stones and a sand dune. In the parts with loose stones walking downhill was really tricky.
We requested Aleko tours as all others in these reviews did so far, but it failed. We wrote with them and they only had time with a week anticipation. When we visited the office some old ladys said that the owner is out of office for another 2 weeks. But Aleko recommanded us Herbert with whom we did the tour. He was reliable, kind and had some local knowledge. Much more than we had expected after two month in Peru. He drove us with his car after meeting in Casma at 04:30 a.m. to the Chankillo site so we were there for the sunrise in time. On October 14th it was at 05:50 a.m. and the sun rose over the towers at 06:30 a.m.. Unfortunately it was a bit blocked by clouds still I found it really nice watching it happen. Otherwise there's not much more to do here. There is a carob forest close by. Also you can see the fortress from the morning point of observation however there is no way connecting the two. Some North American had died trying it in 2022 and since then it's closed. However there are only some farmers taking care of the site so you can pretty much do what you want. There is also no entrance fee. You can also do the tour with your own car. At the entrance to the valley street there is a guard house where you have to greet the guard. Afterwards there is a sign where you have to turn right to Chankillo after many avocado and mango fields on both sides. It's a bumpy but not too bad road. Then it's a short drive to the site. The entrance to the fortress is from the complete other side from the Pana0mericana so a detour of maybe 30 km via Casma. Without checking the map I don't understand what the north eastern point of the inscription is. It's on top of a 1400 meter mountain that you can see from the Chankillo site. However there are only ruins from another culture at the bottom of this mountain. Additionally there is another tour operator in Casma called Victor with an "office" in a shop at the Plaza de Armas. Herbert only charged us 130 /S for the tour from 04:30 a.m. to 08:00 a.m. as he had another group then. He wanted to show us more sites of the area but we rejected. Here is his Whats App number: +51 943 561 370
All in all I had a good experience in Chankillo and prefered it over Caral which I had visited before. However despite the sunrise behind the stone towers that are itself not spectacular there's nothing to see in this desert near the fertile river valley. So it's not a good site but not a bad site neither and lies conveniently between Barranca (Caral) and Huaraz (PN Huascaran and Chavin).
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