"El Toro" is definitely worth a visit, even if you dislike rock art or carvings. The scenery in the area is quite something and even though it's hot you are rewarded with some unique rock art that is worth finding. There was a family with kids nearby and the children were super excited each time they found a new boulder with art on it. I have to admit that was the same with me. You get two choices for the hike. There is a small circle trip just adjacent to the entrance hut and it will take you maximum of thirty minutes to get around. The custodian made it clear that's for "kids" and the real thing is further up the hill. He said you start seeing some rock art in 20 minutes which is indeed the case. The walk up is a little frustrating as there isn't anything to see for a while and you get the feeling he's lying or inaccurate about the rock art coming up but once you start spotting it there is no end in sight.

Before getting into the rock carvings, this site is a bit way off the beaten track. There is no tourist bus that stops on the way and there is no real town closer enough to stay so your best bet without having your own car is to arrange transportation from Arequipa which is ~2h away mainly because town traffic is slow.

Once you get to see the rock art it is quite stunning. Stunning in a "this should be inscribed" way, and I'm quite shocked it is not yet added to Peru's wealth of sites. Nevertheless I'm so happy to have seen the carvings, even though I have seen plenty of rock carvings around the world and it can be usually very boring, particularly already inscribed sites that I feel were mainly inscribed for a small niche reason or just had nothing better to compare it to.

The rock carvings range from simple lines (although I'm still unclear what the wavy lines could mean, maybe directions?) to simple creatures like a lizard to people, complex animals (condor) and some kind of event pictures (partEY!). It seemed that each time you turn you head there would be a fresh large boulder with exiting new features and you also wonder how you missed that on your way up or from the left, hmm you'll know exactly what I mean when you explore the desert. Speaking of, bring plenty of water as it's a slope up in the heat and when you get back down you'll have a dry throat.

At the end I also made the small circle which has a sort of path to follow although it's not exactly wheelchair friendly and you will still have dusty shoes. It doesn't much to see but you get some shade to rest every once in a while and the few boulders they have seemed to have different carvings than up on the slope.

If you get the chance to see this it will be worth adding a day while in the area, potentially a car rental from Arequipa should do the trick (the last stretch of road is sandy but even my 2WD was fine, a taxi ride up shouldn't cost an arm and a leg though, and hey I never went to tourist shops in Arequipa maybe they actually sell a tour for this?!