For most travelers, Lima represents modern Peru—a city of trendy restaurants, discos, and shopping centers that one must pass through en route to the ancient marvels of Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
What few realize, however, is that Peru’s capital conceals ruins far older than anything built by the Incas. Beneath the desert sands of the region lie artifacts that date back not centuries, but millennia. These archaeological treasures were already turning to dust before the first stones were laid at Cuzco.
The two sites listed below are must-sees for anyone visiting Lima. Together they afford a glimpse of el Peru profundo—the deep Peru that continues to exert its pressure on the present.
Huaca Pucllana
Calle General Borgoño cuadra 8 (Miraflores)
445-8695
Located in the heart of ultra-modern Miraflores, just steps from the bustling Ovalo Gutierrez, this huaca (sacred monument) offers stunning testimony to the persistence of the past in Peru’s capital.