Huánuco

Huánuco is a city in central Peru. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the District of the same name. It was founded by Spanish conquistador Gómez de Alvarado in 1539, in the Inca town of Yarowilca. In 1541, the city was moved to its current location in the Pillco Valley. It is served by the Alf. FAP David Figueroa F. Airport

Huánuco has a rough topography comprising parts of the Sierra and the High Jungle (mountain rim) regions. Being equidistant from the north and the south of the country, it has the privilege of having a mild weather with an average annual temperature of 20°C (68° F).

This region is important for its geographical location, history, and for the richness of its land, where the presence of man goes back to ancient times. El Hombre de Lauricocha (Man of Lauricocha) is among the most distinctive examples, dating from 10,000 BC, as well as Kotosh, where vestiges of the oldest settlement in the Americas (4,200 BC) took place.

Several ethnic groups inhabited this region. However, after a severe resistance, they started to incorporate as part of the Inca empire. Huánuco then became part of the Cusco-Cajamarca-Cusco route.
In the beginning of the 19th century, during the emancipation process, Huánuco was one of the first cities to promote Peru’s independence. Moreover, a first oath took place in this city on December 15, 1820, after several uprisings in Huamalpies, Huallanca and Ambo.

Capital: City of Huánuco
Altitude: 1.896 m.s.n.m.

Climate: The climate is warm in the Marañón River, temperate between two thousand and three thousand meters in altitude and cold punas.

TOURIST PLACES OF HUANUCO

Cave of the Lechuzas

Located in the foothills of La Bella Durmiente, it is the main entrance to a subterranean cave system found inside the mountains. The cave is home to an important colony of birds called guachanos or santanas (similar to barn owls) as well as parrots, swallows, and bats.

Cave of the Pavas

It is located at the end of a deep and narrow gorge where a tiny stream forms beaches and wells surrounded by plants. In one of the pools, you can make out a natural formation that looks like the body of a woman, which is locally known as “The Goddess of the Water”.

Huanuco Pampa

Following the Inca road that started in Yanahuanca towards Quito, there is an important administrative Inca center and Tambo, known today as Huanucopampa, located 6 km. from La Union on a plateau, at 4,000 mts. above sea level.

Huanucopampa has been object of special interest for chroniclers and history writers whom have classified this place as Inca style.

Resuming the studies that have been done in the ruin and according to its location it has been divided into 4 groups:

• The first one is the USHNO(Inca Castle), a big rectangular building, with out roof, constructed on a platform, located at the center of this great terrace.
• The second group, LAS PORTADA, close by the Ushno, formed by rectangular buildings. They are divided in 4 parallel compartments or rooms and a series of trapezoid doorways that go across the central part.
• Third group, the ACLLAWASI, that are rooms in diferent shapes, surrounded by a rock wall, at the north-east of the castle.
• Finally, the forth group, west old the castle (VIVIENDAS & COLCAS).

The houses formed 4 rows, almost horizontal with the hills, giving the aspect of streets. Its suppose to be a group of rooms that were used as storage for food (Tambos).

Huanucopampa had an extension of almost a kilometer long and about 200 meters wide.In this place it was founded, the city of Leon de Huanuco, which later on it was moved to the Huallaga valley.

Kotosh Temple of the Cross Hands

Part of the magic of exploring Peru is the astounding number of discoveries and archaeological ruins located near many of the country’s main cities. This is the case of the Temple of the Crossed Arms of Kotosh, just 4 km from the picturesque highland town of Huánuco.

Nearly 5,000 years old, Kotosh is one of the earliest signs of civilization in the Americas. The site features a series of pyramid-shaped mounds including a chamber decorated with a mud sculpture of two pairs of crossed arms, one of the oldest examples of sculptures in the Andes.

Because of the age of the ruins, experts have had difficulty studying the decoration of the temple. Some believe the crossed arms inside the complex symbolize alleged sacrifices carried out by the high priests as offerings to their deities. Others, however, see the crossed arms as a symbol of protection against their enemies and even a representation of ritual communion.

In any case, the absence of ruins of housing in the area point to the fact Kotosh did not house many people, but rather was a sacred spot, a pilgrimage center. Part of the landscape of Huánuco and Peru, Kotosh is a living symbol of the ancient treasures Peru guards in every nook and cranny of its territory.

Lauricocha

First wave” of immigrants into the New World. Since there has been much less research in the highlands than on the coast, little is known of the highland Late Preceramic. The caves at Lauricocha at about 13,000 feet in the central Andes, which had been occupied by deer and camelid hunters since nearly 8000 bc, were still used, at least as summer camps, by hunters who employed.

Tingo Maria Park National

Is located in the department of Huánuco, province of Leoncio Prado, district of Mariano Damaso Veraun.

It has a surface of 18 000 hectares and is made up of a chain of mountains called La Bella Durmiente because its summits have the form of a sleeping lady in the city of Tingo María.

The main attractive of this park is the Cave of the Owls that it is the gapped complex underground system in La Bella Durmiente. You can also visit Jacintillo (solphurous waters) and La Quinceañera (waterfalls). In this park there is a very rich wild fauna made up of 104 species, 9 fishes, 21 bathracion and reptiles, 39 birds and 36 mammals.

There are big snakes (boas and mantonas) and small snakes called naka nakas (Micrurus sp.). We can find guacharos (Steatornis caripensis); a nocturnal bird, which nests are inside the caves, Gallito de las rocas or tunqui (Rupícola peruviana); the Jungle Condor (Sarcoramphus papa) and the otter.