In the town of Huaquis the sidereal dawn announces its arrival very early for the privilege of being at the top of the hill...
Because the sun god knows that this population has a lot of pending tasks, needs more hours of light and tries to compensate for it."
The Old Town of Huaquis located 6 hours from Lima was built in the 10th century. It was characterized by a continuous succession of its people until the 20th century, when they abandoned the place. Learn how to visit it.
Huaquis, also known as 'Ghost Town', has witnessed the expansion of the Incas and the invasion of the Spanish to America for more than 1000 years. Although this town has currently been abandoned, its culture has managed to transcend the passage of time and its structure remains intact. Discover in this note more about this archaeological site located in Yauyos and how to visit it from Lima.
According to historian María Rostworowski, Yauyos was made up of a group of ethnic groups that, although they had different languages and cultures, venerated the apu Pariaqaqa, which is why they decided to unite as a single people. Thus, between the 10th and 15th centuries, the Yauyos built the center of Huaquis on a cliff as a strategy of resistance to invasions and continuous wars against neighboring ethnic groups.
However, with the expansion of the Inca Empire at the end of the 15th century, the Yauyos agreed that Huaquis be annexed to Tahuantinsuyo to avoid a war with the Inca. In this way, the Yauyos maintained their territory and administered their own lands on behalf of the Inca.
In the middle of the 16th century and after the arrival of the Spanish, Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo exercised indigenous reduction, a system that consisted of regrouping a native population in new colonial towns to begin evangelization, tax collection and administration. of labor force. Although more than 200 towns from the Yauyos territory were relocated, Huaquis continued to be inhabited and was refounded as a colonial town. In that sense, a church, a hospital, a prison and a tower were added to the archaeological site.
Although it prevailed as a populated center, with the Republican era a delay in the technological development of Huaquis compared to other neighboring towns was evident. Mainly, the site lacked access to water and main roads, so the residents decided to found a new town called Miraflores on an esplanade near their old home between 1909 and 1919, in honor of the Battle of the Pacific.
Currently, the archaeological site of Huaquis continues to be linked to the history of the settlers and receives visits from hundreds of tourists. For their part, the natives of Miraflores, current Yauyos, gather on festivities such as Holy Week, National Holidays and Saint Augustine's Day to venerate their ancestors, just as they did in ancient Huaquis.
The archaeological site of Huaquis is located precisely in the district of Miraflores, province of Yauyos, approximately 6 hours from Lima. To get to this mythical place you must first go to the Miraflores district, whose main square has a direct path to the Old Town of Huaquis.
The walk from Miraflores to Huaquis lasts approximately an hour and a half, the accesses are in good condition and the route is considered easy to observe this Cultural Heritage.
They accepted without resistance the Inca as their sovereign, at this time they dedicated themselves to grazing their camelids and working the fields and crafts such as textiles and pottery.
The towns of Yauyos were renamed San Agustín de Huaquis or San Juan Bautista de Huancaya, with the intention of disappearing the ancient Andean beliefs and rituals. In Huaquis the temple, the tower with the bell tower and the hospital were built.
The rugged geography, difficult access and lack of water have been factors in the population's decision to move to the side of the river, creating the current population center of Miraflores in the early 1900s.
Small windows and a door are built of stones and are rectangular in shape.
The town is divided into 4 neighborhoods divided by 2 main streets
Place where healers accused of idolatry were imprisoned, on some occasions the church served as prisons during the holy inquisition.
It was built in the Republican era where men were separated from women.
Built in the 16th century on a pre-Inca temple, the bell tower served as a means of calling for mass and assemblies.
This center had a kitchen to feed the sick and was later used as a cemetery
Huaquis, Huamanmarca, Paccha, Huancayahuain among others, are present in the memory of the Yauyinos' own experience.
Because our societies stage collective memories through our wanderings, cleaning ditches, religious festivals, sports fairs, public celebrations.
These are expressions read and elaborated with one's own ancestral language, one's own values, and through them the feeling of belonging to our communities is consolidated.
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