Toro Muerto Petroglyphs Tour

Description of the Toro Muerto Petroglyphs Tour

With the Toro Muerto Petroglyphs Tour, you will get to know the largest rock art complex in America and the Castle. This tour is ideal for those who love adventure and for those who like hiking and climbing is a really good experience.

THE PETROGLIFOS DE TORO MUERTO, are an important lithic complex located in the district of Uraca, in the province of Castilla, within the department and region of Arequipa; on the sloping territory of the Toro Muerto ravine – known in ancient times as Quilcapampa – in a mountainous desert area, near the Majes Valley at 400 and 800 meters above sea level. You can enjoy all this on the Majes Valley & Toro Muerto tour.

THE PETROGLIFOS, are located in an extension of approximately 3876 meters long and 250 meters wide; and are a total of 6000 blocks that are engraved under the bas-relief technique and that would have its dating, according to studies of iconography, in the year 800 A.D. and were discovered only in 1951. The site has been considered as the shelter of greater extension of rupestrian art at world-wide level.

The CASTILLO, is a rocky formation of a mountain in the shape of a medieval castle, enigmatic enchanted castle, where many stories of Tapados are woven and where you can listen to your echo up to three times, in the course you can observe the majesty and beauty of this Cerro Castillo.

MAIN POINTS OF VISIT

• Arequipa (2,335 masl)
• Majes Valley (1,410 masl)
• Toro Muerto (400 – 800 masl)

Day 1: Arequipa – Majes Valley – Corire

• 05. 45 – 5.55 hrs We will pick you up at your hotel in the circuit of the Plaza de Armas.
• 06.00 hrs We leave the city of Arequipa to the Majes Valley passing through several towns and enjoying this beautiful valley to Corire, this is the closest town to the petroglyphs of Toro Muerto.
• Upon arrival we will settle in the lodge, have breakfast and then we will move to the Castle, where we will appreciate rock formations that give the shape of castles.
• El Castillo is a very peculiar rock formation that attracts the attention of travelers passing through this valley. It is the Enchanted Castle, located very close to the village “El Castillo”, a rock formation that looks like a European castle of feudal times. Many are the legends and stories that are woven about this place, the truth is that it is a large hill that has been eroded by wind and weather. If you look closely at the top, which is inaccessible, you can see a kind of window, they even say that there are archaeological remains and treasures in this place.
• We will also observe a curious rock formation in Cosos: the face of Christ.
• Lunch.
• 14.00 hrs After lunch, we will start rafting from the castle to the village of Aplao. Here we will reach grade II, III and sometimes IV rapids.

Hotel – CORIRE

BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER – PASSENGER

Day 2: Toro Muerto Petroglyphs – Arequipa

• After breakfast, we will visit the Petroglyphs of Toro Muerto. They are manifestations of rock art in the Majes Valley distributed over an area of 5 km2, extending between 400 and 800 meters above sea level. It is perhaps the richest area in rock art in the world; it has more than 6,000 blocks engraved in low relief. Its stones have been engraved with all kinds of geometric and anthropomorphic representations, birds, quadrupeds, reptiles, etc.
• Volcanic stones abound in this site because there are two volcanoes relatively close, the Chachani and the Coropuna. These blocks are engraved under the technique of bas-relief and that would have its dating, according to studies of iconography, in the year 800 A.D. and were discovered only in 1951.
• The Petroglyphs are found worked on volcanic stone, same that would have fallen on the slope of Toro Muerto in periods older than the artisan work carried out in them. In these stones bas-relief works were made, for such cause they made use of the techniques of scratched, beaten, chipped and percussion. The engravings that we can find in the petroglyphs respond to animal motifs, vegetables, geometric figures, among others.
• Then we will visit a wine cellar where we will have the opportunity to taste the wines and piscos produced in this area.
• Lunch.
• Immediately after, we will go to the annex of Torán to visit the pre-Hispanic cemeteries.
• Return to Arequipa.

BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER – PASSENGER