Huellas de Acahualinca

The footprints were found in 1874 by quarry workers digging near the lake shore, a trail of human prints preserved in a layer of volcanic ash and mud that hardened and was buried. Radiocarbon dating puts them at roughly two thousand years old, revising much older estimates that once circulated. About a dozen individuals walked the same line, adults and children, with animal tracks alongside, and the spacing shows a steady walk rather than the flight from an eruption that early accounts imagined. The prints are displayed in situ in a trench under a small museum building, with a room of ceramics and finds from the excavations. It is a modest site of one room, but it is the oldest direct human trace on display in the country.

What to look for

• The footprint trail - a line of prints preserved in hardened ash.
• The excavation trench - the prints shown in place below floor level.
• Animal tracks - prints left alongside the human ones.
• Site ceramics - finds from the excavations in a small display room.

When to go

December to April for the roads; the museum is indoors and open year round on weekdays and Saturday mornings. It closes on Sundays and public holidays.

Before you go

The site is a single trench and a small room; half an hour covers it. Interpretation is limited and mostly in Spanish. The district around it is poor and taxi rather than walking access is sensible. The much older dates repeated in older guidebooks are wrong.

Nearby

The old cathedral and central plaza lie east; the lakefront is north.

Key facts