Huaca Arco Iris

Huaca Arco Iris, also called Huaca del Dragón, is a Chimú platform structure whose walls carry mould-made adobe friezes repeated across large surfaces: a stepped arc with serpent heads at either end, beneath it rows of figures often read as animals or attendants. The arc has been interpreted as a rainbow - hence the name - and also as a two-headed serpent, a common motif on this coast; there is no settled reading. The friezes were restored in the 1960s, and the extent of that restoration is debated, so what visitors see is partly modern reconstruction of an eroded original. The temple has a ramped access to an upper platform with storerooms. It sits inside a residential district of Trujillo, on the same combined ticket as Chan Chan, Huaca Esmeralda and the site museum, and takes under an hour.

What you actually see

• The friezes - a stepped arc with serpent heads repeated across the walls.
• The ramp - access to the upper platform and its storerooms.
• The two readings - rainbow or two-headed serpent, both plausible.
• The restoration - 1960s reconstruction over the eroded original surfaces.

When to go

Year-round; the coast is grey from June to October. Forty-five to ninety minutes. Included in the Chan Chan combined ticket, valid for two days.

Honest expectations

Much of the frieze surface is restoration rather than original. Small - under an hour. The surrounding district is ordinary residential Trujillo; take a taxi. Little shade on the platform.

Nearby

Chan Chan is west towards the sea; Huaca Esmeralda is on the same ticket.