Pakatnamú

Pakatnamú occupies a desert bluff above the mouth of the Jequetepeque, and it is big - dozens of adobe compounds, pyramids, plazas, walls and cemeteries spread over more than a square kilometre, built and rebuilt from around 500 AD through Lambayeque and Chimú occupation until the Inca period. It is almost entirely unrestored and unmanaged, which gives it an atmosphere the presented sites do not have: eroded mud walls standing in wind and sand with the Pacific below and nobody else there. Excavations here have produced mass burials associated with violence, including a group of young men interred together, which has fed research on conflict in the late pre-Hispanic north coast. There is no gate, no signage and no water. The track in is rough, the wind is constant, and the site is easy to get lost in without a local guide from Guadalupe or Pacasmayo.

What you actually see

• The scale - dozens of compounds and pyramids across more than a square kilometre.
• The bluff - the whole city on a desert headland above the Pacific.
• The lack of restoration - eroded adobe as excavation and weather left it.
• The burials - cemeteries including mass graves linked to late conflict.

When to go

Year-round; grey and cool from June to October, which suits the walking. Two to three hours. Go with a guide - there are no marked routes.

Honest expectations

No facilities at all: no water, shade, signage or staff. Constant wind and blowing sand. The track needs a suitable vehicle. Easy to get disoriented among the compounds. Looting damage is visible throughout.

Nearby

Pacasmayo is north along the coast; Guadalupe and the Jequetepeque valley are inland.