Puerto Inca

Puerto Inca sits above a small sheltered bay on the desert coast near Chala, and it was the point where the Inca state took fish from the Pacific. The remains include storage structures, dwellings, cemeteries and drying areas spread over the headland, along with a paved road heading inland - the beginning of the route by which, according to colonial accounts, chasquis relayed fresh and dried fish up to Cusco, six hundred kilometres away and four thousand metres higher, in a day or two by running teams. Whether that speed is literally true is doubted, but the road, the storage capacity and the position are real. The cove below is a good beach with clear water, and there is a hotel on it, which means the site sits alongside a small resort. Much of the archaeology is unexcavated and unmarked, spread across the headland above the sand.

What you actually see

• The storage structures - the remains of drying and storage for fish on the headland.
• The road - the paved route heading inland towards the sierra.
• The chasqui system - the relay by which fish reportedly reached Cusco.
• The cove - a sheltered beach with clear water directly below.

When to go

Year-round; the coast is grey and cool from June to October. One to two hours at the site; longer if using the beach. A short detour off the Panamericana.

Honest expectations

Largely unexcavated and unmarked - it reads as low stone walls across a headland without a guide. Facilities amount to the adjacent hotel. Strong sun and wind. The relay-to-Cusco story is a colonial claim, often repeated as fact.

Nearby

Chala is south along the coast; Nazca is north on the Panamericana.