7) Touristic Circuit of Pre-Cordillera and Pre-Inca Villages (3000 m.a.s.l. approx) - 2 days/1 night (Accommodations and meals included)

1st Day

Pick up time will be at 9:00 a.m. from your hotel. We shall go by the seacoast until the mouth of the LLuta valley and make a short stop at the bird sanctuary. Then continue up the Lluta Valley and stop to look at different geoglyphs such as caravan of llamas and the Giants. We will be able to observe the different crops along the valley until we reach Poconchile pre Inca village with its old colonial church St. Jerome (17th Century) and an old cemetery in the back. After this we will stop to observe the Candelabra Cactus (Browningia candelaris - unique species) and other interesting sites such as the Magnetic Zone, Pukara de Copaquilla (pre Inca fortress), Tambo de Zapahuira (Inca construction used as a refuge, storage and tax collection station). We will have lunch at Zapahuira located in the sierra 3000 mt high. Then we shall visit Chapiquiña (Church XVII Century) and Hydroelectric Plant, Pachama (Adobe Church XVII Century), farming terraces scattered all around, until we reach Belén, where we will spend the night at a local hostel. Belén has two beautiful Churches with bell towers.

2nd Day
After breakfast we will walk to see from the road two indigenous sites Ancopachane (inca village) and Chajpa (Inca administrative centre). We will also walk to some vestiges of the Inca trail. We shall have lunch in route. Then we shall return to Arica through a plateau which takes us to the Azapa valley. Shall visit the small village of San Miguel de Azapa and one of the oldest cemeteries of South America which has been in use for last 3,000 years before present, as inside this cemetery we find “tumulus” which are old burial sites of the indigenous people. After this we will return to Arica at approx 5:00 pm.