The hike was insane, but absolutely worth it. A four day trek to Choquequirao, Machu Pichu's sister city, an Incan ruin that is actually larger than Machu Pichu at 1800 hectares (Ill leave the metric math to you dear reader). We departed bright and early from Cusco, (430 AM) to bus out to the town of Charo, where the trailhead begins. Charo was a charming little dusty red tile town in the mountains, with almost nothing besides a central plaza where some local women were chattering away in Quechua and drying maiz in the sun.
Our group was my trusty compañero Ben, a guy named Pieru- a spoiled rich kid from Lima who was quite hilarious, and an Arequipeño family of a grandmother, mother, a chubby bratty 11 year old boy and 16 year old daughter. It soon became clear there was no way the grandmother would make it, and she headed back after lunch and two hours of hiking. It also became clear that the family was not exactly accustomed to exercise, and the Choquequirao hike is quite legendary for its difficulty. It was quite beautiful though, winding initially through Eucalyptus and yellow grass covered hills, with scenery that reminded me a lot of the Sierras and Yosemite in Northern California. Slowly the town receded, and 17,000 snow capped peaks appeared around each bend. The first day was a little bit of hiking up, but mostly down, which was pretty ####### the knees. We descended a total of about 4000 feet over 11 miles and camped by the river, at a lovely campsite whose serenity was only slightly disturbed by the presence of a few dozen Peruvian boy scouts. Our guide pointed to a cloud on a distant mountain and explained that was Choquequirao. Food was pretty good, though the Arequipeño children whined brattily while the mother went on and on about her various conspiracy theories about Chileans taking over Peru. (One of my faves- Chileans sneak Producto de Chile stickers onto Peruvian fruit exports!) Slept under the southern stars to the sounds of the river below, with a perfectly full moon light enough to read by and lighting up the canyons and mountains casting deep blue moon shadows into the distance.
Up up early for a grueling day of all uphill (5000ft/7miles). My leg was killing me, but we managed and even beat the sun for part of it. Finally turned a corner at Marapucha, a tiny town of reed huts and a few donkeys, from where we could see the ruins a few hours hike away on a distant peak. Across the valley lay another village, patchwork farms stretchiung out and enshrouded in clouds at about eye level to where we stood. I noticed that suddenly the flora had gone from dry grass and cacti to far more lush and jungly, and realized that it was because we were now essentially in a moist cloud forest, watered every morning by clouds and fog. We waited for a few hours for the Arequipeño family, and then pushed on to our campsite at the ruins. The Arequipeños (arequi-pains-in-the-ass-yo's) didnt all even make it up to the ruin after the hike.
We were running late what with waiting, and I dont mind waiting for people that may be slower but it was frustrating because no one got out of bed which is what mostly delayed us. But we were there, by ourselves feeling like explorers and doing something I will remember as a lifetime highlit for the rest of my life. Like many of the places I've visited, words really cant do justice, nor can photos for that matter. Anyway, we headed down from our campsite (yes, you camp within the city limits) to some incredible agricultural inca terraces, which in spite of being hundreds of years old the masonry was so impressive looked like they had been built yesterday. They cut into the mountain at 90 angles as if creating a life sized topographical map, and are beautiful in their green vegetation and gray rock structure, with white rock llamas paced within. The terraces which make up the city are still being excavated, further adding to the excitement of being there and feeling like real pioneer adventurers.
Choquequirao was built around the same time as Machu Pichu, thought to be its sister city and the winter retreat of a Incan prince. Because of the crazy hike to get there and inability to put in a road it remains dificult to get there except by four or five day hike. Hence, the 1% of visitors that Machu Pichu gets, though the government talks of building a funicular, it thankfully probably wont happen son. In retrospect, the five day hike would have been much better. The hike back was equally strenuous, though we managed to mostly beat the sun pounding up and down the switchbacks. Arrived back in Charo, where we sampled the local specialty of a man we met on the street. Some kind of dried smoked mountain goat dripping with fat that was delicious, though hopefully disease free.
And now back in Cusco where everything continues to go wrong. Due to Pachamama's vengeance, or perhaps Peruvian holiday week, we had to change around all our travel plans to the sacred valley in order to get to Machu Pichu tomorrow. But, we are off again a few short hours!
*(pics, me above choquequirao, ruined buidings, example of extensive choque terraces, llama detail, more temples)
see> nytimes article/ "the other machu pichu"
Cusco itself was once the capital of the Incan empire, and its amazing to learn how close the Incans were to defeating the Spanish. Only because they had been weakened by their own civil war a few years before the arrival of the Spanish were they and their leaders (including Tupac Amaru) defeated. The city still stands on Incan foundations and laid out on a more Incan that spanish system of small streets and alleyways. Its also so steep that most of the sidewalks are actually staircases, not so easy in this altitude, but actually not bad for us as we had come DOWN from the Bolivian altiplano on the train to get into the mountains here. Its a city of baroque Spanish colonial architecture, not brightly painted like the colonial cities of Mexico or Central America, but white with tile roofs. Most interestingly, many Spanish buildings appear to grow out of original incan foundations, gigantic cut rock walls with spanish architecture superimposed atop. Curious, unique and beautiful to the eye, it is certainly symbolic on a number of levels. Interestingly, every so often earthquakes bring the spanish architecture tumbling down around its forever unshakeable incan foundations which are ever undamaged. Typically, the Spanish built viceroy mansions atop the palaces of Incan kings and Churches over sacred temples. One particularly egregious example of this Spanish behavior was the Incan Sun Temple, holiest place in the Incan empire with walls made of four inch thick solid gold and a garden and menagerie of gold sculptures. Pizarro took the Incan king hostage and had the whole place melted down and shipped to Spain within a month, building a monastary on its Incan foundation. Still shocking to learn again as we wandered around about the more crimes of cruelty against humanity that Spanish colonialism perpetuated. And how they set the blueprint for the rest of the European colonial project to begin in earnest around the world, which, though more subtle was still full of shocking cruelty and exploitation. And the current American system of puppet imperialism is hardly better. But enough of politics.
