Choquequirao is another Inca ruin perched on the mountainside that requires walking across a canyon that is over 1600 meters deep (1 mile deep) and 32km in distance. The ruins are supposedly gaining popularity and the locals are looking into building an aerial tram to span the canyon. When that happens, this place will become like another Machu Picchu. Llew and I decided that we must see this place before it has clones running around it like at Machu Picchu.
After talking to the people at SAE, we decided we would hire a burrow & owner for 70-80 soles a day ($25 USD). By having a burrow carry all our gear we would be able to haul more food and eat much better. We took a bus from Cusco and 4 hours later had it drop us off at Sayhuite which is where the road to Cachora meets the main highway. There was taxi waiting for us and took us the 30 minutes down the dirt road to the town of Cachora. We spent the night at Celestino Peña's Hostal. Talking with him, we discovered that his burrow was not good for doing a 3 day out and back trek. He recommended doing it in 4 days. The problem with that is we only had 3 days worth of food for us and the burrow owner. (Strange as it seems, when you rent a burrow you must provide food for the owner.) We also figured that we might as well pack our own stuff if it was going to be 4 days. So the next morning we told Celestino that we were going to backpack our stuff. Unfortunately our packs were heavier than we would have preferred for this canyon trip.
Around 8 the next morning we headed off on our canyon adventure. The first 10kms are flat and you're walking on a dirt road. Then you get to the trail and it descends on switchbacks and cross hill sections for 10km until you reach the river. Than its almost another 10km from there up. We ate lunch at the bottom and these tiny biting flies lunched on us. I must have gotten 15 bites across both arms before I realized that I was getting bitten up. We headed up to Santa Rosa, which is over 600m (1500 feet up). I sure wished my pack wasn't so heavy. In addition my body didn't have much energy to give which is really unusual. I think its because I had a slight fever the night before. I was very happy when we arrived at Santa Rosa. We setup camp and since we didn't have a stove, the lady let us use her pot to cook over an open fire. I haven't cooked over an open fire since I first started backpacking back in 1996. Ah, the fun of trying to escape the smoke as you cook. haha!
No leaning Llew, that pole is resting! ;)
The next day we continued the trek up the mountain to Marampata which was another 700m (2100 feet) higher. From there onto the camping area near Choquequirao was not as steep although it is up and down. The Peruvian trail builders or Inca's prefer to make the trail go down and then up and then back down to get between points A and B. It seemed a bit annoying as the ups were quite steep. We arrived at the camping area and put up the tent and left our stuff there.
The Inca's liked terracing the mountainside to grow things on
Choquequirao is still 200m higher and about 1km further up the mountain. It was neat to walk through the ruins and not deal with crowds of people or clones. We only saw about 5 people there, so we had it mostly to ourselves. We explored the whole place including the llama terrace area. We think they're making the llamas just so it will attract more tourist. There was a pile of rocks on the ground that seemed pulled out so they could put the white rocks in to make the llamas.
Llama Terraces
Our thoughts on the Llama's...
The 3rd day we got up early and went and explored the ruins a bit more before returning to camp to pack up. We had thought about returning all the way to Cachora, but we decided to see how it went. We made it down to the river before noon time and ate some lunch. Then in the heat of the day we trekked up the first section of switchbacks (19 in total) to the Chiquiscca camp. By the time we reached there we were both happy to get out of the sun and rest and hydrate. (It was great that we timed the going up to be in the heat of the day. haha!) An hour later we were back on the trail and thankfully it had cooled down a bit. We continued on into the glowing sunset on the high mountains. We decided that we could make it out, so we kept going. The full moon provided excellent lighting and we didn't need our headlamp. When we arrived back on the road it was still a little over 10km back to Cachora. As we were walking along, Llew almost stepped on a Tarantula. We arrived back at Celestino Peña's Hostal around 9:30pm. It seems he thinks we're a crazy bunch for doing the whole trek in 3 days.
Llew was unwilling to put his hand next to it for reference
We did about 80km and over 7000m (22,000 feet) vertical up/down. It definitely brought back memories of backpacking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim in a weekend trip we did back in 2012. Hungry for days is what it means. haha!
Alas this was the last trek and travels that Llew and I have done together on our world travels. There is always the possibility that we might meetup again to explore some other great place. I am happy that he gets to go on in his travels and see the rest of the world and hopefully doesn't have stomach problems. For all the beauty here in S. America, the food has not been what we both like. We miss our Indian spices and tasty dishes. The great thing about food here is all the tasty fruits and veggies. Being vegetarian is not hard.
Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site and also one of the 7 Wonders of the World. This is my 2nd time visiting MP. The first time was in 2006 and comparing this visit with that I was able to see some differences. The price has gone up, there are far more people, must have a ticket to climb Huayna Picchu, and there appeared to be trolls everywhere. (staff who tell you "Don't do that" when I jumped off a wall.)
We woke up at 4:30am and walked to the bridge that opens at 5am to allow you to climb the 1500 steps up to MP. Climbing all those stairs got me warmed up and by the time we made it up to MP, I was actually sweating. haha! Lew and I spent the whole day wandering around the city from the Temple of the Sun to climbing Machu Picchu mountain (2000 feet higher than the city), to wandering the whole city. The weather was so beautiful and it got so warm during the middle of the day that we had to find some shade so we could rest.
Enjoy the pictures and the immensity of the city. I highly recommend a visit for anyone that comes down to South America. Although after seeing my pictures you might not need to visit at all. ;)
Trail up Machu Picchu mountain
Salkantay
Top of Machu Picchu Mtn
Lawn mowers of Machu Picchu...:)
Taking a rest during the heat of the day
Inca Bridge
The Inca's were masters of water ways for their cities.
