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After an arduous bus ride, accompanied by the obligatory upset stomachs, we landed at Cuzco; once the Incan and now the Gringo capitol of South America. Despite being hounded by vendors and surrounded by loud tourists, we enjoyed the city tremendously. Built on Incan foundations, which are still visible around the city, its design is fascinating as you marvel at the Incan engineering, with 110 ton blocks fitted perfectly to each other, having been quarried miles away. This is magnificently evident at the monolithic Incan ruin "Sacsaywaman", overlooking the city. Im still baffled how the little guys erected these massive temples, in exact alignment with some other structure miles away, or some celestial event.
Of course, a lot of once was, were destroyed by the Spanish, so untouched ruins are pretty rare. This was one of the main factors in our decision to do a 4-day trek to Choquequirao, a secluded mountain temple-complex discovered fairly recently and only party excavated. This, and the fact that the hike is really challenging through some rough terrain, meant that it was not covered by 500 tourists a day, like the Inca Trail. In fact, we saw very few people along the way, which
made it all the better.
When we arrived at our camp at the end of the first day, sweaty and exhausted, we understood why this off the beaten track. Before sunset, we were able to spot the next days 1.5km ascent on the other side of the gorge we were in. Not pretty. Getting up at 5am and climbing for 14 hours the next day was a great experience, but Im sure there are people that would not share the same sentiment!
Perched on a mountain ridge, commanding views over the confluence of the valleys, the citadel looked majestic and ancient as we climbed its massive terraces a few hours before sunset. Apon arriving, we were very lucky to have the whole place to ourselves, and were greeted by a condor, which excited our guide profusely, given that it is the most sacred of the Incan animals and is seen as a very good omen. We spent the next few hours exploring the complex and listening to theories about its purpose from our guide, as nobody really knows its exact function, given that it had been deserted for at least 500 years before its discovery. The same Incan
ingenuity was evident everywhere, with irrigation channels feeding ceremonial baths and temples forming exact circles and aligned with the solstices.
We camped that night on the side of the mountain ridge, under a blanket of stars, wondering about the ancient race and what their lives must have entailed. The hike back was equally tortuous, but good practice for our marathon journey to Macchu Picchu....
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