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Choquequirao
View from the Sacred Platform After our Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu both Barry and I were feeling fit and ready for another challenge. When visiting the Inca Museum in Cusco we came across an exhibition on Choquequirao, said to be a "sister city" of Machu Picchu. We also read that it was a tough trek to get there but well worth the effort as the site is as impressive as Machu Picchu but receives a small fraction of the number of visitors. This was enough to whet our appetites and so, a few agencies later, we had booked ourselves onto a 4 day trek to visit the ruins. We had decided to go with an agency (Cusqueñan Tours) that gave us a cheap price and we liked the idea of our bags and equipment all being carried for us and our food being cooked for us!
Oh, and I had better admit now that we never did see a bear. I had been hoping that we would, and apparently it is possible near Choquequirao but clearly they were all on a break when we were visiting (as the nearby photo shows).
The trek did indeed turn out to be tough going. It was
also made tougher by the fact that I had picked up a stomach bug just before we started and so had to trek whilst not eating for the first day and eating only a limited amount on the second day. Still, this certainly added to the challenge and luckily I was much better by day 3. The trek is difficult mainly because of the large amount of uphill and downhill that has to be covered, dropping down into the Apurimac River Valley and then walking all of the way up the other side. Luckily (and by complete chance) it turned out that our group only consisted of me and Barry, so we could go at our own pace without feeling too rushed. Apart from the two of us we had our guide Miguel as well as a cook Jorge and an arriero (mule-man) called Erwin with his mules. It felt a bit ridiculous to have 3 men looking after just the 2 of us, but other people who had booked onto the tour had dropped out and so we just got treated to luxury for 4 days! (well, maybe the actual hiking wasn't that luxurious though...).
The basic itinerary
of the trip was as follows:
Day 1 Getting from Cusco to Cachora by bus. Then hiking out to the Apurimac Valley and dropping down along the valleyside to reach our first campsite at Chiccisqa. This was a relatively easy day of hiking as there was not too much uphill and we only hiked for the afternoon. Still, blisters had started to appear by the evening!
Day 2 We walked further downhill to the Apurimac River before crossing it on a sturdy bridge and heading up the other side. This was a
really tough day, walking continually uphill for the remainder of the morning. We managed an altitude gain of nearly 1,500m and reached our campsite at Marampata where we took a well earned break and lunch. We then walked on another hour and a half to reach the ruins of Choquequirao which we explored for the afternoon before going back to the campsite.
Day 3 Up early to fit in a morning of exploring at Choquequirao. After lunch we started to retrace the steps of the last few days. We walked downhill for hours to reach the Apurimac River before heading up a short way on
the other side to reach the Chiccisqa Campsite by sunset. By now we were clearly very smelly and dirty, so only one thing for it, time for a shower... in cold river water pumped through a water bottle with holes in it into an open-air bamboo shack. Brrr...!
Day 4 A long, hard hike uphill from the campsite, along plenty of mentally exhausting zigzag paths. I was thoroughly glad to get to the pass, from where it was all flat or downhill to reach Cachora. Still, that path seemed to go on forever and even Miguel our guide was getting tired! It felt great to finally arrive in Cachora and be able to buy a bottle of sugary Inca Kola before lunch. After saying goodbye to Erwin we hopped in a collectivo to take us to Cusco. Once in Cusco we said goodbye to Jorge and Miguel and went out for a well-earned pisco sour.
Some general thoughts on the experience:
* We were very lucky to be with such a great team. All of the guys were so helpful and courteous and even when Jorge our cook was struggling with all of the walking he was
always able to give us a big smile. He also sheepishly asked if he could come to the ruins with us as he had never seen them before. Of course we said yes and it was fun to see him bounding around like a kid, as happy as we were to be there. We were especially struck by how fortunate we were when talking to the other group staying at our campsite on day 2. Their cook had failed to make it to the campsite as he was somewhere further down the path too drunk to walk! Needless to say they were not too pleased.
* Choququirao is a fascinating place to explore. Experts say that only a small fraction of the original site has so far been excavated and there are still many more things to be found. For instance, the "llamas of the sun" - cute stone llamas built into the terraces - have only been discovered in the last year or so and are the only example known at any Inca site (now that in itself is worth the trek to Choquequirao).
* Barry decided on day 1 that we were going to talk with
The group
left to right: Miguel, Me, Barry, Jorge, Erwin. the team in Spanish and not English for the next 4 days. This was definitely a test of my language skills but also good fun. By the time we reached Choquequirao I was even able to understand most of the explanation Miguel was giving us in Spanish!
* The night skies were absolutely incredible - even better than those we had seen on the Salkantay Trail. We were so far from a major settlement that there was no light pollution and the Milky Way was so bright it almost seemed to be lighting the campsite itself.
* I may not be the world's biggest animal lover but South America has certainly taught me to tolerate them a lot more! Just some of the animals we saw during our 4 days included: 2 snakes (one dead, one alive), 2 tarantulas (one in our campsite!), pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, birds, butterflies, horses and dogs. Finally, despite not actually seeing any I still managed to get ravaged by mosquitos. Ouch.
Finally, I have to admit that this was definitely the most demanding multi-day trek we have ever done and the physical effort is not to be underestimated. However, the rewards
are significant and the feeling of satisfaction at reaching Choquequirao - visited by only a handful of people every week - is immense. If you like a challenge, you had better add Choquequirao to your list!
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My parents took me to Machu Picchu when I was 6 years old and have I wanted to go back ever since. Great pictures and good time in Peru. Best Regards from Los Angeles, Oswaldo