Choquequirao and the strike

Merry gang smiling pre 60km trek

I Finally managed to do Choquequirao, 10 days after i was supposed to start the trek. I had been fascinated with it for quite a while, a remote Incan complex that served as the last bastion of the Incas that sits 1500m above the Apurimac river and over 3000m above sea level.
I was aware that the trek was tough, only from the footprint guide and from talking to a few locals in the hostal. The agency said it was a little tough after i pressed them on it. Anyway......!



Day one before the descent



I had a 5am pick up from the hostal. So i got up at 4.30am, got ready and i wasn´t at all surprised when they rolled up at 6.30am. We drove for 3 hours to a rural village called Cachora, a small place where nearly every building was made up of bricks made from red mud and straw, with corrugated iron roofs.



I am in danger of using words like beautiful and stunning a bit too often in this blog, but what can i do with my limited language skills?! We hiked for 3 hours along a beautiful valley, with huge snow capped mountains on the opposite side and dotted around. We then descended for 3 more hours to a campsite near the Apurimac river in the bottom of the valley. We had mules carrying our bags and the tents that went up ahead, and they set up camp while we followed well behind.

The campsite was interesting. No electricity or gas, sheep, chickens and guinea pigs running around, mules tied to trees, and mosquitos and sandflys biting everybody who had even an inch of skin not covered in deet! We had a chef travelling with us who made the most amazing food using 2x gas stoves and a headtorch so it didn´t feel like we were roughing it too much!



Main complex behind me



The second day was really tough.  We woke up at 4.30am, ate birthday cake the chef had somehow conjured up for a girl on the trek(!) and spent 4 hours trekking 1.5km vertically, then another 2 hours  of “peruvian flat” to the campsite at the base of Choquequirao. 



On the way we got our first site of Choquequirao, we could see huge terraces cut into the jungle in the valley ahead, in the shape of a giant pig.

We were all really tired, but after a nap had 2 hours to explore part of the site with our brilliant guide Marco.  After another great meal and some birthday wine we had another early night, and were up again at 4.30am. This time we had several hours to explore the site.



Pig shaped terraces

Machu Picchu gets all the plaudits as being the perfect incan site, but Choquequirao is stunning in a different way despite being only 40% uncovered. Machu Picchu is fairly compact, with many more buildings concentrated in a smaller area. Choquequirao is spread out, and set in even more spectacular scenery. It is surrounded by huge mountains, and straddles a hill top far higher than machu picchu. The buildings  on the top near the plaza were a little disappointing as they were the victim of some clumsy restoration work.  The terraces though were astonishing. As well as the terraces seen on the way across the valley, there was another set in perfect condition that sat higher up. They were huge, each  12 feet high, very wide and hundreds of metres long.  On the other side of the hill top is the llama sector. There are far more terraces, cascading down the valley and decorated with Llamas. Further down you can make out many more terraces not yet cleared of Jungle.  Only 50% are uncovered lengthways, so you could walk along the terraces, and they would disappear into Jungle which gave the site a very mysterious, undiscovered feel.



Llama terraces, uncovered portion nearside



In late morning the group split in two. Half the group were on an 8 day trek that finished in Machu Picchu.  Our group that comprised me,  trainee guide John, and Carine and Yann set off at 10am back towards the campsite in the bottom of the valley. The temperature became unbearable in parts despite the fact that it was nearly all downhill. We reached the lunchspot at 4pm(!) had lunch, then tea at 6.30pm. More than likely Chicken from the yard.



The final day was probably the hardest due to the culmulative effect of the early mornings and hard trekking. It took 4 hours again to trudge out of the valley, then another 2.5hours to get back to Cachora. By the time we had taken a public bus back to Cusco it was teatime, and i was pretty exhausted!



Llama terraces, uncovered portions at left and bottom

I was supposed to go to Puno near the Bolivian border the following morning, but there are strikes for 48 hours so no buses. Grrrr! So yet more time in Cusco, and less time in Bolivia which is a little frustrating. So…….i aim to leave on Thursday but i´ve been here so long i´ve covered most activities here. I think the strike is over gas and water prices, they have been marching around the plaza and surrounding streets all day, thousands of people.



 I was sitting in a café having lunch and the owner but the boards up and locked the door while they marched past. It had all seemed good natured to me, but he said they occasionaly get carried away and start throwing stones around so probably for the best………

Giant terraces 12 feet tall