Getting High in Peru, Archaeological Adventures, Year 2: Choquequirao. Day 1

Choquequirao, Peru’s “Cradle of Gold City,” is NOT the Sister City of Machu Picchu or the OTHER Machu Picchu

Five Day/Four Night Trek: this is Day 1.

This is a teaser pic. I did not see this until Day 3. Pic by Froydis.

People have already asked me—Choquequirao? Where is this place? How come we never heard of this place? I first came to hear of this unpronounceable and unspellable site back in 2013 while in Cusco and at Machu Picchu. It was our students’ guide, Jesus, who mentioned it briefly. It didn’t mean much to me then. This was my first time to Peru, to Cusco, and now Machu Picchu. Sometime later it came back to me---what, Machu Picchu has a sister city? As a boy I remember looking at the pictures of Machu Picchu (National Geographic) wishing I could go there, and now here I am, and I find out that there is another one? Then I asked Katia, a friend here in Arequipa about this site that I could not pronounce. She knew what I was talking about and fed me some information. Now that I had the spelling of the site, I then went to Lonely Planet, Peru, which I discovered only had two small paragraphs of info, and so I went to Google Earth and wow! It exists. Now I began to wonder if I could go to this site in 2014. 

Poster at the end of the car track where we began our trek.

            I did go in October 2014, but it is now taking me a while to digest and organize my visit. Suffice it to say now that as an archaeologist my 5 day/4 night visit was an emotional experience.

            I began to gather information on Choquequirao, which included rereading Hiram Bingham’s account of his visit in his book Lost City of the Inca (2011 ed.). Actually, as he writes, he was in Peru NOT to “discover” Inca sites but was researching Bolivar’s Wars of Independence and was on his way to Ayacucho. But, in 1909, while passing through Cusco and Abancay, the Prefect invited him to go on a treasure hunt at Choquequirao. Its name means “Cradle of Gold.” I want to believe that Bingham did not agree with the premise for the visit, but agreed to go along and the visit led to a change of careers for him—he wanted to become expert on the Incas and to “discover” or to visit their cities. No one knows what they found (or took) from that visit to Choquequirao.

            Like Machu Picchu, the road to Choquequirao begins in Cusco. On the road out of Cusco, the group Bingham joined passed by Sacsaywaman (Bingham used a different spelling) a “Cyclopean fortress” (p. 115) with its mega-ton polygonal blocks. In 2013 in my first visit to Sacsaywaman, I heard this word “cyclopean” used and it sent chills up and down my spine, since this is a Middle Eastern archaeological term (not “Greek myth” but a story passed down by their predecessors) going back to wall or tomb construction at sites dating back to more than 3200 years ago. Uncovering, measuring, and photographing “cyclopean” blocks was part of my job in the Middle East. And then when I returned to my teaching job in the states, I got to tell stories and to challenge my students, how did the ancients construct these walls or tombs? That was another fun part of my teaching job. However, due to wars, climatic change, and movement of peoples 3200 years ago, knowledge was lost how these walls or tombs were constructed with these huge blocks weighing 100 tons and more. The answer back then was that only the ancient Cyclops could have built such walls/tombs with these massive blocks. And here in Cusco, this word was used to define the fortress walls of Sacsaywaman. This was another defining and serendipitous moment for me. Now that I have returned to Sacsaywaman two more times in 2014, I do plan to do more research on the site in order to blog and to publish it.  

            Soon Bingham describes the extreme hardship to get to Choquequirao; the slog downhill; the attempt to cross the Apurimac River, which at that time of year (Feb), he says was “a raging torrent 250 feet wide … , over 80 feet deep.” (p. 120). Once they succeeded in crossing the river (Day 2 for us), the slog uphill began, which he points out that “the trail was so steep that it was easier to go on all fours that to attempt to walk erect.” (p. 123) I enjoyed reading Bingham’s account because I too have now completed the 5-day hike to and from the site carrying my backpack accompanied by mules carrying our food, tents, and other supplies. One day and a half to get to the site, one day and a half at the site (Bingham spent 4 days on site), and then another two days back out to Cusco. I read other firsthand accounts to better prep myself for the trek.

We are surrounded with snow-capped mountains

At this point only 22.5 km? We encounter countless switchbacks on the way down to the river.

            In July 2014 I began to make specific plans with Cusco tour companies while living in Arequipa and chose Tierras Vivas since they guaranteed that they would take me on the requested dates even if others did not sign up for those dates. Katia again ensured that the trek would happen remaining in contact with Tierras Vivas weekly. So, I departed for Cusco on October 24 and met with the guide and owner of Tierras Vivas on Saturday, the 25^th. I would be the only trekker to Choquequirao. The guide, Edson, and the van driver picked me up early on Sunday am for the 4-hour drive to Cachora, and while on the way, we picked up our chef for the next five days. Cachora was the village in which we would pick up the mules and their handler. Here we had our first ‘hiccup.’ The owner of the mules was not ready for us, so he hopped into our van to locate his animals. On the way out to the end of the road, we saw a boy guiding two mules, but they were not mine, but for another couple waiting where the car track ended.

            The other couple was there with their guide and they soon began their 32K trek with the guide informing them that once the mules came, their chef and mule handler would load the gear onto the mules. My guide, Edson, soon said the same (even though our mules were not in sight), and off we went Edson and me. Our chef was accompanying the mules and the chef of the first group. From the first rise at 3000m (9960 feet), I was able to locate Choquequirao off in the distance and was impressed how immense it was to be able to spot it. Edson, by the way, is a shaman apprentice. This will prove to be another interesting facet of the trip ahead. 

The mule and handler for the couple ahead of us.

My chef (rear), and the other couple's chef with the plastic bag.

On the trail down with little vegetation unlike Bingham's day.

The couple ahead of us with their guide is visible left of center. Choquequirao is located on the 2nd ridge from the rear centered.

Telephoto: Choquequirao is center with telephoto lens.

Choquequirao is center: The only visible excavated area here is centered with telephoto lens . But the area left and right and below are unexcavated areas.

The couple ahead of us are on the trail and Choquequirao on the 2nd from the rear ridge.

            Bingham trekked in February, during the rainy season, and I am doing it at the end of October said to be just prior to the beginning of the rainy season. I was using my GPS for distance and elevations and I too could hear the roar of the Apurimac River, but unlike Bingham, I could see the river 1500m (4980 feet) below us. In order to get to the river by nightfall, we needed to take countless switchbacks and as well as go up and down in elevation. It was sunny and hot, which I love.

We stopped for lunch even though our mules and supplies had not arrived. Our chef had asked the other chef to cooperate and soon Edson and I were eating a gourmet meal. As we were eating, a young lady arrived with her mule and mule handler. Edson recognized her saying that he had guided her and others to Machu Picchu a few weeks back. He called Froydis (of Oslo, Norway) over, and we listened to her story and her trek ‘hiccups.’  She too had made arrangements for a mule in advance and left Cusco at 3 am with her food and provisions travelling via collectivos (vans driving a prescribed route) to Cachora only to discover that her mule supplier had no mule for her. So, she asked around the village and found a man who volunteered his 14-year-son and a mule, so she was off. However, her previous mule supplier had also promised her a cooking gas cylinder, which too was lacking. Unable to find a gas cylinder in Cachora, she began her trek meeting us some hours later. 

Notice the switchbacks? We ascend these on the 2nd and worse day

The switchbacks for the 2nd day and Choquequirao on the ridge behind.

Ditto: you can see Day 2 switchbacks clearly and Choquequirao on the ridge behind

Switchbacks

We are surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

I told her that we have gas (I believed Edson) and we’ll share. Edson voiced likewise still confident that our mules and supplies would catch up to us. So, off we went, the three of us with one mule, a mule handler, one 2-person tent, food, but no gas. Our chef waited behind for our mules and supplies. We had refilled our water bottles with boiled water, but due to the increasing temperatures on the descent, I bought bottled water at the next camping site that had a kiosk. Just before dark we finally reached the river and the campground alongside it. We setup Froydis’ tent and put her supplies and our daypacks in it just as rain began to pour down. We ran to a shelter with a tin roof and started a wood fire. Froydis went back to her tent to get corn which we tried to pop over the open fire while waiting for our chef, mules, and supplies. We burned a lot of kernels but ate the popcorn anyway.   

Trees have a symbiotic with plants.

We are getting closer to the river campground

The new bridge for Day 2 is below left of center.

Later, I observed a wet blob approaching in the darkness, and I went out to meet it. It was our now hunched over chef, who had hiked back to the starting point and when he did not see my mules, he picked up our tents, backpacks, sleeping bags and hiked 1500 meters downhill and a total of 15k (9.3 miles) to our camp. I remember him dropping his load and then collapsing to the ground while Edson asked him about the mules.

Soon after, our chef again asked for the cooperation of the other chef and delivered perfectly popped popcorn to us following up with a gourmet meal. While the three of us were enjoying our meal, the rain slackened enabling us to pitch the other two tents and to move our bags and packs into them. It was though a very hot night and we sweated profusely, but at least no rain touched us or our supplies. At some point while I was sleeping, the owner of our mules arrived with our food and the remainder of our supplies.

End of Day One