Getting High in Peru, Archaeological Adventures. Year 2: Choquequirao, Day 5

Choquequirao, Peru’s “Cradle of Gold City,”

Five Day Four Night Trek: this is Day 5

Jueves, 30 Octubre 2014 

Breakfast on a stainless steel plate

I remember, that after breakfast, and as we were preparing to head up and out to meet our van for the ride back to Cusco, Agapito continued to prepare food, which I thought was for him and the mule tender. I remember thinking, man, that’s meat sizzling in the pan, why didn’t we get that for breakfast? I found out later what he was preparing over the gas. 

Heading up into the clouds

We headed up from Huayhuacalle (2240m/7349ft) to the first Mirador (3000m/9843ft). Wow, that is only going up 760m/2493ft! Piece of cake. Near the Mirador, from which I got my first clear look at Choquequirao, my van would be waiting. It was not a difficult hike since this was Day 5 and I got a good rest last night. There were snow-covered mountain peaks, or Apus, Inca mountain gods, all around. They were amazing. Once we arrived at the Mirador, I took my final and distant glimpses of Choquequirao. We could still see some of the switchbacks. We tried to take a “selfie” of us jumping off rocks into the air. This did not work until another trekker arrived and took the pictures of us. I was definitely unable to jump as high as the other two, but Edson and Froydis are much younger than me, and I still had sore thighs.  

The river below and Choquequirao above and to the right

The switchbacks behind us.

I began to reflect on Hiram Bingham’s journey (and Mark Adams) here again. When the Prefect or Governor of the area invited him to go on that “treasure hunt” to Choquequirao, Bingham describes the difficulty in traveling to “Manco Inca’s hideout” (p. 122). Manco Inca was the Spanish-installed successor to Atahualpa, who soon rebelled against the Spanish.

The governor, who had invited Bingham, had finally succeeded in constructing a simple suspension bridge across the Apurimac River using six strands of telegraph wire. He was hoping that by getting Bingham to accompany him that the two of them could get the President of Peru to show an interest in Choquequirao as well. Before Bingham’s trek with the governor, the governor reported that he had only found a few bronze artifacts and bits of other artifacts at the site.

The group left Cusco in February 1, 1909 during the rainy season. I knew that the rainy season begins in November and hoped that by coming to Choquequirao at the end of October that I would be lucky and miss it. I was blessed. Bingham complains about the sorry state of the trail, whereas for me the trail was dry and in good shape. His problem was that it was the rainy season, and I too likely would have been negative about the trail if I was hiking it then. For me the trail, with its ups and downs, was doable but hard on my thighs. 

The trail and switchbacks above and below

The trail and the lack of foliage today

A big difference for our two trips was that due to the lack of foliage, we could see and hear the Apurimac River (Quechua meaning ‘Great Speaker’) far below and we could see the switchbacks behind us that led up to Marampata that we passed through on Day 2 just before Choquequirao and where we spent Night 3. He mentions a raging river 250-feet wide and 80-feet deep. It is no way that wide or deep today, but the highway construction that delayed us a bit on the way in and stoped us on the way out was because during the current rainy months the river has continued to wash away parts of the road. So, the highway construction people were constructing a massive wall of huge rocks hoping that during the next rainy season (2014-2015) the rock wall and road would stay intact.

 Since we had to stop for 45 minutes or so, Agapito came out with our lunch on stainless steel plates again. This was what he was preparing as we left Huayhuacalle. So, I ate his last meal while standing alongside the road and above the river (and on my cell phone). Once we arrived in Cusco, I said “Goodbye” to both Edson and Froydis and all three of us went our separate ways.  

Our leap in the air at the finish

We did it!

This husky reminded me of my present and past huskies.

Neither Bingham nor Adams’ accounts changed my mind of trekking there. It was a challenging 5-day trek; my thighs hurt horribly for most of the 5 days. I especially appreciated that it only rained that first night. My visit to Choquequirao taught me a lot more about the terrain while on the trek and while at the site. My visit also taught me that Choquequirao is not Machu Picchu’s sister city or the other Machu Picchu, but a unique Inca city with its own character. It is my Number 1 site in Peru over the two 4 to 5 months I have lived here both in 2013 and 2014. Remember that I am an archaeologist with 40 years in the Middle East in twelve countries. I have been to and photographed countless archaeological sites, and I predict that with proper excavation, Choquequirao will become Peru’s #1 site surpassing Machu Picchu. I wish that I could help supervise the excavation here.

Hiram Bingham came here by accident and invitation; I did not come here by accident. Like Mark Adams, I was determined to see the site that changed Bingham’s path. Ojalá I can return. In spite of all the sweat and in spite of all the pain in my thighs over the five days, I thank God (and the Apus) that I made it to Choquequirao. This site demonstrates to me again, as in the Middle East, that the peoples of long ago were blessed by God and could achieve much more than we can duplicate or would care to duplicate today.

Visitors to Choquequirao and Machu Picchu should stop and reflect and realize that even though we, in the 21^st century may think we are so ‘dumb smart,’ the ancient peoples surpassed us in many ways.

Para mi: Yo creo que el Choquequirao es numero uno sitio arqueologico en el Peru.

Paz y Shalom