Getting High in Peru, Year 2: Choquequirao, Day 2

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 2

We woke up at 4 AM and were on the bridge around 5 AM

This was the older method of crossing--in a cart and you pull yourself across--no animals.

 A view of the river as we crossed.

A view of the switchbacks

Our mules and chef passed us by.

A large bug more than 5cm/2inches

Another spelling for Choquequirao

Choquequirao, DAY 2 Monday October 27

Our chef woke us up at 4 am with Mate de Coca tea and small tubs of warm water to wash the sweat off our bodies. After a gourmet breakfast, we were the first ones out of camp and across the river heading up for Choquequirao. (Our mule handlers pack up the tents.) The bridge is new, and I do show the previous method of pulling yourself across the river where you then had to pick up another set of mules. On our return to the bridge on Day 4, we noticed the broken welds that need to get fixed, but we made it across. This second day would prove to be the most difficult for me. The river and campground we are leaving is at 1491m (4950 feet).

I’ve been wearing long (zip off) pants due to the nasty gnats. Even after 5 AM, it was already warm and humid as we crossed the bridge and began the switchback ascent so as my pants clung to my thighs, I could feel that I was getting a rash on my inner thighs but had no Vaseline. I later would apply a lotion which eased the pain. Edson was correct about beginning the ascent before sunrise since we did cover a lot of the steep switchbacks before the hot sun hit us. We felt a bit sorry for the other couple far below us who began the ascent once the sun hit the valley. (The German husband was wearing a lemon-colored long sleeve shirt easily spotted from above.)

This is a campground we passed by and continued up.

Once we reached the campground located in a village just outside the park at 2920m/ 9694 feet, meaning that that we already ascended more than 5000 feet, we had lunch during which time the other couple arrived. Soon after, we headed for Choquequirao, which we could now clearly see around the bend. This was the # 1 emotional moment for me (the first of several) because, even though most of the site was covered with a forest jungle, I could, by following the lines of the few excavated terraces and the different color of the foliage, easily detect the extent of the city both horizontally and vertically. The same was true for the excavated structures. Way up at the top, above the Plaza, our destination, I could detect the aqueduct which went from the city to the waterfall that we would soon have to cross. Our campground for night 2, Raqaypata, is within the park and was just a speck on part of a cleared terrace. Here too we could easily spot the dig houses of the archaeologists set up in various places where they chose to clear and to excavate. They had several houses, which included kitchens, due to the size of the site. This site is more immense than Machu Picchu, and we were seeing only ONE side of it. 

The #1 location for my emotional moment. The lighter green is the location for the terraces.

Note the lower terraces just above caption?

The top of the ridge is excavated.

Terraces and see the colored excavation houses? 900m down to the terraces from the ridge.

Now you do see both and the jungle all around

We plan to explore the terraces manana.

But before we officially entered the park, an avalanche occurred in front of us. Edson jumped back, and we stopped. There was a warning sigh, but who believes an avalanche sign? When it stopped we scurried across. Soon, at the welcoming building Edson, Froydis, and I officially signed in, and we continued on trekking (2 hours to the campground sign). My mules had headed for the campground named Raqaypata at 2903m/9638 feet while we headed up a path into the jungle to the excavated high plaza at 3838m/12,742 feet. The Plaza is not even at the site’s high point. But, from the river campground on Day 1 to the excavated Plaza on Day 2, we ascended 7792 feet of switchbacks and in spite of my very sore thighs we still had a few hours to explorer before descending to the Raqaypata campground for supper and rest.    

This was the waterfall we crossed and to which the aqueduct led

The mules and chef head here to Day 2's campground.

We continue to head uphill through the jungle of trees.

   

Across the way (2 hour walk) we see the Welcome Center (right of center)

Telephoto view and the trail (right) leads to the avalanche and Day 3 campground

            Once Bingham and company made it to Choquequirao, he makes reference to recommendations by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS): “take careful measurements and plenty of photographs and describe as accurately as possible all finds.” (p. 125) Since he implements these guidelines at all sites, he clearly accepts this as a mandate, and this is much to his credit and for our benefit. It was Choquequirao that led Bingham to return to Peru the following year to search for the “Lost City of the Inca.”

            I did not take careful measurements at Choquequirao, since I only took a 5cm scale for small artifacts, but one of my cameras records elevations and compass directions which will aid me later as I research and write the story of my visit. I tested my archaeological background by deciding where I would excavate as we walked through the forest. Only our path had been cleared. Through the thick forest I detected a wall of a structure. Below it and within a few seconds, we were uncovering piles of ceramics, which, as we discovered later, did not happen at the excavated places which had been sanitized of artifacts (with one exception). I shot pics and then we reburied the ceramics ensuring that our intrusion would not be noticed when and if archaeologists return. 

Out of the forest and onto the excavated terraces

That's the Usnu in the background

Film crew on top of the Usnu

You can see where they stopped clearing the trees

            We made it to the excavated plaza where a couple of structures had been excavated (houses and storerooms). High above us, we saw the water channel bringing water to the complex (from the waterfalls we viewed and crossed over earlier) and behind us and also above us was the Usnu, the special high platform where the Inca held celebrations. A film crew was up there and we waited until they came down. They also called down to us that our backpacks were in their shot. Once they left and we reached the Usnu, we noticed that they had setup an offering on top, which I shot. I did not appreciate the empty bottle which they left behind as litter. 

We reached the Plaza but notice that the site goes quite a bit higher

The water channel--note how it goes quite a ways uphill.

Channel plus in back the way up to the Usnu.

180 degrees and back up following the water channel

Entrance to the House and storage rooms.

Entrance to complex with its locking mechanism

As at Machu Picchu part of the locking system.

This was the artifact i found and placed in the window. It is the eyehole basalt stone 

            placed above the lintel stone.

The German couple (lemon color) are coming from the terraces to the Plaza

Views from the Usnu to the Plaza and above it.

Spot the Couple?

We are at the Usnu. Tomorrow we will visit the Priests' House

The film crew left this offering

900m below is our camp (below center) and dig houses above center.

Telephoto: There are our 3 tents and the red one is the chef's tent.

Supper Time

        Some of the pictures show our tents and excavation buildings 900m/3000 feet below us. The campground began to fill up and by nightfall there would 8 tourists plus at least 2 other guides, 3 chefs, and 3-4 mule tenders. From the Plaza we saw the other couple approaching from the terraces. (Remember that the German husband was wearing a lemon-colored long sleeve shirt easily spotted from above.) After appreciating the views from up here, we descended into the jungle down to our campground for a welcomed respite and another gourmet meal. We would return here tomorrow.