Choquequirao & Maras Moray

After arriving back from Choquequirao I can say only two things, Wow! and Thank god that’s over. This was one of the hardest but best treks that I have ever done. Arriving in Cachora we began the trek not quite knowing what we were in for with little more than the trek profile and the mumblings of one of our friends who had completed the trek recently.

Essentially the trek involves little more than descending from 3600m to 2800m, followed by a steep descent to sea level to camp by the river on the first night. The second day was the tough one with the ascent up to 2600m and then a descent down to 1700m to the campsite of the ruins with the ruins then located at the top of the hill some 1300m above. Once there we would have a day at the ruins before returning back the same way – a long two day walk indeed.

The reward however was the little known and even less visited ruins of Choquequirao, (a name that translates to cradle of gold, something that no doubt excited the Spaniards) a set of ruins that were built just after and based on Machu Picchu. The architecture here is not quite as exceptional as that at Machu Picchu but the location here is second to none. Perched atop the point that seems to be almost the centre of the Andes where you are surrounded by mountain after mountain looking way down to the Apurimac river below, it’s an incredible setting indeed and one that can only give you a brief insight into what the “rooftop of the world” must be like. From our vantage point we certainly felt like we were at the rooftop to the Andes. Looking down marveling in the glory that is Apurimac river snaking its way through the valley below.

The ruins there are still quite extraordinary with the lower plaza nestled between the upper plaza and the truncated hilltop where the celestial festivals took place. The impact of the ruins are further intensified by fortress like ruins on the very corner of the site and the giant terraces some as high as two metres used for farming in some of the most incredible places. These terraces extend down to all sides of the site and include some which inexplicably contain patterns of llamas which add to the mystique of the place. The real attraction as mentioned earlier is the complete lack of ppl here, with us spending the whole day there and only meeting 11 other people there. The tranquility this creates is incredible and as we sat down and watch the sunset over the ruins and the Andes in complete peace it was unbelievable. A far cry from the throngs of people that you share Machu Picchu with, Choquequirao is certainly one of Peru’s hidden treasures.

The trip back was almost harder than the trip there with the switchbacks just as intense but this time we were climbing up through the arid side of the valley not the tropical side. This meant less shade and we were soon suffering in the 35 degree heat climbing once again back to the mirador. The third long day saw us hike from 6am right through to 7pm at night, with our desire to push on to the 16km mark and make for an easier last day. The next day we were very glad for this and managed to do all our climbing before the sun came out and be comfortably back in Cachora for lunch time. Overall it would be possible to do this in four or maybe even three days but it was nice to be able to take our time and especially to have one full day at the ruins.

We also took the early finish opportunity to visit the nearby Sayhuite ruins which are much less well know but impressive none the less. The central point of this site is a giant monolith that was supposedly to be a map of the area for the Incans.

After a couple of days to recover it was off to check off my final site in the Sacred Valley, Maras Moray and the Salineras. These are the famous agricultural experiments by the Incas, a primitive greenhouse if you will and also the Incan salt mines.

Whilst you can easily do this as a tour we decided to do it the local way and have little more fun. This wasn’t really as difficult as we thought and a local bus to Urubamba dropped us off at the turn off to Maras and a taxi took us to Moray. From Moray we caught a taxi back to Maras and walked from the town through the salt mines down to Urubamba and then caught a bus back from there. Simple.

The Moray site is essentially a series of circular terraces that start at a height of 3500m and descend downwards. Between the drop in altitude and differing irrigation techniques the Incas were able to create several different microclimates. During summer they managed to create a difference in temperature between the bottom and the top of up to 15C. They then used these microclimates to experiment with and grow different types of crops. The site is incredibly photogenic and is perhaps one of the few places In the world that looks more perfect in photos than in real life, but still very impressive. The best bit about not doing a tour was that we had as long as we wanted, this particularly paid off when we decided to have a short kip/sun bake at the bottom of the site and watch everybody else rush through in the half hour they were permitted.

The salt works was quite interesting without perhaps being as spectacular. In a lot of ways it reminded me of a less attractive Pamukkale in Turkey. Here the salt water is diverted into various pools and the water is then driven off and the salt harvested. Interestingly they still use these salt works today which speaks volumes for the technology the Incans were able to develop.