Today we woke up eagerly to get going as this was one of the big reasons we booked this trek, to explore Choquequirao! We again had a large breakfast, but this time it was only about 30 minutes before we got to the start of our ruins exploration.
We started out with a large meeting room area which is thought to be where the Shamans would give lectures to the people. This was a spot where our guide also sat us down and gave us a run down of Inca history along with the history of the ruins and how they have been discovered over time. Very interesting!
We then followed this with a visit to the place where the Shamans actually lived. What an amazing view these guys had! They definitely knew how to pick their real estate. Our guide says that it would have been the perfect place to meditate and get their mind where it needed to be, and we had to agree with those thoughts. Beautiful.
After some more trekking up, we got to a large flat area which was where the Shamans made the sacrifices to the Gods whenever they were required. A little further in we also got the best views of the Choquequirao ruins. What an awesome birds eye view of the whole thing.
After admiring the view, we descended into the main plaza and toured the living area of the head Inca, as well as the houses of the craftsmen.
Next, we descended down lots and lots of steps on terraces to see 2 unusual aspects of Choquequirao compared to other Inca sites. First, we came upon the snake, and then, the llamas! Nowhere else in the known Incan ruins do they have any such decorations on terraces or buildings. We walked over to a viewpoint to see the llamas from afar, ascending. Very neat to see, and these were only discovered just a few years ago in 2013.
We then hiked back up the (brutally steep) stairs to the main plaza, then up some more to Hanan (upper) Choquequirao, where the chef from our trip was waiting with our lunch. We ate, overlooking the ruins, then had some time to explore a little on our own before continuing the hike. One of the parts we found most interesting is that there are still large patches of ruins that have yet to be rescued from the jungle. Some people think that Choquequirao is probably bigger than Machu Picchu, but so much of it has yet to be discovered under all the vegetation surrounding it. Maybe there are some more decorative terraces under there!
There was some more steady uphill for another 20 minutes or so. It was amazing the change of surroundings as we popped over Choquequirao pass. All of a sudden, it was almost like desert. It was very warm and sunny as we continued down, down, down. The last hour or so of our hike, we couldn’t even stop because of the swarms of horseflies that would descend upon us. Just when we thought we couldn’t take it anymore, our guide said “We are here!”. We looked up and were amazed at where our tents were set up- on Incan terraces! There were some springs here that were still running, so we cleaned off and did some laundry, then spent the afternoon relaxing. Tea time then dinner were the same as usual, then again off to bed early. Best campsite views yet! And thankfully the horseflies didn’t follow us to our place of rest…
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 
How high was this? It looks like if you took one wrong step, you would have a loooong fall!
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I’m not sure how high the ruins were, but the choquequirao pass was about 10,800 ft. We definitely had to be careful!
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Absolutely breath taking!!
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This is so different to the other countries. Vegetation is beautiful. The mountains are all dressed. The green is intense and the height too.
Don’t you feel like Colon? you are discovering a lot of things. You are in the land of the Condor.
Congratulations. Love you very much.
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It was beautiful! We definitely felt like explorers. We only saw probably 30 other people through the whole first 7 days of the trek.
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Wow!
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Wow! This looks so awesome!!!
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