On the one hand, I could kind of understand that impulse. But there in the shadow of Choquequirao, with the whole world seemingly laid out at my feet, I simply wasn’t in the mood to curse out anyone. The next day we quickly packed up our camp and made our way to the checkpoint that marked the entrance to the ruins. Until recently, Choquequirao has been free, but we were required to pay a fee of 37 Nuevo Soles (about $12). The attendant at the checkpoint urged us to make sure we took the time to look at the spectacular “wall of llamas” on the back side of the ruins. He waved good-bye, but when I turned to take his picture he dove behind his desk and cried out, “no no no no photos!” It occurred to me that maybe the guy wasn’t working for the Peruvian government and had just found it profitable to set up shop and charge an entry fee, but either way it didn’t bother me all that much. The price was a tenth of what I was willing to pay. My excitement grew as I made my way through the last entrance gate and finally found myself within the Choquequirao compound. Much as I expected, a great part of the sensation was due to the fact that there was absolutely nobody in sight. It’s wonderful to hear the sound of the Andean wind whistling through the ancient stone work, instead of the exclamations of tourists who have just discovered that their memory card is out of space, or they forgot to charge the batteries of their digital camera. I decided to spend my day taking photos, but Martin and Roberto continued their world cup training, and frequently came jogging past me, or could be seen cresting hills in the distance. Like Machu Picchu, Choquequirao is a massive set of ruins that takes a couple full days to explore. Much of this is due to the strenuous terrain which takes a fair amount of time for an average person to cover, but the scope of the ruins should not be underestimated. It is literally a large ancient city, with huge
collections of structures remaining intact.I walked along the terraced entryway and traveled down the three or four hundred yard corridor that leads to the first of many junction points. From there I headed up to the main plaza at Choquequirao, and on to the cleared platform at the base of the ruins that overlooks the valley. Like most of the ruins in Peru, Choquequirao is filled with magnificent stonework, towering structures, and the remnants of spectacular fountains. Although water doesn’t flow through the irrigation channels of Choquequirao, the remnants are a testament to Incan ingenuity.
Roberto Carcelen and Martin Koukal sprint up the stairs to the ruins of Pisaq