Choquequirao down and up again

Hello from a tired Orestis. Me and Dan just did a three-day hike to an Inca city (just the two of us again), and it was AMAZING! The city was named Choquequirao and the whole site is about the size of Machu Picchu!!! 

We left from Cusco at six o’clock in the morning and started hiking a few hours later. To get to Choquequirao, you have to descend around 1400 meters into a canyon, then climb 1800 meters up again. We knew it would be hard, but it is the only way to visit the site (there is no road for cars) and I really wanted to see it.

We did the trek in three days, or technically, two and a half days. The first day, we hiked down to the bottom of the canyon and then almost all the way up to Choquequirao. This was by far the hardest and most definitely the longest day as we finished at 7 o'clock at night. For the first part of the trek, the canyon was rocky but as we neared our end point it began to get more forested and lush. But it was hot! And I mean really hot! Thankfully, on the way down and in the middle of the day when the sun was hottest, we stopped for lunch and had an amazing orange juice at one of the hostels which was really refreshing and gave me a surge of energy for the uphill! I really need it. We did the uphill luckily in the shade or in the early evening so it was way easier. When we arrived at our hostel called Sumaq Killa (or Keir Starmer - the Sunak Killer, as we joked) we were refreshed by a hot tea and some popcorn before supper and bed.

Early on the second day, we had an amazing veggie tortilla for breakfast and then set off to the site. The only known Inca road to Choquequirao is from Machu Picchu, and so Dan thought the Incas would enter the site from there, and suggested we do the same by going higher and down to the site from the other side. Funnily enough, we ended up entering the site from above, but not from the main Incan road but, as we realised afterwards, from the drainage system! Oh well...it was all very well made anyway. The Incas were master engineers after all :)

But it doesn't really matter how we entered the site. Because the views we got when we entered were amazing. You could see all the way down to the main plaza and then up another hill to a viewpoint.

As we descended towards the plaza, we passed building after building, which I guess were houses and colcas (grain/food storage areas), the circular or square buildings which Incas used to keep things in. When we reached the plaza, we hung around for a while, and then (wanting to be the first up to the viewpoint) we dashed up the hill for a snack!

For a site only 30% uncovered, Choquequirao was massive. After the viewpoint, we passed the priest's house and a temple, and many other buildings. And I know it seems like we’ve seen all the coolest things, but nope, I still haven’t said anything about the llama terraces. And for me, the llama terraces were probably the best bit of the whole site! What are the llama terraces I hear you ask? They are terraces with white stones embedded into the terraces forming the shape of llamas! They were seriously cool and fun.

After visiting the site, we started making our way down the canyon, back to yesterday's lunch spot. It was luckily not as hot as it was on our first day. For the rest of the trek, we managed to stay in the shade to reach our hostel in the early evening. That evening, we ate outside and doubly-rewarded by an incredible starry sky. The next day we made it to the car in 2 and a half hours, leaving at 6 so the sun didn't get too hot. 

In two days, we are due to do the 4-days trek to Machu Picchu. To be honest, I felt a bit nervous before doing Choquequirao (a longer and harder trek than Machu Picchu) and wasn't sure whether I would be able to complete the trek, but I now think that...I CAN DO THIS!