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The surrounding area of Cusco Peru has plenty of attractions to offer visitors and travelers. Trekking along these places will allow you to walk by the extensive Inca Trail network made by the Incas and pre-Incas. One of these Inca Trails is Choquequirao through which you will experience the Andean culture and an adventure travel in a way that you will never forget. This spectacular 60 km / 38 miles Trail will lead you to the mysterious refuge of the Incas, Choquequirao.
Entrancingly off the increasingly trod track, Choquequirao (“Cradle of Gold” in Quechua—“The Other Machu Picchu”, as a 2007 article in the New York Times called it) is an amazingly preserved Inca outpost, dramatically perched on a promontory nearly 1800 m / 6000 feet above the roaring Apurimac River Gorge. Choquequirao (3.103m/10178ft), considered to be a sister city of similar significance to that of Machu Picchu and built along similar lines, although harder to reach, was also presumed to have had about the same size and to have served the same religious, political and agricultural functions. However, because archaeologists long underestimated the importance of Choquequirao, the city’s existence was known for almost 300 years before the first restoration was begun in 1993 and it has only recently been accessible to nonacademics, since then quickly joining the ranks of the world’s great Lost Cities. In this spectacular 60-km trek we drive to the charming village of Cachora, our starting point, and reach this huge archaeological complex still under cleaning and restoration process located in the surroundings of the Salkantay sacred mountain (6.271m/20569ft) and the Apurimac River canyon. The beauty of the Inca citadel, still partially covered by the weeds cumulated by the passing of centuries, its astonishing location and surrounding mountain scenery, as well as lots of Andean flora and fauna, with the chance to spot condors in its natural habitat are some of the most appreciated attractions of this program.
Choquequirao is a partly excavated Inca city in the south of Peru. It bears a striking similarity in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu and is referred to as its “sister”. Choquequirao receives far fewer tourists than Machu Picchu but the archaeological site is no less delightful and is a good alternative to the sometimes overcrowded traditional Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Researchers argue that Choquequirao would have been an important religious center, politically and economically, as well as a commercial and cultural link between the coast, the mountains and the jungle.
For its palaces and temples in two levels, their systems of fountains, canals and aqueducts and its admirable "upholstered" andeneria of profuse vegetation, Choquequirao was constructed, presumably, during the government of Inca Pachacutec (XV century), and is only comparable to Machu Picchu, the most visited archaeological monuments of Cusco Peru.
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Challenging. We strongly recommend acclimatizing to the altitude by staying for at least two - three days in Cusco Peru prior to the trek.
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US$ 545 SAVE 20% (from
US$ 680)
Price based on fixed departure dates with a minimum of 04 people per group. Go to Dates & Prices or ask for private service prices.
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