The most important things to know about Choquequirao are that it is much bigger than Machu Picchu and that the trail to get there is very steep and has significant elevation change.

Read my article about Choquequirao on Matador Network!

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The Choquequirao ruins are all of the things you want in an archeological site: beautiful, mysterious, extensive, unique, fascinating, etc. They have been classified successively as a fortress, a ceremonial center, a city and the last residence of the Inca. In my opinion, the most important aspect is that they were never discovered by the Spanish during the decades of conquest. I was very disappointed to hear from local families that they have been thoroughly looted throughout the 1900s. However, the site is so massive and so little of it has been properly restored that we don’t really know how much is still covered by the jungle. We also don’t know what will be found when that jungle is removed.

In Quechua, Choquequirao means “cradle of gold” and many theorize that there were gold mines nearby that were exploited during the Incario. However, as with so much Inca history, the original name of the site is still up for debate. (For the record, Machu Picchu is not the original name of that site either). Like all Inca cities, it includes a main plaza, royal quarters for when the Inca visited, a temple for the sun, large buildings called kallankas, storage buildings called collcas, platforms called usnu, barracks for soldiers, a prison, walled-off houses separate from the rest of the site for priests, an administrative center and lots and lots of terraces for agriculture and hillside stabilization.

Scroll to the bottom of the blog for info on food, lodging, and guides.

Like all Andean cities or towns, it is divided into the upper half, hanan and the lower half, hurin. This is only one of the innumerable examples of the Inca concept of duality. In this case, the hanan is more important because that’s where the Inca’s residence is. The residence is easily distinguished by the higher quality of stone work and the channeled water that leads straight to a shower and bath.

The most famous part of the ruins are terraces with white quartz llamas built into the walls. We know that they’re llamas and not alpacas because they’re too skinny to be alpaca and the elevation of the site is too low for alpaca to be happy there. The elevation of Choquequirao is llama territory. Unfortunately, because I was there on a particularly misty and rainy day, I didn’t get to see these. I’m planning to go back in April when the hills are full of wildflowers and the rainy season is mostly over. I would rather spend three nights in Matampata to get a full two days at the ruins, rather than just one. With two days I should be able to see everything that has been uncovered by the restoration work and jungle removal.

I hope that you now know enough about Choquequirao to want to go there. Here comes the catch: the trail is steep and until they do more trail maintenance, it’s a minefield of loose rocks.

The relevant elevations are these:

Trailhead at Capuliyoc: 3033 meters / 9,951 feet above sea level

Apurimac River at the bridge: 1000 meters / 3,281 feet above sea level

Matampata: 2918 meters / 9,574 feet above sea level

Choquequirao ruins: 3,104 meters / 10,184 feet above sea level

Basically, over the four or five or however many days you take to visit Choquequirao (I recommend six days and five nights), you will descend and then ascend well over 4,300 meters / 14,100 feet. Where you begin at Capuliyoc, you can clearly see the Choquequirao site and the village of Marampata. That means you start with the descent down to the Apurimac River, followed by the ascent up to Marampata and Choquequirao, then the descent back down to the river and ascent up to Capuliyoc. Not even the trail from Marampata to Choquequirao has any flat sections. It’s a constant descent to the lower terraces of the ruins, from where you climb up to see the rest of the archeological site.

 While in Marampata, I was told that the Apurimac canyon was the fourth deepest in the world. Unfortunately, it’s not in the top ten globally, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the fourth deepest in Peru. (Two other canyons in Peru are in the top ten, check out this list).

I went with the guide Elías Viñuelo Lanfranco of Waro Tours, who had a group of four that I joined. My group got up early and was usually on the trail by 6:00 a.m. because early in the morning, the canyon is still in shadow. The lower you get into the canyon, the hotter it is, because you’re not too far from the equator and low elevations in the tropics are always hot. There is a lovely afternoon upcanyon wind, but I don’t recommend doing much hiking between about 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Our first breakfast was at Capuliyoc and lunch at Chiquiska, both on the side of the river that’s part of the Apurimac region. Once you cross the bridge over the Apurimac River, you enter the Cusco region. This is significant because the Cusco region has a big budget for supporting tourism, while Apurimac does not. The families in the Cusco region have received solar panels, cooking ranges big enough to cook for large groups and even monthly checks or supplies during the worst of the pandemic. The families in Chiquiska didn’t get anything during 2020 and the Cconaya family in Chiquiska had to sell 25 of their 40 mules to survive.

The first day we hiked from Capuliyoc all the way down to the river, jumped in the cold water to rinse off and then hiked up to a place called Santa Rosa. This isn’t even big enough to be a village. It’s only one family who has a few tents. We brought our own, which was the main reason we needed pack horses. If you call ahead, you can reserve one of their tents and eliminate the need to carry them, since the other places along the trail rent cabins. Contact Alicia at +51 930 166 636 We had both dinner and breakfast there before setting off early in the morning.

The second day was all uphill, but we had done enough the first day that we were faced with only five kilometers. When we got up to Marampata I did exactly what everybody does, which is stop at the first house. There are plans for a sign at the entrance of the village with names of all of the families offering lodging and meals, so that people realize that they have lots of options. We stayed with Panchita, who has several cabins to rent and serves meals in a large kitchen and dining room that she built with her family in 2020. Her food was good, her dog friendly, the chickens and cat hilarious. She also has some beautiful flowering bushes that attract hummingbirds. I saw my first Green-tailed Trainbearer, which made me so very happy.

The third day we spent all day at the ruins, but it wasn’t a rest day. It’s still a hike from Marampata to Choquequirao, and it’s all a steep descent, which becomes a steep ascent in the afternoon. My phone recorded 27, 954 steps and 106 flights of stairs climbed. That’s about 12 miles or 19 kilometers, for a person my height.

The fourth day we walked back down to the Apurimac, went swimming before crossing the bridge and hiked up to Chiquiska. Maykol Cconaya Puga, who we had hired for the pack horses, lives there and his mother Melchora does all the cooking. While he spent 2020 making adobe bricks and new cabins, she watched cooking shows on Youtube. Especially considering where they are, the cabins are very well made, and the food is fantastic. (Maykol’s contact information is below).

The fifth day was like the third: all uphill but not too far. We left Chiquiska at 6:00 a.m. and arrived at Capuliyoc at 9:00 a.m. Walking slower would have been more comfortable but the longer it takes, the higher the sun is. We choose the physical discomfort of walking uphill on loose rocks without stopping over the physical discomfort of an equatorial sun beating down on us. Breakfast was at 5:00 a.m. and lunch at Capuliyoc was at 11:00 a.m.

The view from Capuliyoc is breathtaking. They have good food, cabins and my favorite Peruvian game: Sapo!

Santa Rosa doesn’t have cabins, but you can bring your own tent to camp there. Call ahead to reserve a spot.

At Marampata, almost everybody offers lodging and meals. Not everybody has cabins but enough do that you don’t have to make reservations, even if you’re not bringing a tent. At the bottom of this blog are the names and phone numbers of several places to stay in Matampata.

There are two places to stay in Chiquiska and both have cabins and places for tents. They also both offer wifi! Contact Maykol Cconaya Puga on WhatsApp +51 973 687 005 to coordinate staying in the same cabins I enjoyed at “La Cabañita.” You can also email him at Maykol5290cconaya@gmail.com

On my next trip, I’ll stay here the first and fifth night, with three nights in Marampata.

Contact information for Matampata

Hospedaje Mamá Panchita +51 925 877 426

Hospedaje Las Orquídeas +51 929 723 959

Hospedaje Matampata Guest House +51 973 181 754

Hospedaje Inti Condor +51 913 406 717

Hospedaje Killa (moon in Quechua) +51 927 283 158

Hospedaje Cabañas de Uriel +51 978 307 854

• Each place rents cabins and serves three meals a day. They will also pack picnic lunches for your day(s) visiting the ruins. All of these numbers can be used on a regular phone call or on WhatsApp.

Resources:

Maykol’s page for La Cabañita: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063653342762

Juan Carlos’ travel agency https://www.apurimacadventures.com

Juan Carlos’s lodging in Cachora: https://www.choquequiraoguesthouse.com

An American non-profit that arranges tourism in Marampata: https://crookedtrails.org

Articles about Panchita and Choquequirao: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/nov/01/peru-choquequirao-inca-ruins-trek

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/peru-tram-incan-refuge-choquequirao

https://books.openedition.org/ifea/5995?lang=en