Choquequirao
Choquequirao means “cradle of gold” in Quechua although this is probably not its original Inca name. It is another “lost city of the Incas” located high on a ridge spur almost 1750m above the raging glacier-fed Apurimac River and surrounded by towering snow-capped peaks.
The US explorer Gary Ziegler suggests that Choquequirao treks may have been the place where the last Inca, Tupac Amaru, was raised among Inca Priestesses. The abundance of many double jamb doorways and niches indicates that the place was held in high status.
Choquequirao wasfirst visited and described to the western world by a French explorer during the 18th century. Hiram Bingham visited the site in 1910.
This was his first experience of “lost cities” prior to his discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911.
The remoteness and inaccessibility of Choquequirao
have discouraged visitors until fairly recently when COPESCO
constructed a footbridge over the Apurimac River below the ruins. Even
today the ruins are still rarely visited although, with the enforcement
of new regulations on the Inca Trail, Choquequirao treks is destined to replace the traditional hike as the serious trekker’s alternative.
