Qenko

Qenko Review

It may be a fairly serene location these days, but Qenko, which means "zigzag" was once the site of one of the Incas' most intruging and potentially macabre rituals. Named after the zig-zagging channels carved into the surface, Qenko is a large rock thought to have been the site of an annual preplanting ritual in which priests standing on the top poured chicha, or llama blood, into a ceremonial pipe, allowing it to make its way down the channel. If the blood flowed left, it boded poor fertility for the coming season. If the liquid continued the full length of the pipe, it spelled a bountiful harvest. Today you won't see any blood, but the carved channels still exist and you can climb to the top to see how they zigzag their way down. Other symbolic carvings mix it up on the rockface too—the eagle-eyed might spot a puma, condor, and a llama.