Choquequirao--has anyone visited?
 

The New york times travel section has an article on Choquequirao, the "other Machu pichu." It sounds fascinating. Has anyone been there?

I wish - it sounded wonderful!

would you post the link??
Haven't heard of the other Macchu Picchu...

The New York times story is at
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/06/03...amp;ei=5087%0A

trying again....

I've just returned from three weeks in Peru with my 23 year old son. We did two hikes, while we were there, the Inka Trail and the five day out-and-back to Choquequirao. I was inspired by the NYT travel article mentioned here to visit the "other" Machu Picchu.

The hike is a bit tougher than the Inka Trail -- two days have about 5000 feet elevation gain, but unlike the Inka trail, there are no steps, only switchbacks, which is a bit easier on the old knees.

Choquequirao is, like Machu Picchu, in a jaw-dropping-ly beautiful location. Surrounded by mountains, with the Apurimac River below. For the purists out there, I would imagine Choquequirao is not as historically satisfying, since vast portions of it have been rebuilt, unlike Machu Picchu. But for us the opportunity to roam about a huge site with no other people there (we saw one group of four and one of two the entire day we were there) made it really special. The site extends on both sides of a saddle connecting two higher peaks. Aside from an hour or so stop for lunch back at the campsite, we spent the entire day, till dark fell at 6 pm or so, in the ruins. It was a terrific day.

There is a trail connecting Choquequirao to Aguas Calientes, and we met some people doing that. They had just rented mules and a guide in Cachora (starting point for the hike), but we had booked ahead with a Peruvian-owned operator, Qente. (We also used them for the Inka Trail). I highly recommend this company -- everything went off without a hitch.

The guard at the entrance told us that they were expecting 20,000 people to visit Choquequirao this year, but that seems ridiculously overstated since the only way there is on foot. And there's only one campsite, with room for no more than 40 people, I'd guess. There is some governmental interest in building a road, but I think there's a fair amount of opposition. So for now, it is definitely off the beaten path!

Thanks for posting about your experiences. We were just talking about Choquequirao the other day--it is definitely a trip our family would like to try

lreynold1, that sounds like a wonderful experience! Would you have photos to share?

Also, could you ride the mule in/out for portion of the time? Don't know if I could last 5 days walking. :)

Hi, JC,
Here's a link to my (way too many) pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/Peru08

There are pictures of our whole trip, which means Cusco and environs, Inka Trail and Choquequirao, and Lake Titicaca.

I think you might be able to rent a mule to ride on the Choquequirao trip. If you don't go with a tour operator, you can rent mules and hire guides yourselves in Cachora, the town where the trail starts. Mules cost about 10 soles (about $3.75) a day, and guides are 30. But then of course you have to have your own tents, food, cooking equipment, etc.

Thanks for the photo link! The Choquequirao area looks very nice. We'll consider it whenever we get to come to Peru again...

BTW, you might be interested in the book called _The White Rock_ by Hugh Thomson. It's a great book for prepping for Peru, and I remember he talked about Choquequirao quite a bit too.