“How high is this hike?” I asked as I climbed the mountain path, out of breath. The summit seemed so far away.
“12,0000 feet,” our guide Efrain said cheerfully as he and others from the Amazonas Explorers office glided down the trail. “But it will soon level out!” He added with some encouragement.
I was skeptical.
When I first contacted Amazonas about hiking Machu Picchu, I asked to choose a route off the beaten path that could be completed in one day. After all, there is a lot to choose from in the Sacred Valley. The Incas built over 40,000 kilometers of roads throughout their empire, many of which became hiking trails.
The full-day hike we chose involved less travel than other excursions and took us to an archaeological site called Huchuy Qosqo (“Little Cusco” in Quechua). It starts an hour from Taucca, a small town outside Cusco, and heads over the mountains, through beautiful valleys filled with abandoned villages and Inca ruins, and over ridges to the final destination, Huchuy Qosqo.
Starting from the village, we hiked straight to our first stop. We were at the highest altitude of my life (higher than Machu Picchu), and despite being in the area for a week, I found myself wheezing and needing to take frequent breaks while climbing the mountain. Fortunately, the sky was cloudy, blocking out the sun, and a gentle breeze kept me cool.
However, the frequent stops made it easier to enjoy the surrounding scenery. The higher we climbed, the better views we got of the land below and the surrounding mountains. Not much grows at this altitude and the barren, dry landscape reminded me of the plains of Wyoming and hiking in Tongariro, New Zealand. There were endless rugged mountains, and beneath them were villages and farms.
“The lake in front of the village is part of a hydroelectric dam,” Efrain said. “Most of the people here are farmers, mostly people who sell potatoes to local markets. There are larger farms elsewhere in the valley that export the food we buy in the United States.”
After the first trail marker (actually a telephone pole marking the first stop) the trail flattened out a bit and I ended up having a deep conversation about food with Patrice, one of the Amazonas employees. Since she lived in the United States, we discussed the quality of food in Peru and the United States. (She thought Peruvian food was better because it was less processed. It was hard to disagree.)
“All the foods we call superfoods and spend a lot of money on, we just call them food. We’ve been eating them since Inca times.”
As we made our way across the dry expanse, the road followed what seemed to be the remnants of valleys, but became more mountainous. The road began to slope gently downward, trees and flowers began to appear, and the foundations of ancient Inca walls and buildings that had long since disappeared began to appear. Soon we found an almost abandoned village with collapsed mud structures and caved-in straw roofs.
Villages like this are common throughout the region where people live self-sufficient lives. But as young people move to the cities, they are dying out, and most of the buildings remain in various states of disrepair. Efrain said only a few families remain in the community. The only people we saw the entire time were two women in traditional clothing herding goats.
At the end of the village we found the old Inca guard post described by Efrain. There we stopped for lunch near a small waterfall and watched the female goats grazing in front of us. We were all enjoying our meals.
After a meal and a lively discussion about Westerners coming to Peru for ayahuasca ceremonies, and how they don’t always incorporate a spiritual essence, but just want to get high, we continued through the ancient Inca gate leading to the final part of the Huchuy Qosqo trek.
“This was probably a military security office.” Efrain explained as we walked through it and down a set of steps into the canyon. “Such structures were used to protect the people inside the canyon and to keep track of headcounts to ensure there was enough food for everyone. The Incas were great counters and conducted detailed censuses to ensure food supplies.”
I couldn’t help but be overcome with joy as we followed the path and a small river flowing from the waterfall where we had made our lunch stop. I was having the best day of my trip to Peru. Machu Picchu and the trek there were very special, but this trip felt even more special. The scenery was fantastic, we got a glimpse into rural life and traditional clothing, and we were the only people on the trail, which made the trek feel even more special.
Efrain pointed out old Incan stone terraces as we walked along the road, which eventually widened to reveal the beginnings of the Sacred Valley. I was surprised because I hadn’t noticed that the “canyon” we were walking through suddenly dropped steeply. I thought we were slowly descending into the foothills, but we were still thousands of feet above the valley floor!
After viewing the valley, we continued across the Inca terraces lining the mountain walls towards Huchuy Qosqo. I’m always amazed at how they transformed this place, adding underground water paths, irrigation systems and stairs to move between terraces. Food grown here would have fed not only Huchuy Qosqo but also the surrounding region.
We entered the ruined city through an old gate. Little is known about Huchuy Qosqo, but the records we have indicate that it was the home of the Inca ruler Viracocha. Viracocha was exiled here after his youngest son, Pachacuti, won a decisive victory against his father’s rebels.
After the battle, Pachacuti declared himself king, and his father spent the last days of his life at Huchuy Qosqo, which was also one of the last settlements built with mud-covered stone walls (Pachacuti decided to begin building the famous stone walled Incan structures we are familiar with today). After the fall of the Inca Empire, it was eventually raided and used by the Spaniards, and most of the building was destroyed in 1534.
Like the rest of the trail, we were the only people on site besides the security guard. We didn’t stay long as the site wasn’t as impressive as our trip there. And I was tired and ready to go back to Cusco.
We gathered our fellow hikers and began our descent down the mountain. A series of steep switchbacks brought us knee-deep to the actual bottom of the canyon where the driver picked us up.
“What an amazing hike!” I shouted on the way back.
I had a big smile on my face as I looked out the window at the villages passing by. This hike was my favorite experience in Peru, and with only two days left in Peru, I was happy to leave, feeling like I had to do something special.
How to Hike to Little Cusco
You can go with a guide or on your own, but I don’t recommend the latter. You can easily take a taxi from Cusco to the starting point and a bus back from the end, but the trail is difficult to find (sometimes it disappears, especially at the starting point) and there are absolutely no signs anywhere. Huchuy Qosqo also has no signs explaining what you are seeing, the scenery or the history of the site. If you want some context, you need a guide. Like Machu Picchu, I took the Amazonas Explorer.
memo: Apply sunscreen! I rode hot and returned to the hotel. The lobster is not as red as I am. It was cloudy and rainy so I forgot to put on sunscreen and couldn’t feel the sun, but the UV rays were so strong at this altitude that I paid the price. Don’t be like me!
Book a Trip to Peru: Logistics Tips and Tricks
flight reservation
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