THE SOUTHERN ANDES
THE CROWN JEWELS
They say that Machupicchu and Cusco are Peru’s crown jewels in allusion to the fact that these magical places combine and fulfill the desires of travelers from all over the world to enter a world where history has left invaluable traces and is also still living. Each year, however, more and more travelers come to Peru for a complete vision of the Andean world, not only its architecture but also its landscape and culture, in the living sense of the word: the traditions, daily life and customs of ancestral communities. Thus a tour of the southern Andes extends to include Arequipa, Colca, Puno and Lake Titicaca.

THE CITY OF CUSCO
The Quechua word Cusco means center of origin, navel. In the Inca cosmic vision this city was the genesis of all that had been created, the center of the world. This is because Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire (Tahuantinsuyo), the beginning and the end of the network of roads extending to the four corners of the Inca world, the four “suyos”. Antisuyo, Chinchaysuyo, Coyasuyo and Contisuyo. The Inca concept of the center of humanity has survived in Cusco in different forms, from the time of the ancient Peruvians to the present day. After the Spanish conquest it was one of the most important cities of the Vice regal Peru and this can be seen from the vast number of valuable religious and civil buildings that, in certain places are erected on top of Inca stone walls, a literal example of the domination established here.

Cusco is the name of one of the 24 regions into which Peru is divided politically, and Cusco is the capital of that region. Over time, the city of Cusco has become a truly cosmopolitan place where just about every know language can be heard in the hundreds of bars, cafes, restaurants and discotheques that flourish among its narrow streets and splendid squares. For proof, take a walk around Aucaypata, the mestizo Main Square surrounded by protective hills, which contains two splendid colonial-era religious monuments built upon the remains of what were palaces belonging to the Inca nobility: The Cathedral and the Church of the Company of Jesus. Half way down the street is the little Regocijo Square with colonial archways under which craftsmen from the highlands exhibit their textiles, ceramics and metalwork.

The neighborhood of San Blas, the oldest part of the city, is home to the best craftsmen in the southern Andes (Olave, Mérida, Mendivil) as well as bohemian and interesting places to stay.

The Santo Domingo complex built by the Dominicans on what was once Qorikancha (The Inca temple of the sun) contains within its Renaissance walls and vaults the treasures of two superimposed cultures. San Francisco, la Merced, San Cristobal and Santa Catalina are colonial churches built over the temples and palaces of Huayna Capac and Pachacutec in a area which, seen from above (for example from Sacsayhuaman) has the shape of a puma.
You have to get to know Cusco on foot. The best way is to set aside at least three days for your visit to Cusco to see it without rushing, together with the Inca remains surrounding the city: Sacsayhuaman, Qenqo, Pucapucara and Tambomachay.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AROUNT CUSCO
City Tour

The Cathedral.
Religious monument of extraordinary artistic value, built in the colonial time.

Koricancha. Temple of the Sun it stands out the impressive engineering used in their construction.

Sacsayhuamán
3,600 m.a,s.l.
At 2 Km. from Cusco
Impressive Inca site where you can appreciate monumental stones of excellent architecture. It presents immense walls conformed by immense stones distributed in zigzag form in three platforms that have an average 360 meters long. Stones exist of up to 9 meters long and 5 of wide.

Q’enco
3,680 m.a.s.l. Big rock carved with canals, stairs and animal figures. Considered as a ceremonial and ritual center.
Puca Pucara
3,680 m.a.s.l. At 6 Km. from Cusco. Old tambo, position of relevance along the inka roads.

Tambomachay
3,700 a.s.l.
At 7 Km. from Cusco. A quiet and mythic place where water was worshiped, place of cult to the liquid element.

THE SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS
A visit to the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba just has to include a number of places mentioned here in no particular order: Ollantaytambo with its Inca fortress built for defense against the invading Chankas and its living Inca village. If you have time climb up to Willoc, a small hamlet of weavers, to see the ancestral textile tradition of the area. Pisac, for a walk to see its archaeological ruins, as well as to go to the handicrafts market for which this village is famous. Not forgetting Maras and Moray. The soils of Maras are rich in salt and the community has made a living since time immemorial extracting it from the white slopes and terraces.
Moray was a sort of laboratory used by the Incas for research into different crops grown on circular terraces corresponding to different ecological floors.

MARAS
District of the Urubamba province, possible to be reached through a paved road from kilometer 50 on the road Cusco to Urubamba. It is located towards the west of Cusco at an altitude of 3300 mts. (10824 feet); over a plain that in prehistoric times was a huge plateau, from which it is possible to observe the range of mountains of Urubamba including the snow capped mountains of Weqey Willka (today "La Veronica", 5682 mts., 18641 ft.) and " Chikon" (5530 mts., 18143 ft.). The town was founded in colonial times by Pedro Ortiz de Orue. It was declared “Villa of Saint Francis of Assis of Maras" (Villa: city or town that had certain privileges). By that time it had much more importance than the Urubamba settlement; but, today it is a town that languishes due to its isolation and development of modern life. It has a church made with sun dried mud bricks, typical of the village religious architecture, in which front patio is a cross carved in granite. Inside the church are Cusquenian school canvases representing the Apostles, and some other very nice ones, the artist being Quechua painter Antonio Sinchi Roqa Inka. He was native from Maras and painted carefully for its church; he was contemporary of Bishop Mollinedo y Angulo and became famous by the middle of XVII century.
The Maras "salt works" to which some people call "salt mines" are constituted by about 3000 small pools with an average area of 5 m² (53.8 ft²), constructed in a slope of the "Qaqawiñay" mountain. People fill up or "irrigate" the pools during the dry season every 3 days, with salty water emanating from a natural spring located on the top of the complex, so that when water evaporates the salt contained in it will slowly solidify. That process will be carried out approximately during one month until a considerable volume of solid salt is obtained; about 10 cms. (4 inches) high from the floor. That solid salt is beaten thus granulated, then packed in plastic sacks and sent to the region's markets; today that salt began being treated with iodine, thus, its consumption is not harmful.

MORAY
About 7 kms. (4.3 miles) away southwest from Maras is Moray a very unique archaeological site in the region. It is possible to reach it by car through the dusty road and the path departing from the town. Those are enormous natural depressions or hollows in the ground surface that Inkas used for constructing irrigated farming terraces around them. What is surprising is that the difference of average annual temperature between the top and the bottom reaches even about 15°C (59°F) in the main depression that is about 30 mts (100 feet) deep. In those natural formations, nature has created an environment, conditions or micro climates that in modern times people create in greenhouses or hothouses. Moray because of its climate conditions and many other characteristics was an important center of domestication, acclimatization and hybridization of wild vegetable species that were modified or adapted for human consumption.

THE INCA ROAD TO MACHUPICCHU
Between the km 88 marker and the railroad linking Cusco with the village of Aguas Calientes, is a trek that is considered one of the most attractive routes on earth. This the Inca trail to Machupicchu, a pilgrimage for ancient Peruvians, which took them to the city of Machupicchu. This trail, 28 miles long, was a way of reaching the Inca city which demanded great stamina on a path made of granite and quartz along which were buildings designed for different purposes (lodging, farming, meditation, worship, vigilance) as well as plants and animals; an incredible variation in climate, enchanting scenery, skies and atmospheric phenomena capable of making a man realize his own insignificance and, at the end, the magical, unforgettable sight of Machupicchu seen from above, silhouetted against the sky as tranquil as a cultural kingdom fully integrated with that of nature. In other words, a holistic, cosmic vision of the road, its destination and the environment.

Arriving at Machupicchu after walking the Inca trail cannot be compared with the road up from Aguas Calientes. proof of this is the fact that 70,000 travelers make the trek every year from Qoriwayrachina to the Sacred City and, with blistered feet and short of breath, feel that more than a simple tourist experience they have passed through something existential.

MACHUPICCHU THE SACRED CITY OF THE INCAS.
Machupicchu is one of the world’s most valuable historic jewels and is without doubt an icon representing the grandeur of these ancient Peruvians. The complex is located at the foot of a mountain called Machupicchu, which in Quechua means “ancient hill”. Before it rises the majestic peak of Huaynapicchu (“young hill”). The river Vilcanota flows some 1,300 feet below.
Machupicchu was built when the reign of Pachacutec was at its zenith, perhaps for recreational purposes and the cult of the emperor, although its exact function is not known for certain. There are two well-defined zones in the Inca citadel: the agricultural and the urban; separated, in turn, into a religious area and secular one. The urban area of the city, as with all Inca cities, is separated into two areas: Hanan and Urin, high and low. Each one of these parts is in turn subdivided into two, a rural and an urban zone. Most of the ceremonial buildings are found in the upper or Hanan zone.

The complex was discovered in 1911 by American expedition leader Hiram Bingham, whose name for his find had more to do with fantasy than scientific rigor. Even today, guides use the terms invented by Bingham, such as the “military fortress” the “king’s group”, “the temple of the three windows” or Intiwatana, although the exact purpose of these buildings has never been determined, thus contributing to the mystery of Machupicchu.

Today the diversity of people visiting Machupicchu makes it one of the most cosmopolitan places on earth. Ninety three years after its discovery, both the city and the Inca trail attract travelers from all over the planet. Currently more than 350 000 people visit the sanctuary aver year. For this reason, a visit to Machupicchu should be not only an opportunity to make contact with an amazing natural and cultural testimony to humanity, but also a renewal of ones commitment towards a unique historical treasure.

ORCHIDS OF MACHUPICCHU
The missing orchids of the lost city of the Inca can still return.
With more than 250 species registered in its forests, the Sanctuary of Machu picchu is an enormous botanical garden where the orchids are the stars. Their shapes and colors are a challenge to the imagination, from minuscule jewels of some millimeters of longitude, until big clusters several meters high. Because here there are many for all the likes.

The orchids of Machu picchu have a promising future. Besides being object of fascination, these flowers can become an effective means to promote the conservation of the mountain forest, task in which we are committed.

From 1988 a rescue center settled down for native plants in Machupicchu, being its main objective the one of identifying, to classify and to reinsert the species more threatened in natural facilities where the tourists could appreciate them at the time that they acquired conscience of its importance, designing this way a network of trails to facilitate their visit, accompanied by local guides.

ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS OF 01 DAY

Mornig: Train Cusco to Aguas Calientes (Machupicchu)
Transfer and accommodation in the Hotel
Afternoon: Visit guided to the forest of orchids
Night: Medicinal hot spring in Aguas Calientes

"The second day you can make the visit of the Archaeological Park of Machupicchu inside the program Classic Cusco.

CHOQUEQUIRAO, GOLDEN CRADLE
Choquequirao is the name of a hill in the foothills of mount Yanama, the last peak in the spectacular Salkantay range as it merges into the jungles of the southern Andes. This name, given to a hill and an Inca fortress, means Golden Cradle. It is high, 4,900 feet above sea level. It is on the boundary between the departments of Cusco and Apurimac.

Choquequirao was where the Inca elite exercised their power after it was occupied around 1410. Its glory days were during the government of Pachacutec (the ninth Inca) and his son Tupac Yupanqui (tenth Inca) between 1471 and 1493. The fortress grew, in accordance with its different objectives by groups of buildings over an area of approximately twenty five acres. Twelve sectors have so far been identified, built on platforms. This fortress has many elements in common not only with Machupicchu, but with Pisac and Ollantaytambo as well.

One of the principal attractions of the fortress of Choquequirao is the 19 miles walk you must undertake from Cachora to reach it. Cachora is in Apurimac and is reached on the paved Cusco to Abancay road.

LOCATION
Choquequirao is located at an altitude of 3103 meters above sea level, it occupies both banks of the Apurimac River.
This amazing cultural and natural complex comprise areas of the departments of Cusco and Apurimac, situated in a strategic zone among the Andean mountains and the Jungle.

CLIMATE
Its considered as a region of Andean valleys with prescence of deep canyons from 1,300 to 5,000 m.a.s.l. In the Apurimac river.
The complex is characterized by a dense vegetation and a Sub-tropical landscape.
Its temperature is around 12°C with sunny days and cold nights due to be located close of snowy mountains.

FLORA AND FAUNA
The location of this site at the foot of the mountains made of this archaelogical complex a place with abundant vegetation due to the filtering of water by the land.
In this place there are big threes such us the cedar, varied medicinal plants, orchids and bromeliads.
The Climatic conditions allow the development of a varied fauna such us: bears, deers, wild pumas and soon besides the spectacled birds such us the Andean condor and many species of hamming birds.

INTI RAYMI OR SUN PARTY
In the Inca times the most important parties coincided with the astronomical events, Such us Solstices, equinoxes, which were celebrated in all the cities and small towns, but in Cusco took place the most amazing party, because it was the Capital of he empire, considered as the center or navel of the Andean World.
Among all the parties, it was the most important, made in honor to the sun, because the Sun was the maximum visible expression of the creation, origin and Source of life itself. It used to begin during the winter solstice.


Since 1944 a initiative of Mr. Humberto Vidal Unda and the American Institute of Art was established as the main day of this celebration June 24.
At the present this dramatization takes place in the plain of Sacsayhuaman, all the actors begin to walk from the Qorikancha or Sun Temple to Sacsayhuaman where thousands of spectators occupy seats which belong to the same archeological Site, sometimes there are more than 100.00 spectators.