Without Machu Picchu you’ll enjoy the trip of a lifetime

SPECIAL: PERU WITHOUT MACHU PICCHU – Machu Picchu is closed. It will stay that way through all of February at the very least. Do you have your flights booked and are wondering what to do next? Should you cancel or put off your trip to Cuzco?

February 4, 2010 | Travel and Places

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Arequipa is not all canyons and volcanoes, it has beaches too!

This Arequipa leaves behind its snow, its dormant volcanoes and its colonial splendour. It is more humble, much warmer and lets the sea bathe its naked shores that are still untouched by modern man – privilege of few places. Welcome to the beaches of Caravelí, among them, Puerto Inka.

January 21, 2010 | Arequipa Guide

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Torrential rains in Cusco damage Inca wall at Sacsayhuamán

Heavy rains have not only affected Lima this year, what is traditionally the start of the Andean wet-season has also seen rains heavier than usual, some even damaging ancient walls at the Inca site of Sacsayhuamán.

January 14, 2010 | Archaeology, News

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Four ceremonial fountains discovered at Machu Picchu

The Incas possessed what was the culmination of all Andean hydraulic engineering knowledge developed over millennia by the civilisations that came before them. This knowledge is said by experts to have been far superior to that of the Spanish who conquered them and wiped it out for ever. As good a place as any to witness the evidence of their impressive skills is at Machu Picchu, and it is at this famous site that yet more discoveries have been made.

December 7, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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Last descendant of Inca Pachacútec honoured in Cusco

Authorities in Cusco’s San Jerónimo district have bestowed the municipal medal on an 86-year-old woman who is the last descendant of Inca Pachacutec, the greatest ruler of the Inca Empire in ancient Peru. Isabel Atayupanqui Pachacútec received the medal from the hands of local mayor Adolfo Zúñiga in a special ceremony held Monday morning in the Andean city of Cusco.

Pachacutec, whose given name was Cusi Yupanqui, was the first Inca to expand beyond the valley of Cusco after his epic victory over the Chancas.

November 18, 2009 | Culture & History, News

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Severed heads among discovery at Sacsayhuamán

Above the Inca capital of Cusco (Q’osco) sits the important ceremonial site and one of human-kinds most impressive constructions called Sacsayhuamán, which despite its global fame still offers up secrets to investigators. Yesterday the discovery was announced of three burials, one of which contained the severed heads of the Inca’s enemies.

November 13, 2009 | Archaeology, News, Opinion

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Twelve Cañaris tombs discovered in Lambayeque

Félix López Reyes has spent a large part of his life guarding the 35 hectares that he owns half way up El Gallo in the mountainous border region between Lambayeque and Piura, 2500 metres above sea level and 8 hours walk from El Sauce in the district of Cañaris in the province of Ferreñafe. However, it wasn’t until very recently that he realised that on his property was something more valuable to guard than his coffee beans and cows. Here a discovery has been made that may help us learn more about the Cañaris people.

October 23, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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Ollantaytambo: A living breathing Inca town

This pretty little town in the Andes is different from all the others. It may be set among beautiful mountainous scenery like all the others, be populated by indigenous locals going about their daily business like all the others, be pleasantly quiet like all the others and be surrounded by ancient ruins like all the [...]

September 18, 2009 | Archaeology, Cusco Guide

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Salineras de Maras – “Inca Salt Pans”

It was getting late. The sun had just dipped behind the mountains that tower over the Urubamba valley and the town of the same name. The salt pans outside the town of Maras, some way above Urubamba, were just within a reasonable distance to travel. So with no plans to come back to Urubamba any time soon, it was worth a shot to reach them.

August 25, 2009 | Cusco Guide

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Terraces of Moray

Some say Moray was an Inca laboratory used to test how different crops would perform at different temperatures. Others say it was a more of a nursery where crops were bred and cross-bred, varieties created and new foreign crops tested. A third group say it was just an ingenious means to grow warmer climate maíz or corn in the local cold climate. Whoever is right, this archaeological site of concentric circles of terraced farms, forming craters in the landscape, are a fascinating sight to behold.

August 5, 2009 | Archaeology, Cusco Guide

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The revolt of Túpac Amaru II

Born José Gabriel Condorcanqui in 1742, he was the great-grandson of the last Inca emperor Túpac Amaru. Like his great-grandfather before him, he was destined to resist the Spanish occupation, and, like his great-grandfather before him, was destined to meet the same fate.

July 29, 2009 | Culture & History, Opinion

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Across from Ollantaytambo

When I first visited the ruins of Ollantaytambo, I saw the Inca store houses up on the other side of the valley across the town. There’s no way I could have climbed up there back then, I was just too exhausted. I figured I’d visit them “next time”, whenever that would be. A couple of years passed, and “next time” finally came.

July 21, 2009 | Archaeology, Cusco Guide, Opinion

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