Hatunrumiyoc and the Twelve Angle Stone

The origins of the magnificent ruins of a building that we call Hatunrumiyoc are lost in time. Built with huge polygonal stones, cut and fitted with exceptional precision, it is one of the most impressive structures of ancient Cusco. Its imposing walls hide a number of surprises, from the famous 12-Angle Stone, to shapes of local animals built into the structure itself.

July 13, 2009 | Archaeology, Cusco Guide, History

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Lost city of Cerro Azul

When the Incas arrived in the Cañete valley they found it fiercely defended by the Guarco (Huarco) people who lived there. It took future emperor Túpac Yupanqui years to subdue them, even going as far as to temporarily recreate the imperial capital of Cusco nearby as a base to attack from, moving the empire’s army there in the process. There were Huarco fortresses dotted across the fertile valley, and these fiercely defensive people had 20,000 warriors at their disposal, reading to die for their freedom – but life for the Huarco wasn’t always like this.

April 27, 2009 | Archaeology, Lima City Guide

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Conquest of the Huarco of the Cañete Valley

Six centuries have now passed since the young Túpac Yupanqui, chief commander of the victorious army of his father the grand Inca Pachacútec, set eyes on this extensive green valley for the first time from the dry desert hills above, the valley that today is called Cañete. Strategically allied with the Chincha further south and the local rulers of what is now a town called Asia further north, perhaps the young Inca thought the conquest of the prosperous Guarco (Huarco) people would be simple.

September 3, 2008 | Archaeology, History

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Did the Incas explore the Pacific?

There has long been evidence, most of it barely investigated, that Andean peoples and Polynesian peoples have had contact various times in their pre-Columbian pasts. It has even been suggested that people arrived in South America from Polynesia – evidence of human activity in Chile from a time before humans were supposed to have crossed the Bearing Straits has been found.

August 15, 2008 | Archaeology, History

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Chinchero

Chinchero is a bustling market town on Sunday and a sleepy Andean village the rest of the week.

Other than the market, and the stunning views of the grassy plains and icy mountains that surround the area, the main attraction is a colonial adobe church built on the foundations of an Inca palace for late-15th-century Tupac Yupanki, in what was once an Inca city.

November 14, 2006 | Cusco Guide

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