The previous day on the final walk to the campsite we bumped into three archaeologists who were working at the site. Chris mentioned to them another site near the ruins of Choquequirao, but from the Chachapoyas culture, which he wanted to see as well. These ruins were discovered by this guy called Hugh Thomson, a contemporary British documentary filmmaker who also happened to write a book called ¨The White Rock¨ detailing his adventures near Cuzco looking for lost Incan ruins in the 1980´s and 90´s. This book had kind of become our bible for the trip. It was incredibly inspiring, and just the thing to pique our interest to hit the trail. Anyway, these ruins were a bit too far for us to reach, but there were some newly discovered terraces behind Choquequirao that he could show us. They were called ¨llamas.¨ Our guide, Ali, promised to take us there the next day.
So after waking up, and having a nice warm cup of tea, we headed on up to the site. I ran ahead, and jumped up on one of the long terraces (not the previously mentioned ones) that sit below the ruins, pushing itself out of the forest. This led to the main plaza, which had two roofless houses each consisting of four walls, and another roofless rectangular building with niches in place of windows on the inside. These had already been restored, and were thoroughly cleaned up, and set on top of a nicely mowed lawn of grass. I was able to have about a half an hour of time by myself to just sit there, get a feel for the site, and take it all in. This alone made the hike worth the hardship. Its moments like these when I allow myself to indulge in my selfishness, and my desire to have the whole place to only my own self. In five years time, this, like at Machu Picchu, may never again be possible. The buildings were all well constructed, and a pleasure to look at. Unlike at Machu Picchu, the stones here had spaces between them, and often used some kind of mortar like material to hold everything together.
After a bit the rest of my group showed up, and we walked around the back of the buildings to a path leading down the other side of the mountain. It was tough to convince ourselves to go down yet another steep path, but the excitement of seeing something new was enough motivation to get us down there. Once we arrived we saw sets of around 10 terraces built from stones in a style completely different than that of the incas. These were much more crudely built, and the stones were all flat and placed vertically, very different from typical Incan style. But the most interesting thing was the llama designs decorating each terrace. These were made of white stone, which contrasted with the gray stones of the rest of terrace. It was similar to a mosaic. Incan architecture has relatively little adornment, so these llamas really stood out. It was the first time that our guide Ali ever saw these ruins before, and we all shared in his excitement at the find. Who built them? Why? As they were only discovered two years ago, the archaeologists have just started to figure it all out, and it will be interesting to keep up with the new findings over the coming years.
After getting back to Cuzco we all had a celebratory drink at the renowned pub on the plaza de armas, ¨The Cross Keys¨. Many a writer and explored traveling through Cuzco has had a drink at this famous British pub, and it didn’t feel like a surprise to see Gary Ziegler, one of the most important historians to write about Choquequirao, there. He was hanging out with a group of friends, dressed in a plaid jacket just like the picture I had seen of him before. None of us felt like interrupting his conversation and introducing ourselves, so we left it at that, but what a cool way to end the trip. After the bar we went to a local restaurant for a meal of guinea pig, the official food of Cuzco. It was as nasty as I thought it would be, but I am glad I tried it. Very little meat, and you have to look at the head, mouth, eyes, feet, before peeling away the skin to get to anything nice. I nearly gagged, which is rare for me.
So now I am in Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. I spent three days getting here passing through the towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo to see their respective ruins before taking train here this morning. The altitude is about 1000 meters lower than in Cuzco, and it is much more green and warm. I am definitely enjoying the change. It actually kind of reminds me of Japan a bit, and I think that is why I like it here so far. The only thing left for me to do is take it easy, get a good nights sleep, and head on up to M.P. tomorrow morning.
The Best of Both Worlds 
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