Exotic Adventures

CHOKEK’IRAW means "Cradle of gold", this main Inca city like the famous Machu picchu perched on a high ridge overlooking one of the two great sacred rivers, that rush downward to the Amazon. Chokek’iraw is three times higher above the river, 6000 feet in all, than Machupicchu and it is twice bigger in extension than Machu picchu. Archaeologist G. Ziegler called it Machu pichu’s sacred sister. Important Inca sites with sacred geography places are located in a vast area that remains basically unmapped and unexplored; Chokek’iraw emerges like one of the most important places. A major city maintaining vestiges of Inca tradition, religion and statehood out of reach of Spanish authorities; with a major Inca road connected to Vitcos and Vilcabamba (Last quarter of the Inca resistance). Compelled by brittle metamorphic rock that constitutes the principal building material in the zone a distinctive architectural style differing from that of Machupicchu and the Cusco area was developed here. The central area presents complexes of carefully constructed stone ceremonial buildings associated with fountains, baths and canals. An artificially truncated prominence near the principal plaza served as a ritual stage and celestial observatory affording sighting to six snow-caped peaks considered sacred to ancient Peruvians. The approaches are dominated by massive stone-walled agricultural terraces and other areas contain compounds of several store houses and storied dwellings. Remnants of a temple and an Inca urban settlement near Choquekiraw indicate the presence of a considerable population. Evidence suggests that Chokek’iraw was continuously inhabited and that manufacture continued after the arrival of the Spaniards. Chokek’iraw appears to have been abandoned unnoticed by colonial establishment. Although Peruvian authorities have begun restoration and preservation programs only limited archaeological excavation has yet been undertaken.