A Meeting in Marcahuasi

Foreign Writers and Marcahuasi

2011-12-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

It isn't as simple as just trawling through the books of Erich Von Daniken, Rodolfo Benavides, Charles Berlitz and Peter Kolosimo. These writers gave a lot about their investigations and publications that, despite their age, continue under the classification of esoteric, unexplainable mysteries, disappeared civilizations, mysticism, and the presence of extraterrestrials on Earth; topics that hold us hostage due to the mystery of the unknown. In many works these writers do however mention Marcahuasi.

From August 1952, when Daniel Ruzo travelled to the plateau of Marcahuasi for the first time, he described this place throughout Peru and in many parts of the world through conferences, and in leaflets and books written by this pioneer of the plateau. Due to this diffusion of information, many foreign writers mentioned Marcahuasi in their books.

The Mexican writer Rodolfo Benavides, in his book "Dramatic prophecies of the big pyramid" (34th edition), in page 33, "chapter II - The fantastic that is confused with the real" says
"In the altiplano of Marcahuasi, in the peaks of the Andes at 3800m above sea level, there are figures of humans and animals (some the predecesors of mammals) sculpted into the rocks, corresponding to the second age. And not just that, there are also statues of lions, camels and tortoise. All of that, in a context where they believed that such species were unknown in America. It has been impossible to say the age of these monuments by carbon(14) dating*."

* Carbon(14) dating is a method designed to determine the age of rock, though not the only method known.

They mention in their books that in the plateau of Marcahuasi there are lions, camels, tortoise and elephants. Why don't they publish photos?

Erich Von Daniken, polemic and well-discussed writer about the extraterrestrial phenomenon, in his book "Memories for the future" on page 123 says "At an altitude of 3800 metres above sea level, in some rocks of the deserted plateau of Marcahuasi they found some drawings of animals that didn't exist in South America 10000 years ago; camels and lions"*

* The information about Marcahuasi is here in the petrified sculptures, Mr Daniken, you still have the opportunity to grapple with this mystery, "we await you".

The Monument to Humanity, the principle sculpture on the plateau, and they don't mention it. The sculptures of animals and humans are of the same age!

"Memories for the future" was published in more than 44 editions and in different languages, mentioning that they found "drawings" in Marcahuasi, an error that not even the aliens would forgive. In other books by the same author he mentions the sacred mountain.

In 1979 Charles Berlitz published the book "The Bermuda Triangle"; an investigator of UFOs and mysteries, and often criticized for this book. On page 223 of the book, chapter 8 "Surprises of the prehistoric" cites "In the plateau of Marcahuasi, near Kenko, Peru. There are huge rock workings, and in some cases there are slopes that have been changed by the carvings. The preincan works, despite finding themselves crumbling from uncountable centuries, can be identified as lions, horses, camels and elephants, none of which are known to have existed during the ages of civilisation in South America".

Millions of people that read "The Bermuda Triangle" have erroneous information due to Charles Berlitz, by writing that Marcahuasi is found "near Kenko" (Cuzco)! There is a property called Marcahuasi, in the district of Mollepata (province of Anta) with Inca ruins, but there are no carvings of lions, horses, camels or elephants!

The book "Spaceships in Pre-history" by the journalist Peter Kolosimo, that in the 1970s was a revelation for his investigations, publications and exploring of the mysteries, in page 92 chapter III "The children of the moon" writes this of Marcahuasi :
"In Marcahuasi, the enigmatic deserted plateau, at an altitude of 3800 metres in Peru, at the west of the Andes mountain chain, Daniel Ruzo has found sculptures that represent extinct species that lived up from 195 to 130 millions of years ago, figures of elephants, oxen, and horses, animals that didn't exist in America in the times of Christopher Columbus' discovery."

Anfichelidia, as it was named by Daniel Ruzo, an animal that disappeared thousand of years ago, but not millions. You can find it near the five lakes.

To cite that Marcahuasi lies to the west of the Andes mountain range, knowing that this goes from the south to the north of Peru, lacks precision and that Daniel Ruzo found extinct species that lived 195 to 130 millions of years ago is nothing fantastic, not even a millionaires realism. Rest in peace, in some spaceship Peter Kolosimo.

The plateau of Marcahuasi is located in the district of San Pedro de Casta, in the province of Huarochiri, 90 kilometres east of Lima, the Peruvian capital. It is at an altitude of 4000 metres above sea level. Charles Berlitz ... please inform yourself, in the next life!

There are many foreign writers that mention Marcahuasi, like Jacques Bergier, Louis Powell, Reais Pire etc, but they don't go further than the well known fact. Consequently the sacred mountain continues being a mystery, and the reader continues seeing through a small Peruvian hole a series of sculptures that survive the inclemencies of the weather, defying human intelligence.

Daniel Ruzo, in his book "Marcahuasi, the fantastic history of a discovery" (the Marcahuasian bible) thanks Jacques Bergier, Louis Powell for the praise that they heaped on him in their books. But what of the other writers ?

Rodolfo Benavides, Erich Von Daniken, Charles Berlitz and Peter Kolosimo, ... lovers of mystery, disappeared civilisations, and the presence of aliens on earth, ... they all need to become reconciled with the petrified forest for writing about Marcahuasi without even having visited it! Knowing, as they do, that here the mystery is so strong. What happened? without them all being explorers of ... of what exactly? Didn't they want to visit, or weren't they able, or was it the ambition to publish book after book with titles that are each time more suggestive, they got confused in the nebula of their own vested interests.

We arrive at Marcahuasi in search of "something", and we return without knowing why. This photography, that the writers of the mystery ignored, and Ruzo never saw, but he did predict it.

The truth is that these authors published millions of books, in many languages, with citations about Marcahuasi and about Daniel Ruzo, but they never made any observation of their own. Why was that?

Conclusion : There is so much charm and so much mystery in Marcahuasi and they wrote nothing of note, just a citation re-worded or cloned.

Next Post: An English "Lord" in Marcahuasi.
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

An ex-President and I in Marcahuasi

2011-05-25T03:31:00.000-07:00

I've still not digested totally the coup of the 5th of April 1992. Similarly I've still don't understand totally the acts of the terrorists, military forces, and the Peruvian government ... but I'm not going to write about that, but instead about my meeting with a Peruvian president on the 28th of June 1992 on the plateau in Marcahuasi.

The 90's was when I most visited the sacred mountain. I went up with the hope of meeting Daniel Ruzo, Rosario Olivas Weston or his sister Marcela, who I did actually meet. I never imagined I would find the Peruvian head of state.

San Pedro de Casta was ready to celebrate another anniversary, and the preparations for dancing, eating and drinking were well received by the happy people who arrived, and by the tourists also. Very few backpackers went up to the plateau and we were amongst the few. We camped in the Hut (of Ruzo) alone; when I say alone obviously we always had the company of the Monument to Humanity with us.

The day after (28th of June) I got up very early to take in some of the views near the Hut and, when the photographic search was over, we started to prepare a delicious breakfast-lunch, and then we went to rest alongside "the Chinese", "the Llama" and "the Soldier" (petrified sculptures) ...

This aircraft perhaps scared Soctacure and the Monument to Humanity. For us it raised the question "who is it?"

The morning was warm, clean and quiet. The astral god slowly warmed the rocks, the peace was infinite ... when suddenly we heard a noise that was growing, encircling the plateau. A rowdy noise that seemed to be nearing, and then leaving, or that is how it felt from the position where we found ourselves. The peace that Marcahuasi freely gifts us was broken.

"There!, there it is! It's a helicopter!" we shouted in unison, while it overflew the Hut and returned to the south of the plateau, repeating this several times. They gave us time to arm our cameras, and to ask "Who is it?"

The aircraft made many passes over the plateau, a new way to visit and to arrive at Marcahuasi, and to view it from the sky was a real privilege for whoever was aboard. I've seen the aerial photos of the plateau, published by Daniel Ruzo, but there are no photos of sculptures taken from above.

At one point I thought it may be some military mission, that possibly the terrorists had been in Marcahuasi. I believed also that it maybe was an informative exercise due to the parties of San Pedro de Casta. The thing I never expected was that this craft had aboard the Peruvian President!

After a short walk, past the tortoise and the African lions, the president prepared his food here. A few rocks and a top chef in Marcahuasi

After bathing Marcahuasi in that presidential noise, the helicopter was quietening, and started to descend and, to my amazement, was welcomed by "The Monkey", "The Monument to Humanity", "The Tortoise", and "The African Lion" ...

It is 10:30am and I left the place I was at, running to the Hut, and grabbed the recorder. These were instants that my periodistic sense of smell activated. I wanted to know who really had landed there.

I went down, just like someone returning to San Pedro de Casta, and the went up the path behind the tortoise, agitated. I don't know if I walked or ran, but to my amazement she stepped out of the shadows. In front of me was Sachi; of course I knew who she was. With this agitation typical of the altitude, I asked "do you think your father would give me an interview?". She looked at me for an instant, and said "of course, go ahead". The distance between her and the others was almost nothing, but was enough to organise my questions, and in that fight I was in front of 2 adults, 2 children and a spoilt dog.

"One goes sometimes to Marcahuasi, with wind behind you,
you meet good friends, beautiful sculptures ...
But on this occasion I met the Peruvian president.
A blessing from the mountain gods"

A welcome broke the protocols, and a forced presentation that Marcahuasi's silence only knows. Now relaxed, sat on the rocks, looking towards the Monument to Humanity, the cyclops that is most discussed in Marcahuasi. The president asked me point blank "to what medium do you belong". "To none. I'm writing about this place, because I find it very interesting" I replied.

The president, perhaps tired of questions and answers in the capital came here for refuge, without thinking that at 4000 metres of altitude I was waiting for him! I don't know if this meeting was work of the mountain gods, or a prize for my continual returns here. Whatever it was for, I was now interviewing the Peruvian president, Mr Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori, at the sacred mountain on the eve of the San Pedro de Casta anniversary.

This photo marks the end of the interview, and an eternal memory that was lived in Marcahuasi. In this sense, the Monument to Humanity was witness to this meeting.

The complete interview with Alberto Fujimori will be published in my book.

Read the original post (in Spanish)

Next Post: Foreign Writers and Marcahuasi
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

The Cliffs of Marcahuasi

2011-03-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've no idea how they formed, nor when it happened, but there it is. The beautiful cliffs will be there, defeating time and our admiration.

These are lovely amazing scenes, in the morning, and better still when the sun is setting. They are an abyss to make us nervous, immense precipices that delight us right down to our being, that to be over them is to extract the mystery, the loneliness, the wind and the freedom.

We are anxious to know what is beyond the cliffs ... this is something that we ask ourselves every trip.

Extended rocks playing with the light ... waiting to crumble, unique cliffs without comparison, immobile and sleeping like angels or demons protecting the sacred mountain for millions of years.

Nobody looks for truth here - a magic game of shadows and sculptures.

How did these cliffs start? What happened here? Is this a punishment or a prize given to us by the plateau? Which theory should we believe? The esoteric? The mystic? The geological? or the extraterrestrial? All I know is that the cliffs signify a place to live and remember, to ask and ask.

We all arrive here, to enjoy the beauty of the cliffs, of the capricious cliffs, refugees, imprisoned and forgotten.

There is always a perfect instant to see something in Marcahuasi.

The majority of the sculptures that there are in Marcahuasi you will find near or within the cliffs, at the side of the plateau, besides which these precipices are very high that together with the rain, the clouds and the sun form beautiful landscapes that to contemplate is to enliven a strange happiness.

I have no proof to say how these monstrous petrified rocks rose, but they know how they arrived and when they will go, and while they exist they will continue enchanting us every time, a little more each time.

This is a picture made by the rain, the cliffs huddled wrapped in lichen, a landscape that paralyses the emotions.

To contemplate these cliffs we don't need the same language to understand each other, to be here is a constant motive, to be asphyxiated with admiration, because Marcahuasi always challenging us.

Who sculptured these rocks in Marcahuasi, here where time and space is everything and nothing. The cliffs are the formations of largest emotional impact, in a place where we need to protect the peace, where in every visit we consume the fruits of mystery, without losing sight of Marcahuasi as a whole.

Cliffs that divide the silence of the wilderness; to the visitors to Marcahuasi they will continue signifying the search for something.

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Next Post: An ex-President and I in Marcahuasi
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Interview : Manuel Olivares Bautista

2011-01-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

"An inhabitant of San Pedro de Casta, loyal to Daniel Ruzo and Marcahuasi"

There are many reasons to interview Manuel, from San Pedro de Casta, who worked during 9 years alongside Daniel Ruzo in Marcahuasi. His experiences and his anecdotes keep on coming, never ending, and those of us that had the opportunity to travel with him to the plateau to get to know the petrified sculptures know what a privilege it is (was).

Tourists that arrive at his guest house, whether Peruvian or from further afield, can enjoy his stories, his emotions and sadnesses, but sadly it is now impossible for him to accompany us to climb up to the sacred mountain. His hearing and vision are not what they used to be and bit by bit reduce further. This interview that he gracefully conceded me is a gift for all visitors that keep on asking for more and more about Marcahuasi

Don Manuel says : "When I go up to the plateau, it brings back many memories of Ruzo" (Photo by Andy Jefferson)

What did Daniel Ruzo say about what is Marcahuasi?
He said "Marcahuasi, for me, is a relic". He was amazed, until at night when he wanted to take some photos, he had a mule that walked all day, and he always repeated "With time, many tourists will come", and I didn't believe it. Now I realise that it will happen.

With respect to the Monument to Humanity, what did he say?
We know it as the Inca's head, but for Ruzo it was Monument to Humanity. He said that this isn't a natural rock formation - "Man has worked here" - He even brought French archaeologists to help him declare that his theory was correct.

Were the rock formations and the ruins important to Daniel Ruzo?
No. The ruins were not important to him. The rock formations, and the stones certainly were, because all day, travelling across every stone, with him mounted on the mule, and me leading it, from 6 in the morning, until 6 at night. We ate a cold lunch, only half an hour to rest, and then ready to continue!

The hut
"Here the doctor lived, and only I have the key. During the 9 years that I worked with him, and when he returned to Lima I remained here as guardian" Manuel remembers with nostalgia.

How was he with you?
At the start he treated me well. Once he took the French archaeologists, and in the hut where he lived he kept everything, and only I had the key. The driver walked in and took an apple, and for that he called me and released me without saying why. That night I left them and came to the town leaving him with the archaeologists.
Later the driver said to me "after listening to everything he just said to them 'go, go ...'". Ruzo said to him that if I leave him, then he loses all of his work "Manuel is the only person who puts up with everything I ask"

How was the behaviour of the tourists that arrived at your guest house?
They behave well. When they are peruvians they grab things, they take the blankets, and I have to be there to keep control. They're not tourists, better to call them backpackers. Not the foreign tourists, they take care of things.

The street where his guest house is (green)
When Julio Heart came (Argentinian), contracted by Daniel Ruzo, I worked with him for two years and because of that I have this guest house here. He guided me.

Of his book, of the photos of Daniel Ruzo, did you appear in any?
No, not one. Only in some photos do I appear, and after that he didn't give me the opportunity. Of course the figures I know, because I saw where he took the photos, I know the place, and the the exact time of day.

The cold starts to beat down on San Pedro de Casta, the darkness of autumn, and we say our goodbyes, and Manuel Olivares will continue arranging the hats of the people of San Pedro de Casta, and waiting for the tourists. With the desire to tell us everything, everything that he learned there on the sacred mountain, everything that he wisely inherited from Daniel Ruzo.

In the complete interview there is a lot more about Daniel Ruzo, about his relation with the rocks, San Pedro de Casta, and the relation with Manuel. The full version will appear in my book.

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Next Post: The Cliffs of Marcahuasu
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Madness in Marcahuasi

2010-12-01T00:56:00.000-08:00

It serves nothing to inform the visitor of the secrets of the sacred mountain, because at any time during this adventure a little piece of madness will invade you, challenging you to defy nature, and the emptiness and mystery of this place

There are cray insticts that you cannot fight in Marcahuasi, to get close to the abyss where your fear freezes and the wind seems to talk to you. Daring you.

Everybody that arrives at Marcahuasi is thirsty, not only for the sculptures but for something else. The protocols are broken, whether it is during the day or during the night.

Everyone controls their own madness in Marcahuasi, whether it is to stare at it from the fringe of some mystery, or whether it is this jump. Falling for something!

I don't know in which trip, and in which moment but there exists some instant to do crazy things in Marcahuasi, a strange influence of disobedience that we sometimes get at this altitude. And sometimes the resultant behaviour is inexplicable.
We can imagine this scene. Where are the treasures of Marcahuasi? If Ruso didn't reply then me neither.

Traveling the route along the cliffs between the limit of the plateau and the abyss beyond, there is ample temptation for the visitor. Who doesn't want a photo on the petrified rocks? Who wouldn't pose in this emptiness.
It doesn't matter the danger, the temptation to pose here has no limit. The daughter of the mountain Gods.

When we are in front of the lakes we're invited to dive in and swim. It doesn't matter the time. Well, nothing matters. It's part of the adventure and the madness that Marcahuasi produces.

This jumper isn't the only one. Neither was he the first nor the last. "Little Hell" produces these emotions that you could categorise as something between temptation and freedom.

"Little Hell" is a place where many legends are intertwined, provoking you to make acrobatic jumps, defying your fear and the mystery of what is below. Others decide to walk the length of the hellish passageway. Total adrenalin!!!

If you inhabit these ruins they give you a happy feeling, for other visitors perhaps not. Goodbye Soctacure's prisoners!

Who hasn't done this? Who didn't try it once in Marcahuasi? To camp far from the well beaten places, to sleep in the ruins, to travel over the plateau at night with or without moonlight, to start making a new track ascending to the plateau, to create your own hypothesis about this place, to climb the rocks. In truth this place releases an amazing number of crazy things in us, some good, and some bad, some allowed and some prohibited, some that we like and some not!

These are the "warriors of the tracks". Making new routes to arrive at Marcahuasi needs a lot of skill ... something for crazy people!!

But to arrive at Marcahuasi by the route of suffering, the route of a dream made reality now is a craziness; a craziness that you will never forget, ... or repeat!

Read the original post (in Spanish)

Next Post : An extract from an interview of Manuel Olivares (Daniel Ruzo's secretary)
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Anecdote from my second trip

2010-09-22T02:26:00.000-07:00

You nailed that pain in my soul, perhaps to make me surrender, or perhaps to distance me from your altitude, to test the adrenalin experience that Marcahuasi gives us in every trip. I don't know ... maybe I don't write about this experience then that would be to accept the reality that I lived ... and how I lived it in my second trip to the sacred mountain.

I'm not well, I'm not well…!

"How to forget this place, to forget the agony, to remove it from my memory and my soul that afternoon when I felt you leave ..."

Everything went well until Chushua (half way between San Pedro de Casta and Marcahuasi) where we stopped to provision ourselves with water, have a brief rest and to eat. But then somebody said "Here is a little wine" and almost everybody responded "we need to drink it then!!!". This drink arrived as if from the Gods to their thirsty guides!

When we continued the hike something strange happened. We started to feel unwell. Alexis, the third guide, very enthusiastic, and supportive specially with the ladies, when we went up, he went ahead a good distance and left his rucksack and came back down for another and another rucksack, and like this he undertook a large part of the hike ...

I decided to be the last in the ascent, so then I was witness to the protests and complaints that are now well known. When they asked me "how much further ?" I only said the same that they said to me "We're close ... just past that next rise ... no more" that and the classic worst lie "almost there!". Lies that made us continue with the real unforgettable pains

The hill continued and never ended, with heavy rucksacks, cutting into our sweating backs, and words of encouragment that had no value. The words now had no effect on these surrendered, tired bodies and then I heard "Hey" "Hey" - Alexis was off the path wanting to vomit, with a smooth paused voice saying "I feel weak, ... I don't know what's happened to me ... I'm ill". At first I thought he was joking, but I encouraged him and we continued the ascent for a while, but the distance between him and I was increasing, as it was also with the rest of the group that was much further ahead.

"The emotions that I lived in Marcahuasi, I try to describe, sometimes with happiness, sometimes with sadness. What crazy passion ..."

I heard my name twice and this call worried me this time. I took off my rucksack and shouted to the group, breaking the eerie silence. "You continue, and I will look after him". I don't know if they replied to me, but with strides I went back down and arrived in front of him, with his head down, pale, with a strange stare, without energy to make another step. "Christ ... you were serious!" I said. He didn't respond and I took his rucksack and water container and took them with my own, and then I returned and gave him lots of encouragement; encouragement that this time had no effect on him. I put his arm on my shoulder and we walked slowly. "I feel bad, I feel bad" he repeated and I stopped to attend to him and put his coat over his shoulders. What I saw was a mixture of fear and desperation. Alexis didn't realise, nor did he feel the blood that stained his nose. It was a confusion that destroyed right down to my soul, I'd never lived moments like that.

Suddendly two travellers reached us and when they saw us they shouted ... "the skinny one is ill, you have to go down". Their words made me more desperate. By now Alexis was like the grey afternoon that surrounded us. To arrive at the amphitheatre was difficult, but it would have been much further to go back to San Pedro de Casta. A casteño that came back down with his mules was my hope, and despite my pleas and what I offered he would not help me, and looking at my friend without stopping he said to me "Grab that herb there and rub it strongly in your hands, and put it on his forehead, his elbows etc so he smells it", and then continued his journey down.

His pale cold, quiet, bloody face made me fear the worst. I took the herbs and rubbed them in my hands, and the herbs sparked ... perhaps they were capable of anything ... anything, so that Alexis spoke a word, and returned to be the man he was an hour earlier. I lifted his tired body and, supported him against a large rock, and wrapped us up with everything we had, prepared to spend the night there ... or death.

"When you say nothing, it is an eternal silence, an emptiness of pain, pain for an eternity ..."

With watery eyes, a sadness, and a silence I separated from him, contemplating the immense hills and the few rays from the sun that still escaped. I don't know if I regretted having come. Initially an impotence grabbed me, cursing everything, until ... I don't know who orated, or asked or implored, that they helped me to get out of this situation. My faith was an avalanche that the night was witness to. My cold tears broke without permission, and a strange force took control of me. A voice broke the silence, pain and fear, fixed on the hills and rocks of Marcahuasi and I said "How can you punish me like this ... I come here in search of your enchantments, not of suffering. Help me, now!!"

"This four-legged ambulance buried the pain that afternoon when it was my turn to live ..."

I waited for my tears to dry with the cold, resigned and decided to spend the night and share the agony with my friend, discarding everything else. I protected myself more from the cold and the night that was hiding us, until the body that fought somewhere between life and death, that was asleep and didn't feel it, a voice breaking through the blanket of the night ... "come, come"

I remained immobile, with an amazement. I stored up my words, I wasn't dreaming, it wasn't a lie. I swear to you that he got up without my help. Looking at me, pausing and said to me "I'm feeling better now. Don't prepare anything. Going slow I can get there. Don't worry any more. Everything is passing now.". I looked at him, and listened to him incredulous. I lived a mix of truth and lie, I wanted and didn't want to believe. I thought it was a product of some ending. They were instances of madness. But Alexis was walking slowly, so slowly that I didn't accept the truth. While I put everything back in the rucksack, I couldn't stop thinking ... like the grey night.

Everything that I am living is a miracle? My begging was heard by someone? Is it a question of the hills? What is happening to me? Was it a physical energy, or spiritual, or something else? I'm only sure that something happened, and that experience is mine.

"Those of us that have climbed up to Marcahuasi by the long route know of the pain that this small rise causes!"

"Now we were left with the final climb to the amphitheatre. This is a steep hill, where the tiredness is extreme, and where the flight of all of the trek charges us dear for this amazing adventure. In truth I feel tired, exhausted .... the cold and the night was over us. I heard something coming and everything changed. I stopped and there were two mules coming back down and their owner came behind. I threw off my rucksack with a shout. It wasn't a request, nor an order. I said. "Hey sir, look at how this man is, if you don't take him up, I will say that it was your fault that he died."

The man stopped ... I don't know if he was shocked or fearful, but he listened to me. I continued giving him orders. "Bring that mule and help my friend up. These rucksacks can go on the other donkey, with the water containers too!"

I don't know if the owner looked at me or at the walking dead, but the first thing he did was put a price for this pain! When the four-legged ambulance left for the final climb, with sadness the owner of the golden-balled donkeys said to me "allow the animals to go slowly sir. They're tired. You cannot hit them".

The response was "Yes, sir", but despite him being against it, what a beating those donkeys got to get us up the final climb quickly. I only wanted to get to the amphitheatre. And we were close, yet dependent on the strength of others. I wanted the final hill to end, and that we see and pass the final archway.

"This is the place where we all desire to arrive and conclude the ascent, here ends our dear path ..."

Alexis, despite this experience, returned many times with me. I don't know if he will continue returning. I only know that Marcahuasi made us lived something together; something that we will never forget, and so that I can tell this story. My begging, and appealing were so deep that I woke the Apus and Soctacure. Everything so that you didn't leave

Read the original post (in Spanish)

Next Post: Crazyness in Marcahuasi
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

A day in Marcahuasi

2010-06-17T00:25:00.001-07:00

A day in Marcahuasi, is the summation of all visited time, of constant journeys, of harshnesses survived, of unique experiences, of contact with old and young people of San Pedro de Casta, of unforgettable madnesses, of conversations during the night and around the bonfire, and that your vital Marcahuasi life will not let me lie about this.

A day in Marcahuasi is to discover the loneliness, and the silence, its climate, its countryside, its legends and the mystery that is found all over the plateau. The visitors travel all of the mountain, wanting to know, and to find all of the mysterious sculptures in a record time.

These cliffs give us the opportunity to see things differently, every time that you find yourself at these heights.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to forget time and reality, because everything fascinates and captivates us. To see the ruins, the cliffs, the lakes and the petrified monuments is to daydream about a fantastic reality that starts when you arrive but you've no idea where it ends.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to know the new legends, to listen to the elders of San Pedro de Casta, deliberate with nostalgia, their stories that they lived or have told, its to listen also to the visitors that arrive and return with very different emotions.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is unique, for its rocks, its ruins, its wind and its silence ... of the crags and the sunsets, to be an accomplice in the magic of its scenery, its something that you get to know and never forget.

A day in Marcahuasi ... accompanied by the night, the moon and the stars, together with a bonfire, sipping a hot drink, singing songs since at the altitude and in the heart feelings are universal, like the mist and the cold that wraps everyone.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to cook in the open air, to smoke with the smell of fresh logs, flavouring everything that is cooked, and also is a motive to get to know all of the ingredients, the neighbours, and the stray dogs that arrive at that precise instant of eating ...

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to live without a ray of light, the cloud that shrouds all of the plateau, the rain that bathes the sacred mountain, and the mud that sticks to everything. Yes, that Easter or October when you went.

The friends that you choose to go to Marcahuasi with ought to be good friends, like the new sculptures that you will find in the sacred mountain.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to get to know people, people that tell stories, anecdotes and experiences, that perform crazy acts challenging abysses, diving in the lakes, entering in cracks, writing their names in the rocks, singing and listening to music, and others resting so they can continue this adventure.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to imagine yourself with the past, to come and go between the bridge of illusion and the bridge of reality, is that reason that lives in every corner of Marcahuasi like a punishment or a reality.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to open yourself up to all questions, to what this sacred mountain was, is now, and what will be. It's to live a crisis of answers because everything that is felt here is tellurically, cosmically, and mythologically Andean.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to invoke Daniel Ruzo, for his dedication and commitment to this place, to rediscover the Andean's skills that lived with their dead in Huacracoha, Santa Maria and the fortress.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to see how some visitors only arrive here to sleep in the Amphitheatre and then at dawn are returning home. Also it is curious how some people from very early soon after arriving go and collect logs to prepare their food.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to be awake and vigilant to everything, you feel how you integrate with the people who you love and who are far away, we all want to feel more than an emotion at these altitudes, and we all want that this feeling never stops.

The magic of this lake is to find it like this, possibly in another visit you will find it dry

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to find new sculptures, new shadows, to find the lake of Cachu Cachu, a mirror that the sky looks at, or to see it dry and dusty, punished by time.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to forget time, the day and the hour, of debts, of stress and of illnesses also, to get to know new friends, and exchange opinions, and concepts of what you have seen and you are still wanting to see.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to find the Amphitheatre without a camp site (but packed with people), full of fresh herbs, of wet earth and of the hut we don't speak, those that arrive first are very privileged.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to find peace and inner freedom, to feel the inspiration every time, to live with the mystery that we all know something of, but that nobody knows completely.

A day in Marcahuasi in the company of the Monument to Humanity, is to be trapped with all times, is to test out the truth and the whims, is to remain silent being an accomplice in all that we know and believe.

A day in Marcahuasi ... is different to any other day that you return, also the cold and the heat and the tiredness is different, and you think also that this applies right up to the people that you meet in Marcahuasi.

The goodbye to Marcahuasi is never certain, despite ...

A day in Marcahuasi ... is to fill yourself with nostalgia, because the moment arrived to say goodbye to this petrified valley, here you leave a part of your life, sleeping questions, a commitment to return and a sad memory of friends that you knew and aren't here, going down the route of Kiska Kumo (the short route), now I cannot mention a day in Marcahuasi ... without one more goodbye to Marcahuasi.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next Post : Anecdote ... from my second trip

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Marcahuasi and Reality

2010-04-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

Marcahuasi is a goal, a reality, a singular adventure for every visitor. A sacred mountain for the people that want truth and to accept it as it is. To get to know what is this place for the new generation, it is necessary to confront oneself with this reality. Whether Marcahuasi was made by somebody or not, that is an unknown that lives, that beats in every tourist, and only they will be able to respond by contemplating these sculptures by day and by night, that are born and that die. This doesn't happen with a lecture or a story, but with an experience that you feel yourself.

To get to know the reality of Marcahuasi not only do we have to go up and come down its paths ... but also to compromise ourselves with its needs and more besides ...

Every type of studious person will continue arriving at Marcahuasi. Every type of story will continue to be weaved; we will continue repeating the legends and myths, and Marcahuasi will continue just like we know it, just like Daniel Ruzo knew it, the adventurers and the pirates of this mystery.

The freedom that Marcahuasi hands us is generating a small alienated society, that arrives with the intention to free its bad habits, habits that destroy nature, the mysteries, and worse still to confuse the visitor. People arrive that have no business being on the plateau, and they would be perfectly capable to finding an alternative place, because Marcahuasi is a sacred mountain, to heal yourself physically and spiritually.

Marcahuasi not only is a place to view, and to make contacts with the other side, for people that are desperately looking for their salvation, or an initiation of something. It is also the birthplace of esoteric groups, mystics, philosophers, sects, and the light sowers. Every one with their well-known, elaborate theories. The plateau gives us the opportunity to find ourselves with every type of people; fanatics, opportunists, and purveyors of the mystery of this place.

In Marcahuasi they have cycling and motorcycling competitions that destroy the paths, the rocks, and the peace of the mountain. They also have some concerts that say a lot about their organisers. The majority of tourists that support and will continue supporting Marcahuasi at Easter and during national holidays will have the same problem of little tourist information, a problem for the tourist authorities, the community and the mayor ought to be worried. This isn't going to be a problem in the future, it's a problem right now ... for the real people of San Pedro de Casta

Marcahuasi has been converted into a smokeless factory, for all of the locals, and also for some people that want to exploit and export the mysteries of the sacred mountain. Nowadays we can find the name of MARCAHUASI in hotels, restaurants, web pages, blogs, tents, music, etc. We need to better know Marcahuasi so that it feeds not just our curiosity but also a truth that compromises us to do something to preserve this petrified valley.

I don't believe that Marcahuasi is the refuge of an oppressed society, beaten down by the system, and neither is it the place where we part with our heavy burdens to cheat reality, or that we arrive at the summit to calm some inner madness, or to receive some alien sensation. Marcahuasi concentrates in us so that we consume the truth of its mysteries.

Marcahuasi gives us the opportunity to find ourselves in the middle of this beautiful scenery, and this certainly is a natural reality, that us lovers of the plateau delight in.

Actually there are people from Peru and also foreigners that love Marcahuasi, it hasn't changed, and they are working within their means so that this plateau is respected as it is, and that it is conserved in its pure and natural form. But we also need such tourism to be well-organised and for the tourists to be well informed.

The truth of Marcahuasi goes further than its forgotten sculptures, further than all of the people that ascend here and receive pain and peace at these altitudes, the adventurous society that wants and demands reasoning, they will continue ascending and descending the winding paths of the sacred mountain, with the hope of finding something new, because in this place there is a lot that still hasn't been told to us.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : A day in Marcahuasi

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Monument of Humanity

2010-01-27T02:53:00.000-08:00

Immense sculpture that quietens our senses, cyclops that awakes you, a monument that is so discussed and admired, it invites us to dream about the lost prohibited truth. A sculpture that hands us a torment of silence, a burst of stranded questions.

A perpetual silence that is resigned to quieten everything. A profile that asks for you ...

"The head of the Inca", "Peca Gasha", "Monument of Humanity" - however you know it, it has converted into the symbolic principal sculpture of Marcahuasi. This personality is chosen for the cover of books, magazines, posters, guides, blogs etc. And it flies around the world with its shout for justice and freedom. To be in front of this sculpture gives you a sense of emptiness, because of the infinite exclamations that are received.

Here is the truth, here is the unknown, here is a broken time, here you have the subject and the object, here we drown ourselves in questions, because this monument is destined to captivate us and amaze us.

... When I am alongside these faces ... I search for a divine service, a spiritual power, to know the truth ... here energy flows, here it lives, and it hides the mystery of Marcahuasi

Turning around the sculpture we find an evolution of faces, from the ancient wild, to the actual, and to those of all races. One night, contemplating this sculpture by moonlight, I described it as a character of 50 to 60 years of age, with new hairstyle, a stare shooting at the sky, intellectual, but I don't know if it was male or female, short or long hair, white or black, and really it has a bit of everything ... but that face ... that mouth ... those lips that moan and that clamber for justice and freedom, with a perpetual shout, quietening the sacred mountain ... "Please give me another chance".

Almost as if after sunset somebody would appear quietening its shout for freedom ... that face, that mouth, those lips, will continue freezing our admiration, I don't know how long for.

At the monument of humanity, some tourists arrive making offerings, payments, rites, asking for or thanking for some spiritual mystical, esoteric, chamanic effect. This sculpture produces a meeting, an opportunity, and it's not enough to touch it, to look at it, because all of the expressions on its faces hipnotize you right down to your soul.

The relation between this monument and you are the strange vibrations that transport you to have unknown perceptions. All of the time that I visit the monument of humanity has always been a different experience, a new feeling, of hope, of respect, and also of sadness. One tourist said "this character receives me and bids me farewell, it's impressive, the best ... and for that I return. Please take me a photo, but with that profile ..." He didn't give me time to chat longer, just thanks and goodbye, and went down to be with his friends ... but at frequent intervals turned to look at the monument, I don't know when it was with nostalgia, or to involve himself in something deeper.

Face that reflects sadness, emptiness and pain, a punishment of the petrified Gods

The shades of white and black produce a beautiful imposing contrast in the momument of humanity. These contrasts freeze and overwhelm you, because every side of this sculpture is very beautiful.

The monument of humanity represents many things that living man doesn't understand, a simple view of the sculpture generates a strange incredible emotion. I don't believe that this sculpture is the creation only of Daniel Ruzo. Here it is thousands of years disobeying time and man. To describe this sculpture, perhaps it lets me be dragged away by the telluric passion and energy that you feel in this place, and that exaggerated passion that makes you live a conflict of possible interpretations, an eternal romance with a silent lost forgotten past.

The romance is not only mine, but also that of all visitors that put themselves in front of this cyclops. We are the links in the union between La Peca Gasha and man. Sometimes I've found myself alone here with the monument, and it was as if the silence that bathes you had a voice. I've felt its loneliness, the fragrance of its mystery, the abandonment of the Gods, the freshness of the wind, the grass and the clear blue sky, and experience that I will never forget.

Osiris, please forgive this Egyptian for staying in Marcahuasi, the fault of some foreman.

I'm not idolizing this sculpture. Every visitor will have a new different story to tell, every encounter with this character will be an adventure that will blind your senses, will bury your questions, and you will design your own hypothesis. They will confound the Ufologists, esoterics, archaeologists etc and, with a "sarampion ruciano", you and I will continue loving and admiring the monument of humanity, because it isn't just by chance, IT IS A TRUTH OF MARCAHUASI

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : Marcahuasi and reality

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Antropomorphic and Zoomorphic Forms

2009-11-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

It has been said that the wind gives forms, forms that neither you nor I can understand, where the peace and pain unite. Calling you to Marcahuasi - summit of mysteries

The rocks, worked with surprising skill, with defined profiles, couldn't possibly be the result of a natural erosion of the wind and the rain. Or as Julio C Tello and Daniel Ruzo say, are the remains and works of some culture that lived on the plateau. Others say that the sculpturing of these rocks is the work of extraterrestrials, and there are also those that affirm that there was divine intervention here. Whatever is the true origin of Marcahuasi, the visitor will continue living with whatever enigma that they believe.

These sphinx, near neighbours of the sky, perhaps were made in honour of some Andean Pharaoh. Stay here and contemplate them so their evolution amazes you.

The petrified formations of this sacred mountain receive little or no scientific attention, and they deny that they are sculptures of a civilisation that lived on the plateau, but to understand the whole truth we need a large knowledge.

All of this megalithic scenery of forms confuses us, and the silence makes us desperate to know and understand the true message of these sleeping forms, for the benefit of human ignorance.

Despite the thousands of years of age of these antropomorphic and zoomorphic sculptures, and of supporting all of the inclemencies of the weather, continue and will continue amazing all of the visitors that arrive at the plateau, defying everything, and searching for the mystery behind every sculpture.

The whole collection of characters and animals, not only occupy the plain, but are also on the cliffs. The tourist will have to define the boundaries between real and unreal of these sculptures and their conclusions will be between what they see and what they feel, accompanied by an infinite questioning "Why did they represent all of these forms in stones ... why?"

The person who knows the Marcahuasi sculptures carries them forever in their heart. This ancient woman can be found on the cliffs, waiting for something to arrive or to leave, with everything, or nothing.

Marcahuasi is a place where the sun and the moon surrender, where God and man experience emotions of amazement, with so much petrified beauty. Where majestic sculptures jealously guard the sacred mountain.

The majority of young people, betweem 16 and 25 years old who visit Marcahuasi say that to arrive and find the sculptures that their friends have spoke to them about, moreover with the hope of one day having contact with the unknown and to find something that they don't understand ...

In a survey in 1991, some 48% of tourists said that when they arrived at Marcahuasi they discovered new forms and that these forms are what defines the endless unique greatness of the Andean plateau.

A lover of Marcahuasi doesn't need to wait for the solstice or equinox to be before these remains, made by nature by man or by something else. The fact is that any time that you find yourself here you will have a bath of magic sculptures, with history and silence.

"The tortoise" (daughter) only came to refresh herself at Cachu Cachu, and now goes to the hut in search of her mother. Thirty years ago I saw it and didn't find her, like now I don't find the truth about Marcahuasi.

The ancient people of San Pedro de Casta tell beautiful legends about these formations, that the visitor in each trip will continue getting to know and having a contact that ties them to the place, because en every corner of Marcahuasi the imagination flows, and this imagination will be more enjoyable with a hammering of return trips. Remains that reflect the anguish, the pain, the emptiness and the loneliness are expressions that have this resemblance, a shout for justice. This petrified cemetery, full of mystery and enchantment, will continue trapping us, and we will continue arriving in search of something, that something that drives you crazy to return many times, and we truly don't understand why.

"The indian" - only he knows what happens in the amphitheatre, a loyal guardian that silences everything. I've no idea if he's cold or is a revelling indian. I discovered him during a night with full moon.

The majority of tourists that arrive at Marcahuasi, product of the publicity created by Daniel Ruzo, invaded by his theories, want to find all of the sculptures that he publicised. But this place is for everybody, the petrified beauty of this mountain has no boundaries and its infinite forms are what you and only you will find.

One arrives at Marcahuasi to find the sculptures that you want, to search for the perfect angle, the appropriate hour, and the perfect day. This meeting with the rock makes this an interminable encounter, that you feel attracted by the beauty and the eternal nature of these monuments.

I don't know if it is lost, or resigned to continue, but this pony stays here.

I love the sculptures and have so much respect for this place, a place that has all of the characteristics of a sacred mountain, ideal for the tourist that wants more than an adventure. Despite the difficult ascent, the recompense for the sacrifice is gratifying. All of this property of antropomorphic and zoomorphic sculptures is found and interpreted by you one day in Marcahuasi.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next Part: Monument to Humanity

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Enigmatic Shadows

2009-10-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

There are well defined shadows and we accept it, but what is impossible is to understand how they are formed in apparent complicity with the rocks, the light and the time.

If we arrive in Marcahuasi with our eyes open, and with aerials turned off we would have to go with the compass of our imagination solely, to be able to interpret all of this scenery of shadows that form perfect figures and a waterfall of emotions.

The appearance and disappearance of the shadows, perhaps is a forgotten technique that the people who inhabited the plateau used to use. A form of language and mystery.

Everybody that writes about the shadows that are born and die here in Marcahuasi, the plateau is a place of perplexities, of enchanted submissions, and where we are all free to think and wake the magic of the shadows - with the peace that only the sacred mountain wraps and invades us with.

Considering the bewitching shadows, I have no answers, but only questions : Are they the guardians of the mysteries of Marcahuasi? Are they messages about the immortality of the Gods? Are they punished spirits? Or are they demonic shadows that simbolise and transform in evil watchers of the plateau? Without doubt Marcahuasi is and will always be a place where truth is hidden, where the believers and the sceptics will feel the same emotion.

Will this be a guardian of Marcahuasi? The shadow of a spirit? - It is a hidden truth in Marcahuasi, that fills us with emotions and silence.

A tourist said to me "I feel a spiritual power ... feel the blessing of the Gods, when I stay contemplating the magic of the shadows". - without taking his eyes off the rocks, and without wanting to lose a detail, he remained close to the Egyptian Sphinx, marvelled and besotted with the enigmatic shadows.

Marcahuasi es the mountain of dreams, because every one that is found is different and beautiful, but the abyss of beliefs that there are about the shadows is something new that wakes in this new generation that arrives at Marcahuasi, with inspiration and freedom of imagination.

This is the meeting of an Andean monk with a visitor ... this or any other perception will always be a question of interpretation.

Everybody that lives this enchantment, illusion, and dream with the rhythm of the shadows, that are a test of faith. Once more I am trapped by the mystery of Marcahuasi - not only by what I see but also by what I feel - I take delight in the dance of the enigmatic shadows that come and go with the whim of the sun and weather.

Secrets that these shadows guard in silence and loneliness will continue being a mystery in this stone forest, and will continue intensely puzzling the visitor with this unknown universe called Marcahuasi.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : Antropomorphic and Zoomorphic Forms

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

My First Trip

2009-09-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

"The first trip to Marcahuasi for any visitor never turns out how they told us. It isn't how we imagined it; its legends, its shadows, and its enchantments are a question of returns ..."

All of the countryside forms part of the route from Lima to San Pedro de Casta, this adventure is full of suspense, of fears, and of extreme adrenalin ... for those that go for the first time.

There were many aspects that influenced me in going to Marcahuasi. Perhaps that book with the stunning title -Marcahuasi- that I saw in a central bookshop, many articles that I read, stories from friends that fed my desire to know that place. All until one day when a family member who worked in "Huinco" (town on the route to San Pedro de Casta) told me that he had been sent to Marcahuasi, because some tourists were attacked there. He described part of the journey and the place, becoming the burning enchanted call of the plateau.

It is three in the morning when in Chosica (a province to the east of Lima) I felt my bones snap. The avenue was full of backpackers and pickpockets, a cold quiet mist froze the desires and surprises of this adventure that had just started ... Echenique Park (Chosica), an obligatory day trip por every traveller that goes to Marcahuasi, was full of people drinking liquor, bottles passing from hand to hand, emptying gradually ... piled up dirty rucksacks on the urine soaked dusty footpath. All of this nocturnal countryside of uncontrolled crowds, kept company by the cold and the mist, was the start of a trip that left me annoyed, for the lack of organisation of the transport ... madness ...

To arrive at San Pedro de Casta (the town where you find Marcahuasi) was to live moments of fear on a windy road, with deep chasms at either side, with corrupt police and soldiers. From opportunistic drivers, and a dust that it was impossible to clean off, and like this we arrived leaving behind the sea, whims, offers, and all of the illnesses that God can't cure, not even hunger!

We knew that the system of transport was of a form of 20 years earlier. We accepted the challenge and its risks; everything to get to know Marcahuasi.

The square was full of backpackers, of guides, and mules. The tourist office was full of tourists with its staff doing everything so that all goes well, and the sun burning at 26 degrees, it received us and bid us farewell to Marcahuasi ...

In the square in San Pedro de Casta we awaited the hour appropriate for the ascent to Marcahuasi, we asked information, and bought what we would need on the plateau, and in this way freed ourselves of the comforts of the city.

Nobody will forget the first trip to this place, because of what happens to them, and how they feel, to go by the short or the long route the tiredness is the same, the weight of the rucksack is the same, and perhaps worse for others. When I made that trip, many times I regretted having come, with every slow step feeling like my legs were giving out on me, the air that my lungs wouldn't take in, and my voice silenced ... The obligatory rests that we took, only to ask other travellers "how much further?", and their responses that motivated me, in turn motivating others that were perhaps in the same state or even worse.

After four hours or more of gratuitive suffering, and when the sun bid us goodbye just before I found myself arrive at the Amphitheatre, I decided to camp ... since I couldn't manage any more. I paid tribute to my time as a novice adventurer, Marcahuasi treated me brutally on my first trip. But, despite everything, I arrived ... I arrived at a place that I had wanted to know for some time.

Here I camped for the first time in Marcahuasi, far from the Amphitheatre and the Hut; here I graduated as chef, guide and lover of Marcahuasi.

The trip was only for four days, but the provisions that we brought were enough for a month, meaning that we spent more time eating than getting to know the plateau. In this first trip I only went to the Hut where Daniel Ruzo lived, and to the Monument to Humanity. From the first instant that I saw it, it blocked my senses ... people confused me with their faces, and even more when they said "you have to see this thing, or that animal ..." "where ? ... where ?" I asked. "Over there", "That way". I remained in the same place amazed by the people, their exclamations, the countryside, and the majestic petrified monument.

Afterwards I spent a lot of time contemplating the town of San Pedro de Casta from the Cross (near the Hut), and all of the route that I had travelled to arrive, and from this altitude it has an impressive panoramic view of the union of the town and the plateau that made me forget the problems and sufferings. Just as the North American tourists do, wanting to record forever this moment, a photo here, another there, and time flies.

This is how I made my first trip ... and I started spending days of my life in Marcahuasi. To pick up the rucksack and prepare myself to go up to and down from the plateau, was for me to be an eternal witness - an accomplice, to say nothing or everything ... It is time to leave the plateau, I go down thinking of being soon at home, and I bring the smell of the rocks and the altitude, but the most curious is that I am also thinking of when to return. Everything that happened to me in this first trip, will always remain an unforgettable experience, and to write this post, it was very difficult to detail everything ... and I mean everything. There were other factors ... now the transport has improved a lot, but what Marcahuasi gives you en the ascent .... I swear that hasn't changed one bit!

"I don't know if in reality all of the hardships that I lived through to arrive at this place gave me suffering of happiness .... I only know that my thoughts and feelings are on a different frequency since that day"

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : Enigmatic Shadows

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

The lake at Cachu Cachu

2009-05-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

"When I find myself in Marcahuasi, I feel that I'm being observed - and that I'm not alone -. But when I'm at the lake at Cachu Cachu I have a stronger feeling of the presence of something that lives there ..."

There are few people that camp at the lake at Cachu Cachu, to spend a night here with or without the moon is to be an accomplice of its perpetual silence, of its still quiet waters and of some nightly onomatapoeias. To be here is to consume a trilogy of healing with the rocks, the water and the silence.

... if you throw stones at the lake, they will produce large waves that will carry you away to your inner depths ... So say the legends, as told by the old people of San Pedro de Casta.

This place is full of age old legends, and of stories of UFOs that enter and leave the lake. In a trip I walk to the fort, we meet with a local about 45 year old and he says to us "I went to see my animals and when I returned to the low ridge, I saw there ... there where you see the dark mark ... was a flying saucer ... it was silver ... I stayed there without breathing for some seconds ... the UFO released a blue yellow noise and went that way (signalling the hills to the east) ... burning all of the grass, here is the mark ...". When I went down to the town I told the story to some german tourists, we came and they took measurements of the mark, that had a diameter of two metres.

Some were incredulous, and others surprised, and with a torrent of questions, the local left, saying ... "I must return ... I will be late..." We were left contemplating the lake with the truthful or fictitios mark.

The lake at Cachu Cachu is a small pool that the people of San Pedro de Casta maintain from generation to generation, and serves many things for the tourists and for the fauna of the plateau, and to moisten the lower parts of Marcahuasi. At the start of April it is beautiful, you see it full of water, picture perfect with the sky and the rocks ... giving the impression of seeing otters and crocodiles entering and leaving the lake. The tourists have a large imaginary freedom and around there to find the mystical cross, little hell, the fallen horse, the lovers, many more formations that this place hands you.

"... Who drinks the water at Cachu Cachu es compromised to return always ... it's a spell between you and the lake ..." another story to deligh your emotions.

Some years when the drought punishes the plateau, the lake appears sad ... to find it dry and powdery y dead of mystery, it was another adventure to know. There wasn't even a drop of water for the tourists, neither for the fauna of Marcahuasi. They were difficult times that us visitors will never forget, and I believe that the consequences of global warming started some time ago at these heights.

Cachu Cachu is a place of total inspiration, where nature meets, God and man, and where the spirit concentrates in one thing and nothing will stop us from finding ourselves ... to ask yourself what is our role in life and what does it mean. It doesn't scare me to launch myself into the space of the incredulous and describe what I feel and perceive in this place. Perhaps I simply try to hand back the energy that I receive in Marcahuasi and to share it with you.

"How different it is to be happy in the lake of Cachu Cachu"

The water of the lakes of Marcahuasi have certain curing qualities; on one occasion I met a group of older people holding hands, realising a hydrotherapy session. Some foreign tourists, disobeying everything, bathing and enjoying the icy waters of Cachu Cachu. Everything that they do here with a curing purpose and to feel ourselves comfortable and free, is and will be part of the adventure that has started and I don't know when it ends.

"To camp at this place is different to the hut, the amphitheatre, and the fortress ..." I'm joied at the lake of Cachu Cachu with you ... that's how I feel it.

As the lake of Cachu Cachu depends on the rain, here you will sit at the bank and on the hills, until the evening sunset gives you the opportunity to experiment with other sensations, because this place has a big influence on the being, and perhaps this meeting with the lake will gives you a vision of the truth.

"Water of Cachu Cachu you're going to take
for when you leave
don't forget yourself ever,
for when you are far
from me, you're going to rememeber ..."

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : My first trip

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

The punishments of Marcahuasi

2009-04-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

Those of us that go up to Marcahuasi on foot or with rucksack ... we put to the test an experience of disobedience at this altitude. Where neither the cold, nor the heat, nor the wind, nor thirst, nor hunger, not even altitude sickness will yield to you.

To go up on foot, or with rucksack, it's a delightful walk ... for a perfect adventure in Marcahuasi.

The are punishments that the heights of Marcahuasi hands to us, but there are also other punishments that we have to face up to, kind of like a payment for the mysterious adventure. Sometimes the route is enjoyable, easy and light; sometimes you suffer horrors and it is extensive, boring, and gives much pain ... sometimes we regret having come, we live a confusing mix of feelings ... always. When the ascent goes bad for us, we think of never returning ever - the path is never easy - but when we arrive we leave behind such suffering.

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The walk from San Pedro de Casta to Marcahuasi we like very much and if we could remove some of this suffering that we have to face to arrive, the truth is that it would remove some of the fun, and the end of the beautiful adventure ...
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A tourist once said to me "Every walk to Marcahuasi is different, today it can go well for you, and the next time better still, but other times perhaps not ... Every time that you go up to Marcahuasi you will be paying for your sins, and your suffering will be the balance between the good and bad sides of your life ...". All of the time you're visiting the plateau you can affirm that Marcahuasi purifies you, cures you, chooses you, protects you, loves you, and enslaves you, making you a prisoner at this altitude; like it also it beats you with its harshness, it makes things difficult, it hides, it votes you out of the place and says goodbye, it provokes experiences in you that are only for you, and despite all of this ... you return ... again ... and again ... because you tune in to this sensation of magic, mystery and emptiness. And why not also a type of "Marcahuasi masochism"

The altitude sickness is a punishment given freely to us by Marcahuasi ... and when the sun goes down, the punishment of cold starts ...

The following tales I consider as a collection of punishments; they don't happen because they just have the mark of the sacred mountain, there is a difficulty that we experience, and that the lovers of Marcahuasi don't know how to explain.

* It was the last morning of July that we spent in the cabin, and a delicious milk soup that the marcahuasino chef had been inspired to make, the smell spread throughout the cabin reaching the few people there. We all watched as the burning wood made the soup boil ... as we heard "How tasty!", "Come on, invite us!", and others more controlled by their taste buds "Hey we're hungry...!" but a youngster approached the chef and said slowly "Let me help you!". The response of the chef was quick and cruel, that not only killed the good intentions, but also the hunger of the youngster. Everybody deserved to enjoy that tasty soup at this altitude, but suddenly everything was left as only "deserve" ... when a strange manoeuvre of the chef spilt everything and left us all with the same, or perhaps worse than those that didn't deserve any. A silence hung over us ... we looked at each other and the chef said "This is a punishment in flesh and blood, that when you don't want to share any and you lose everything!" - the rejection that the youngster received, it was a test ... my selfishness overcame me and this is the price ... no soup for him, nor for you or your friends ... What a pathetic punishment?!

* April 1993, many tourists had arrived to climb to the plateau, it was Easter week, and the weather threatened a downpour. Suddenly at quarter past four in the afternoon the rain arrived ... heavy rain, until 11 o'clock that night ... and ... of those that went up or were on the plateau now. That trip I decided to stay in the town, and saw how they returned ... and it reminded me of the film of the living dead! What faces! What looks! and what pain!
Some returned from half way up, others were already on the plateau and had no other option but to go back down because they weren't prepared for the storm. The visitors arrived covered in mud, injured from falls and from spines from the slippery paths, muddy, and a very dark night, their tears mixed with the rain and every one arrived with a story of a life at some crucial moment. This is a way in which the sacred mountain purifies you, throwing out all of this spiritual rubbish that arrived. Marcahuasi is a place to respect, we come here in good spirits and we receive also. So it is certain that Marcahuasi beats you with its harshness, makes it difficult and it hides. If before that hadn't happened to me ... Why now? I don't believe it was just something the people who had that experience said. And what an experience! I leave it to your free will

I don't know if those cases are the mark of the sacred mountain ... they are tests that I can't explain, but we continue returning without knowing why.

* Every time that I travelled to Marcahuasi, a friend asked me for money to cover his costs ... of course he returned me little by little over much time. Once I said that I didn't have it, and he didn't demand it, but he didn't travel with us. When we ascended to Marcahuasi, half way up, I went to pay a local that helped me with the rucksack ... I put my hand in all of my pockets, and then again. My wallet had gone missing with all of my documents. I told them and returned three times, without finding anything. Calmed, consumed by the pains of the journey, I told the story of the money that I didn't lend to my friend ... we returned learning the lesson. A journey where my friend didn't arrive at Marcahuasi, and us neither. And I thought "damn money ... damn punishments...!"

I hope that these events and punishments don't happen to you in Marcahuasi, and if something does happen, please let me know about it, to share with the society of marcahuasinos. I chose these three cases at random, but have many more, and more we will have the opportunity to share in my book or in a later post.

I leave you with this romantic punishment

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... Your lips dried by the sun and the wind
the thirst seizes you, and hunger too,
it will be the proof of your feelings ...
it will be the punishment for loving me so much ..."
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[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : The lake at Cachu Cachu

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

The Fortress

2009-03-24T04:02:00.000-07:00

... to that day, who doesn't want to arrive
at Cachu Cachu or the Fortress,
and resting little by little,
who doesn't want to find ...
the heart of my Marcahuasi.

In the Fortress I feel lot of emotion ... The remains of its dry stone walls represent to me the skill of the Andean, this place has been a lookout for the town, a refuge from where they were able to contemplate their enemy. Due to its capricious form, Ruzo called it "The Fortress". The people of San Pedro de Casta know it as the "Huamanvina". It has a single entrance, and its strange ruins extend over the whole summit. These remnants are an offering to which the archaeologists are invited, except that we destroy it a little bit more each time, converting it into a cemetery of rocks.

The Fortress viewed from this angle is a prehistoric animal.
What do you think?
The author used this photo for a poster in 1990.

To camp in the Fortress is difficult due to the strong air currents, and because of the destruction to the stone walls, but there are tourists that do it, to defy the cold and the legends. It has been said that they hear voices, noises, and hear steps, steps that freeze everything .... An adventure that they never forget! From this tower we can contemplate almost all of the plateau, the cliffs, and its very own scenery at these heights, to see like the clouds do, and how the wind kisses Marcahuasi, and how the sun blackens this petrified valley.

These are moments where the peace and freedom combine, it is the birth of inspired conversations that break the boundaries of repressed questions. It is a place where your feelings confuse you ... The past is very close to the present, and from this place you can affirm that Marcahuasi is a forgotten inheritance, that is alive, ... that has a heart that beats, and that says "here i am".

Sat in the Fortress like another warrior, with a quiet panorama of the sacred mountain, you drown in the immensity of your imagination, you forget everything, and we don't want what we are living to ever end. Because as you leave this place little by little, the damned nostalgia takes over you.

You are in the only entrance to the Fortress; at the front is a watchtower, and the same at the other side. From what or from whom are they protecting themselves? It really is a strategic entrance for its time.

Around the Fortress you enjoy a meeting with the prince, with regretful soldiers, the lost dog, and a strange hut. Besides, as eternal guardians of this watchtower of 25 to 30 metres tall, these are the Egyptian Gods, in black and white ... "I hope that you're lucky enough to meet them ..."

"... The Fortress could be the most important part of Marcahuasi, because they say that here there are communication tunnels ... I return after 5 years and this place is what I most aspire to", what a lifelong lover of Marcahuasi once said to me at midday in July 1991. Now in 2009 I wait with happiness and nostalgia to hear what you feel about the Fortress. If you've already been, or are returning, or if you don't yet know it, the fortress is where I'll wait for you

Imagine yourself at the top of the Fortress with nobody to prevent your entry!
Imagine how many mysteries are hidden in this place!
Imagine it all when you find yourself in this cemetery of rocks!

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : The punishments of Marcahuasi

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Signs and Symbols in Marcahuasi

2009-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

...Perhaps its a warning sign, a secret entrance,
an epitaph, a symbol of perfect geometry
or the scars of whiplashes from "Soctacure"...

There they are and they you will find these signs and symbols.
An unintelligible language.

All of the signs and symbols that you find in Marcahuasi, still are far from being understood. When we've been in front of the Chinese ideogram, the mystical cross, The seven-lined stone, or any other sign and symbol with an infinite dose of admiration and afterwards, like a moonless night in Marcahuasi.

All of the time that I've visited the plateau, I've never found anybody investigating this subject, except the mysterious Imelda Pomphiu, a Chinese lady that spoke to me about it, but her conclusions were taken to an absolute level and now I need time to think over that particular post.

In all of the large and small civilisations they have been identified by some sign or symbol to remember it by, to distinguish it, or to represent something about its social, political or religious life. They used colours, marks, and signs like the Tao, the Jewish cross, the swastika, the crucifix, the eagle, the sun, etc.

In Marcahuasi there existed a civilisation and its stone monuments are a proof that here there was life and that these signs and symbols are messages left for our time, besides which they are placed in strategic places indicating the start or the end of "SOMETHING". That isn't a coincidence.

The Chinese idiogram, the name that Ruzo gave it, is a sign of low prominence in the centre of the plateau, a sleeping forgotten message ... What Chinese sign will it be?

The Mystical Cross
This mystical cross, situated in the hills of the lake of "Cachu Cachu", generates a lot of admiration and amazement from all tourists for its strange demarcation. It definitely is a sign that we don't know the why and the what it was made for, but it is like a reconnection with the past, the enigmatic and divine. Some visitors arrive at the extreme of crucifying themselves on that cross, and they say that they feel the rock beating, and certain vibrations ...

I've never felt anything ... but some say that they have felt it. The UFO followers have gone further and imply that it is a sign for the space ships to land!

The seven lined stone
An eccentric tourist performed a ritual in front of this seven lined stone, that you can find at one of the sides of the Monument to Humanity. Afterwards I approached him and he said "This is an entrance that opens at some predetermined time, ... and I wait for the key to be able to communicate with its sovereign.". He left me with the cold of the morning, more and more confused ...

Other say that there existed a treasure and if you enter it enchants you and you disappear. If this was the truth Marcahuasi has and will have that mythical depth and legend, like the stone of the 12 angles found in Cuzco, or the monolyths of Ollantaytambo.

The Mural
The stone is the one that most supported the punishment of the weather through the ages, for these civilisations we are left with a language of signs and symbols that say "something" to us, something like this mural that is waiting in Marcahuasi for a studious illuminated person. I hope that we decifer it all and we know the truth of this mural.

Perhaps the mural is a plan of the plateau, a warning sign or SOS, a chronological register of information, an epitaph, ... or a message that arrived here and they left. These and other hypotheses occur when we are in front of this joining of figures, lines and points. Everything that this shows isn't just a question of nature, and I hope the unbelievers will pardon me once more.

Joined Cross
This joining of lines where a cross stands out, and some other Chinese idiogram. This is in front of the Monument to Humanity, some say that they are the scars from whiplashes of "Soctacure" ... a secret key that hides the enigmas of Marcahuasi, if some day you are in front of this geometric labyrinth, just give freedom to your imagination and perhaps you will be able to decifer the truth in the company of the silence and the wind.

Symbol with seven sides...
It is the entrance of luck! The door to the ark of salvation! It is the shield of Marcahuasi! It is perfect geometry! There is a treasure hidden here ...!

So many exclamations follow from the visitors ... I don't know about all of that, whether it is some delirious state that Marcahuasi produces at the height of almost 4000 metres above sea level, or simply a metaphysical exaggeration; an essence of an internal force that this place emanates.

And if this symbol is true or a lie, here it is and here you will find it. It is a figure with seven sides, jealously protected by the Monument to Humanity.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : The fortress.

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

A Chilean in Marcahuasi

2009-01-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

... a meeting in Marcahuasi isn't by chance, your opinion, and mine. At these heights it was a reality ...

In September 1996 we went up to Marcahuasi with a group of students, some with a yearning to know the place, and others to be far away from the classroom. We left Lima late, and it was late when we arrived at the mountain. When the rays of the sun bid goodbye to the plateau the hut waited for us. One by one we were arriving with the approval and with the welcome of the imposing monument of humanity...
An arrival never to forget. The cold and the night arrived together to this place ... and further a sole visitor was happy to see us. I don't know if Marcahuasi arranged that meeting with him, but more likely that he was in a position ready to leave, because he only had a small case and light clothes ...

-Haven't your friends arrived yet? - I asked him.

No ... he was silent for a moment, to say to me: "I'm Patricio Marambio Torres, they call me "Pato", and I'm Chilean, I work in an agency in Miami..." The silence returned, and with a sparkle in his eyes he continued, saying: "While in Miami I saw a video of this place by chance, and it had such an effect on me that I said to myself I had to see this place. And here I am ...!"

The blanket of the night wrapped us and the emotion of the Chilean continued: "I had the luck to be commissioned to undertake some photography work in Machu Picchu, and the first thing I did when I arrived in Lima was to speak with a friend; but since he wasn't able to accompany me I came alone, and here I am beside this monument that enchanted me and perhaps more besides ..."

Patricio "Pato" (with the beard) together with the students in a hut of the fortress.

Forgetting everything that the long walk gave us, and what the Chilean said and did, how did Marcahuasi take control of him? - Of course it wasn't just with him what happened ... confirmed once more when Marcahuasi traps you and enchants you, and makes you prisoner of its mysteries. Those of us who listened to the Chilean we said "You are a pure Marcahuasino" and it only remained for us to invite him to share a light evening meal, a small bonfire for the weather, the fireside chat of tourists and good friends. The night didn't matter, nor the cold, to speak of politics, religion, philosophy, the events of the time, and the most important was Marcahuasi and its petrified world. If here at these heights Mariano Ignacio Prado, president of Perú, and Anibal Pinto, president of Chile, had met I swear that the "War of the Pacific" of 1879 would never have happened!

A meeting in Marcahuasi so that we all speak the same language. The cold, the wind and the sun also ...

The next day after a breakfast-lunch we presented ourselves to honour the monument of humanity ... everything that we say of it will be little or nothing, with its fixed look to infinity and its shout that the sky hears, being the silent accomplice of the mystery! "Pato" approached me and said: "well, ... I like how you describe that personality, you don't pigeonhole people, you let them know everything and allow the tourist to choose what they want to believe ... just permit me to continue with your group". With every encounter with the forms, and the crags, the admiration of the Chilean grew; the dialog was brief yet bewitched, because ... His camera operated every minute, and committed him with each click to return and to spread more about Marcahuasi, to help the community of San Pedro de Casta. The sacred mountain gace him a mission to fulfill; one more foreigner committed to the mountain.

The fortress was one of the places that enchanted the "pato", here you see him in the upper part

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when we returned and contemplating once more the lake of Cachu Cachu, he met with his friend who had come looking for him - we said goodbye with the thanks that Marcahuasi gives and with the promise to return and meet again. I'm convinced that Marcahuasi give s and takes everything from you, and also from those mystical experiences en every post that I write I will share with you. Not much time had passed and I hadn't returned to Marcahuasi, when I found out about a tragedy, the plane coming from Miami to Lima, somewhere around Huacho, had disappeared into the sea. In that plane returned Pedro Marambio Torres, the Chilean that I met in Marcahuasi. Later some family member of his called me to let me know of the tragedy and that Pato spoke to them a lot about me, that he came to Lima to meet with me so we could go to the sacred mountain ...

In this space that produces pain, I tried to pass on my condolences ... to listen with a strong rotund voice "HE HASN'T DIED, HE'S JUST GONE MISSING". Every time that I go up to the plateau, I go with the hope of meeting, together with the Mayoralas in the fortress, ... The friends that give Marcahuasi, they live the time that you live ... Where you are "Pato", choose the path of "kiska kumo" or "Portachuelo" and arrive like that September; again excited and enchanted by Marcahuasi. And if I'm not here, someone will be there waiting for you.

"Pato" ... if this truth didn't satisfy your anxiety, i'm really sorry.
Perhaps I didn't know how to express this mystery and it confused me.
And everything goes ...

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : Signs and symbols of Marcahuasi.

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

The Amphitheatre (Marcahuasi Hotel)

2008-12-02T01:00:00.001-08:00

"Imagine yourself ascending kiska kumo
and the hut, from another world,
in Huacracocha with no way of camping
the Amphitheatre, nobody wants to get lost ..."

The majority of visitors that arrive at the plateau for the first time do it by the route of portachuelo (long route), which brings us to the Amphitheatre, better known as "Marcahuasi Hotel"

This is one of the entrances to the Amphitheatre... Welcome!

To spend a night in this place is unforgettable. The cold, the wind, and the moon, it inspires us to break the silence of the place with tunes that the Amphitheatre leaves behind ... I hope that Soctacure (the lightning God) pardons those happy singers, the inexperienced, and the first-timers.

Nobody can forget their first night in this Marcahuasi Hotel. It's a hotel with infinite stars, and a quiet company of "lovers" and "the indian" (petrified sculptures). A true stirring of passions, and of feelings that you can feel and experience only here.

"The night is escaping ...
but we all want to stay in the Amphitheatre.
The cold we leave behind ...
And the fear at these heights also disappeared."

This capricious opening is the favourite for all of the tourists for camping. Here they fulfilled a concert of which we will speak later. Right here end all types of conversations, and during periods of high tourism like in easter week and 28th of July the Amphitheatre is totally full.

The first arrivals to "Marcahuasi Hotel" have the privelege of choosing where to camp.

Some Peruvian tourists, and strangers to the Amphitheatre, after living this experience, say
"... to spend the night here, is to find yourself, away from the madness and the uneasiness that it produces. I believe that internally you find a peace ... despite the cold that there is in the Amphitheatre, still i don't regret it. The night here is beautiful ... it exceeds beautiful ..."

The mule transportation to get to the Amphitheatre is provided by the locals.

But also, this "Hotel ..." converts every time in a market where they sell food, soft drinks, and more besides, water, logs, and cooking implements [chamarascas], dung for the fire, and also something that they allow here in Marcahuasi. The mule transport from San Pedro de Casta to the Amphitheatre costs more than the journey from Lima to San Pedro de Casta! - prices that the tourism committee control. But the most serious is that in the Amphitheatre they are constructing a hut/kiosk as property of the community. They say that it is a form of payment for a debt of services that they provided to Daniel Ruzo; how capricious and opportunistic!

We, the tourist lovers of Marcahuasi, always arrive at the plateau to find something natural without change, nor owners that gain from this sacred place, and today converted in the 5th natural wonder of Perú.

I demand from my position that they respect this plateau, especially the rocks, and that they conserve the Amphitheatre exactly how it is, and how it should be always. The "hotel" is used by all visitors that enjoy the night, the cold, the wind, and the discovery with a generation that existed here, and the most important of all, the human warmth that concentrates in the Amphitheatre.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : A chilean in Marcahuasi.

Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Daniel Ruzo and Marcahuasi

2008-10-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

"... superior beings from the cosmos will have lived in Marcahuasi, and the only stone documents can be interpreted" - Ruzo

A significant proof that Daniel Ruzo dedicated so much to the plateau is the large flow of tourists from within Peru and from abroad that today arrive at this place with the hope of corroborating the theories he spread. What's more the cabin that he constructed and where he lived alongside the Monument to Humanity also now serves for visitors. Moreover the photography that travelled the whole world due to him is a sample that today the society of those who love the sacred mountain are very grateful for.

In the cabin where Ruzo lived during the time he dedicated to investigate the plateau.

All of the people from San Pedro de Casta that worked with him tell me the deep love that he had for the rocks, and that his happiness was immense whenever he discovered something new ...

On one occasion Ruzo proposed to the community of San Pedro de Casta to purchase Marcahuasi but this idea was rejected because they said that he wanted to take ownership of the treasures that existed there. They also didn't permit him to investigate underground constructions that he affirmed were present.

Ruzo ... I ask only that people accept his conclusions as a simple hypothesis.

Despite all of the negatives he continued his investigations and wrote "Marcahuasi : the fantastic history of a discovery", then in Mexico published "The Manifesto de Tepoztlan" making known his discoveries of anthropomorphic sculptures, zoomorphic; sustaining that the Masma culture wasn't a Peruvian culture, but instead an American protohistoric culture, earlier than the Sumerians ... and also affirmed that the sacred forests are places for spiritual salvation of the chosen ones and that there are treasures and natural forces hidden in places where the telluric currents of the world are concentrated.

... many people will arrive at the plateau, quite prophetic since this has indeed happened. What an adventure there is at these heights!

Such were the affirmations of Daniel Ruzo that we continue visiting the sacred plateau to enjoy this marvellous landscape that captivates us more with each visit, and more still the secrets that the sculptures guard.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : The amphitheatre

Photos by John Ysrael Guevara

The Sacred Plateau Awaits You

2008-10-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

At the heights of Marcahuasi, I'm going to tell you the truth, all of the truth. The waiting, waiting for the day and the hour when we find ourselves in the hut, the amphitheatre, in Cachu-Cachu, or the fortress ...

I first arrived at the sacred mountain in the 1980s, caught by the stories spread by Daniel Ruzo. But hearing those stories was different to actually being there, and those differences and the experiences that I lived in the flesh during those trips ... they will define what I will be sharing with you all in this journey.

Suddenly to see yourself in this enigmatic countryside, your imagination transports you to past eras, and a rain of questioning seizes you ... these are the silent people of Marcahuasi that oblige you to return here many times, many many times.

If you were the lifelong visitor to Marcahuasi, you would understand that every time that you arrive at the plateau you will discover something new. It's not clear if it's the rock formations, or the shadows, or the effect of the light but there is something that traps you, enchants you. The stunning magnetism that the mountain emanates makes you forget the harshness of the journey and what you endure to get there, and aids you in understanding the many visitors with different backgrounds, the eccentric, the opportunistic, ...

I consider myself a lover of Marcahuasi. I respect its rocks, its dry-stone walls, and its people, and this is a feeling that I learned through more than 80 visits that I have made, and that I continue making to this day.

Finally I want you to appreciate and understand this place, to ignite that spark of imagination, it's the most pure contact possible between man and nature, your God, and something more. This isn't a eulogy to this place, it's a truth that lies in wait for you. It's a shout for freedom that you will find in Marcahuasi.

[Read the original blog post (in Spanish)]

Next part : Daniel Ruzo and Marcahuasi

Translation assisted by eagle

Marcahuasi Slide Show

2008-10-02T09:08:00.001-07:00

To aid those who haven't visited Marcahuasi in gaining an appreciation of the place, its ambience and the principal points of reference there is a slide show from Alan Matthew