CORDILLERA VILCABAMBA, RETRACING MANCO INCA’S RETREAT PERU 1980 Trek into Peru’s remote mountains The Cordillera Vilcabamba in the Peruvian Andes is a vast mountain chain of striking beauty, and part of the longest mountain range in the world: the Andes. It is a place of cultural history from pre-Columbian Tiahuanaco to the Inca, and the historical last resistance, then retreat of Manco Inca, son of the third Sapa Inca Huayna Capac from the Spanish conquistador Pizarro brothers in 1542. The Vilcabamba is located in southern Peru Northwest of Cusco, bounded by the deep gorge of the Apurimac river to the southwest, the river Tambo-Ene to the northwest and the Urubamba river to the northeast. The area I was to explore beginning in the valley of Nevado Salcantay, and ending in Vilcabamba also known as Espiritu Pampa in the Amazon basin, was the last stronghold of the Manco Inca. I was the guest of Mountain Travel and Explorandes in 1980 to trek for four weeks of the Vilcamamba that was largely unexplored and virtually unvisited by outsiders. The southern part of the range lies the famous Inca ruin Machu Picchu, which lies directly north of Nevado Salkantay at the end of a ridge that extends from this mountain, our starting point. Viewed from Machu Picchu's main sundial, the Southern Cross is above the summit of Salkantay when at its highest point in the sky during the rainy season. The Incas associated this alignment with concepts of rain and fertility, and considered Salkantay to be one of the principal deities (Apu) controlling weather and fertility in the region west of Cuzco. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire. In Quechua language, Old Peak is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 8,000 ft (2,430 m) above sea level on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley. The Inca Pachacutec started building the site around AD 1430 but was abandoned as an official site a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was largely unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish conquistadors, it is especially important as a cultural site. The Inca trail is a part of the many roads and trails constructed in pre-Columbian South America. The Inca road system, or Qhapaq Ñan was the most extensive and highly advanced for its time with a network based on two north-south roads. The eastern route ran high in the puna and mountain valleys from Quito, Ecuador to Mendoza, Argentina. The western route followed the coastal plain except in coastal deserts where it hugged the foothills. More than twenty routes ran over the western mountains, while others traversed the eastern cordillera in the mountains and lowlands. Some of these roads reach heights of over 16,000 ft (5,000 m) above sea level. The trails connected the regions of the Inca empire from the northern provincial capital in Quito, Ecuador south over 3000 miles (5200 km) past the modern city of Santiago, Chile. The Inca road system linked together an estimated about 24,000 miles (40,000 km) of roadway and provided access to over three million km² of territory. These hands built stone roads provided easy, reliable and quick routes for the Empire's civilian and military communications, personnel movement, and logistical support. The prime users were imperial soldiers, porters and llama caravans, along with the nobility and individuals on official duty. Although the Inca roads varied greatly in scale, construction and appearance, for the most part they varied between about one and four meters in width. Because the Incas did not make use of the wheel for transportation, and did not have horses until the arrival of the Spanish in Peru in the 16th century, the trails were used almost exclusively by people walking, sometimes accompanied by pack animals, usually the llama. Relay messengers, or chasqui, stationed at intervals of 6 to 9 km, carried both messages and objects such as fresh marine fish for the rulers in the sierra. Messages consisted of knotted-cord records known as quipu along with a spoken message. Chaskis could cover an estimated 240 km per day. There were at least 1,000 and perhaps 2,000-way stations or tambos, placed at even intervals along the trails. These structures were intended to lodge and provision itinerant state personnel. Various means were used to bridge water courses. Rafts were used to cross wide meandering rivers. Bridges built of stone or floating reeds were used in marshy highlands. Inca rope bridges provided access across narrow valleys. A bridge across the Apurimac River, west of Cuzco, spanned a distance of 45 meters We would drive to Mollepata located 60 km (40 mi) west-northwest of the city of Cusco. Along with a Peruvian guide, and with porters and mules, we began our four-week journey following a route that ascends steeply to Salcantay Pass 13,213 ft (4,638m) below Nevado Salkantay, the highest peak of the Cordillera Vilcabamba at 20,574 ft (6,271 m). It is the 38th highest peak in the Andes, and the twelfth highest in Peru. The name Salkantay is from salka, a Quichua word meaning wild, uncivilized, savage, or invincible, and was recorded as early as 1583. The name is thus often translated as "Savage Mountain". Its sister peak is Humentay 19.412 ft. (5,917 m). The trail descends in the shadow of Humentay from the pass to a bridge across the Rio Santa Teresa where there is a small hot spring. This river flows north into the Urubamba as Santa Teresa Townsite. We would instead hike west and follow a trail towards the headwaters of the Santa Teresa River ascending from the village of Colcapampa to Yanama. Camping several days at Yanama, we leave the rainforest to the south crossing Victoria pass above the village 30 km to spend several days exploring the Inca Ruin Choquequirao perched above the Apurimac River. Choquequirao (Southern Quechua: Chuqi K'iraw, Cradle of Gold) is a partly excavated Inca Ruin that bears a striking similarity in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu and is referred to as its 'sister'. The site reveals the Inca’s ingenious blend of various Andean and Amazonian materials and decoration, as well as stonework that is as equally impressive as in the Sacred Valley. Here there are irrigation channels, agricultural terraces, and spiritual centers. Returning through vertical walls several thousand feet deep below Victoria Pass, we then return to Yanama. We would continue to ascend the Rio Santa Teresa tributary a small distance before turning north to ascend and cross on still existing Inca stone stairways Choquetacarpo pass west of the Pumassila Massif. Pumasilla 19,655 ft. (5,991 m) or Pumas paw consists of a high, sharp summit rising near the center of a spectacular massif of the same name. Its summit crest stretching eight north-south continuous miles, and never dipping below 18,000 feet. Several sharp peaks rise from this crest and from its many ridges. The long eastern face of the massif presents a formidable icy wall. We would follow the trail that descends into the lush Amazonian cloud forest to Vitcos and continue north through sections of cloud forest into the lowland rainforest surrounding the ancient Inca Vilcabamba. This was our final destination, a ruin now covered in trees near Lucma located on a tributary that flows east into the Urubamba. We will be deep in the heart of the Vilcabamba mountain range, the trail passes through several types of Andean environments including cloud forest and alpine tundra and descends into the Amazon basin. Our final destination was Vilcabamba also known as Espiritu Pampa from Quechua: Willkapampa, "sacred plain". It was a final refuge founded by Manco Inca in 1539 and was the last refuge of the Inca Empire until it fell to the Spaniards in 1572, signaling the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule. The city was then destroyed and lost, and it is the fabled “Lost city of the Incas”, a title frequently incorrectly applied to the more famous Machu Picchu. I journaled throughout the trip, and recalled the magnificent scenery and beauty of the peaks including the summit of Salcantay in the evening and morning light. There were two Andean herders tending their sheep grazing in the meadows. And there was difficulty in adjusting to the altitude at 13,100 feet (4000 meters), and we had another 2000 feet (700 meters) to climb over the pass. This became challenging as the second day all of the group was suffering from giardiasis, which was contracted days before, most likely from a small hacienda in Mollepata that served us a meal of papa fritos and fried alpaca meat with a salad. We all made the mistake of eating raw tomatoes. It was a violent combination of vomiting and diarrhea, disabling the first few days but then you got into a rhythm of its weekly attack. Treating it was futile, as all the cooks were carriers. I lost 5 kilos by the end of the trek. Our first night camp was also memorable with a powerful earthquake. Camped in the evening light of Nevado Salcantay and Humentay, the ground began to shake violently, setting off avalanches on the nearby icefields.