The Amphitheatre (Marcahuasi Hotel)

"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

"... 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

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

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