Antropomorphic and Zoomorphic Forms

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

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

"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

"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

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

... 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

...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.

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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

... 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