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