Dreams and Reality in Marcahuasi

Why didn't you reach the Fortress? Why didn't you reach the Fortress? - something that I first dreamt and then heard, recognizing that voice here - dreams and reality in Marcahuasi!

I don't know if there are stories, anecdotes or experiences that are lacking or we have an excess of in Marcahuasi, because the secret of this place is so complex that I don't know if it is necessary to appeal to God to find the light of truth, or just to continue believing in the diverse theories provided by the traffickers of  mystery or the interesting comments that are sewn about the sacred mountain.

It was April 1990 when Marcahuasi called me once more, to continue living the world of Daniel Ruzo, but I never imagined that the words I heard in my dream, when I descended from Marcahuasi around Upica in my second trip, were going to move time backwards. I was going to recognize that voice, and find myself face to face with dream and reality!

People arrived at Marcahuasi using this mode of transport until the start of 1990. It was part of the adventure, the call of the mountain.

In this trip I met many interesting people, interesting because they had new forms of seeing Marcahuasi, and I interviewed many people, recording conversations and capturing beautiful photos, and like this the time was diluted between Marcahuasi and ourselves, similarly during the walk to the Fortress; the people, the rocks, the sun and the wind.

When I arrived at the Fortress I had the impression of living an eternal infancy, of climb after climb, or walking, always with care, before the unleashing of the madness of the mystery of this place, the questions and the silence that surrounds everything.

A festival of emotions awaits us in Marcahuasi, where everybody learns something and when we go up to the Fortress our search for answers deepens. This only grows with every trip.

In this brief stop we made on top of the Fortress we had time to listen to everything we had recorded during the interviews, sat on the rocks defying everything about the place, and suddenly somebody arrived very carefully and approached us, without interrupting, but signalling that she also would like to hear the recording; we accepted her company, with a signal. When the recording ended she looked at us and smiled at everyone, and immediately looked at me and said "I want to speak with you!"

I want to speak with you - the instruction of Inmelda Phumpiu, where we had our meeting, and where she called me and I dreamt

Marcahuasi isn't just a physical adventure or some backpackers temptation, it's also a spiritual and emotional journey. Here we encounter people that are often very strange, and this woman I met in the Fortress was just that. Inmelda Phumpiu. A very different woman, that landed in my dream and also in my reality. 
"Why didn't you reach the Fortress? Why didn't you reach the Fortress? You remember this voice? I've called you many times, and now I've met you". I was quiet, stunned, invaded by her expressions. Her voice convulsed in my mind, and I resisted responding, looking at her with an infinite silence. "Of course, ... Of course" I replied

Seeing the Fortress for the first time we say, "ahhh, how amazing", and then we go back. I don't know if this attitude upset the guardians of the Fortress, because in Upica they advised me and obliged me to return.

Many years had passed since I made my second trip to Marcahuasi, and in that opportunity I was going to go to the Fortress when we found ourselves between Cachu Cachu and this place, we observed it and said "Ahhh, there's the Fortress". Nobody had the enthusiasm to go up, so we all went back; returning because we were tired from the night we had just spent in the Amphitheatre. The next day we returned to Lima, and as soon as we left the town I was asleep. I dreamt of a woman behind me saying "Why didn't you reach the Fortress? Why didn't you reach the Fortress?" and in the struggle to discover who was this woman the truck stopped suddenly in the twists and turns of Upica. I tried to get back to sleep to find out who was this woman who was questioning me. I told this dream to my companions, and they laughed and poked fun at me. It remained just a dream from the point of crossing the bridge at Authisa, until this moment in the Fortress when Inmelda Phumpiu appeared, and silenced everyone.

I don't know if this was part of some call, or some punishment, but the dream I had here in the route down from Upica became reality years later. Punishment, such that, on every trip I have to reach the Fortress.

In Marcahuasi we ask deep questions, and very few know and answer. Inmelda Phiumpiu didn't go silent, not during any moment of the interview, debate and conversation. The evening of Marcahuasi was our enemy and we stayed in the Hut of Daniel Ruzo, while she camped below, amongst the craggs. We didn't meet after that in Marcahuasi, but we did in Lima.

Alexis patted my shoulder and in a low voice said "Poor Jose Luis, in what mess have you got yourself this time? ..."

In Marcahuasi we get ourselves in the mindset of want to know everything, yet understanding nothing. Attempting to be some sort of alchemist, getting to the bottom of every mystery, wouldn't work here; there are so many stories. Inmelda Phiumpiu said "To speak of Marcahuasi is to share not only your experiences, but also your knowledge and dreams with this place." "Why do so many people come to Marcahuasi?" "Why is Marcahuasi where it is in the map?" "Why did we choose it?" She has a response and with that she left, upright, and in every trip we make to the sacred mountain she guides us, present in the discovery that we all made, and we never forget her.

Marcahuasi is a place to escape and to find something ... something different, that is very personal to each and every one of us.

It isn't a question of simply revealing Marcahuasi to some visitors that don't see the plateau in some way. It's just that they haven't yet lived the experience necessary. We should spend less time worrying on that, and simply do more for Marcahuasi


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Next Post:  Children in Marcahuasi
Photos: John Ysrael Guevara

The Marcahuasi "Hut"

Winding back the clock the Hut of Daniel Ruzo, continues waiting for us. We must preserve it!

On the Marcahuasi plateau there are three places that the tourists prefer to camp: the Amphitheatre (the Marcahuasi Hotel), the Hut (where the difference between truth and mystery often confuses us), and much further to the south of the plateau at the Fortress, for its silence and enchantment.

The Hut, where Daniel Ruzo lived, wrote and cooked up his hypothesis about Marcahuasi. He spent many years next to the Monument to Humanity, contemplating the many faces, the shadows, and the shouts. With this sculpture he made this place known throughout Peru and the rest of the world.

Every tourist in Marcahuasi wants to have the perfect photo, unique and exclusive. The Monument to Humanity gives you this opportunity.

We can agree with some or all that Ruzo said about this place, but what is certain is that thanks to his diffusion of information about Marcahuasi many tourists now arrive here. That is a major recognition of his investigation here.

The Hut was constructed in a strategic place on the plateau. Here you find a large quantity of sculptures, such as the Monument to Humanity with its many faces, the Llama, the Chinaman, the Hippo, the Lion, the Condors, the Tortoise, the Monkey, the Toads, the German helmet, the sacrifice table, etc.

Curios hippopotamus, protecting the Monument to Humanity; a sculpture that is often overlooked by many tourists.

In these days we continue using the Hut and it is very useful, particularly for those tourists that come up without adequate information. I've camped in the hut and nearby on my trips, full of anecdotes and unique experiences, and besides to have the company of the Monument to Humanity is a significant privilege.

When there is no space to sleep in the Hut camping nearby is a good choice.

The Hut brings many memories of Daniel Ruzo, hiding his mysteries and confusing the tourist. This is another world with its own history, its ruins, sacrifices, your discoveries, the night and the strange revelations. This is how you find yourself in the Hut.

Everything found in Marcahuasi are links between man and nature. These ruins are a memory, connecting the past with the present.

A visit to the Hut doesn't take long, an exclamation, a stare when arriving and upon leaving, but the impression and the satisfaction of having seen it will last with you for the rest of your life. Here you find the present, here is the truth, and where you find what you want to find ...

When you camp in the Hut you can take a free yet imaginary trip to the world of Daniel Ruzo, to the enchantment that he had with Marcahuasi, making him construct the Hut and spending days, nights, and indeed years solitary with the cold, the rocks and the mystery. In the Hut we live an unexplainable triangle between the ascent, the people and the sculptures. Sufficient to not deny the reality that here we started loving Marcahuasi. Everybody gives in here, like in the case of the singer-songwriter Jaime Franco Bazo who sung "The Hut, you are magic, mystic, and mysterious ..."

"Green, blue. Red" or so said some tourists at four in the morning. I also saw these circles of colours, but at 6 in the morning and also many years later. I invite you to camp here ...

When we find ourselves at the Cross, placed here by the people of San Pedro de Casta, a place from where we can see the routes we could take to return, the long route and the short route, the road going to San Pedro de Casta, and indeed going on from there. Here we remember everything, the ascent we made, we feel a type of champion for everything we've done and lived. At these beautiful altitudes we take amazing photos, where the air doesn't intimidate us, and the scenery leaves us delirious with such beauty.

This scenery is part of the adventure, beautiful memories, to love and believe in the sacred mountain.

The Hut is a crucible of eternal memories, of undisturbed questions, where you can't distinguish the limits of the history and the myths, because here you find enigmatic knots that hold us captive, just like they did with the pioneer Daniel Ruzo.

The best parts of every trip are the emotions that we experience. To be in this place, next to the cross, is like having a new spark about what Marcahuasi is and what it gives us.

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Next Post: Interview of Peter Schneider
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

Graffiti in Marcahuasi

The scrawl that you can find on the rocks at Marcahuasi made by some visitors is an unrepairable damage. These "hight altitude graffiti artists" write their name in the rocks confusing the place with the streets of their city. This vandalism threatens the sculptures and nobody does anything to protect them.

Rock scrawled on by modern high altitude graffiti artists. How do we clean this? It's unrepairable.

This ugly fondness of painting and scratching the rocks isn't recent, because in the 80's when I went up for the first time I found lost names compromised in the process of destruction of the rocks, that at one point seemed to be the names of the calls of Marcahuasi.

Man always wants to leave something permanent wherever he goes and the petroglyphs, geoglyphs and pictographs are strange techniques that were used and show us, from the dawn of time. If the ancient graffiti artist represented what they saw and lived, the youth of today demonstrate something more complicated, for the difficult times that we live and reveal our frustrations and rejection. However this does not give us license to destroy Marcahuasi.

This image is a petroglyph, a sign or warning of something, perhaps the "missing link".

The lovers of the sacred mountain ought to get involved in caring for nature, because the rocks cannot talk or protest about the pseudo-graffiti artists. We ought to respect their petrified silence because Marcahuasi is an eternal presence.

The images recorded in the rocks of Marcahuasi, through the petroglyphs, geoglyphs and pictographs are messages from a generation that is signalling something to us. Perhaps these ancient expressions were the graffiti of ancient man.

The names recorded in the rocks of Marcahuasi could be memories of some love, a date with the mountain, a demonstration of our identity, or some rebellion for not finding what we wanted, or even some odyssey that was lived. No matter which of these is the real experience behind the graffiti, it is a testimony that they came here.

The mystical cross, a pictograph recorded using some strange pigment. What is the message?

The constant threats that the rocks of Marcahuasi suffer. The same tourists with their disorganised visits, scrawling, the rubbish, and the cruellest of all, the inclemencies of the weather. Every time we go to Marcahuasi we are indebted for the destruction that we cause. We enjoy the bonfires, but the unsupportable bombard not only destroys the rocks but also pollutes the legends and mystery of Marcahuasi.

"The dance of the octopus". An ancient expression, a mystic ritual. There is a free pass to write on the rocks, and destroy them, but who can save them from this scrawled beating? How do we repair the damage? How to save this natural marvel? How to sow a seed in the heart of the visitor of a love for Marcahuasi. I feel like a disabled person in this respect. Help me to recover from this petrified shock.

If painting, scratching and recording on the rocks was and is a human instinct, and if ancient man used it to communicate with his gods, why does man of today do it?


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Next Post: The "hut" of Daniel Ruzo
Photos : John Ysrael Guevara

I want to return ...

He wasn't an envoy sent by Tony Blair, nor by Prince Charles, and not even a businessman from Chelsea, or from those rock dinosaurs Rod Stewart or Paul McCartney. Not even an anglican missionary. Andy Jefferson is a typical Englishman that arrived in Peru in July 2010, not only to see Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Colca, Nazca, Chan Chan, and Huaraz, but also especially to visit Marcahuasi.

Andy Jefferson - "The Lord" 

We go to Marcahuasi, with the same motivation as always, but the journey is a series of surprises. The silence of Andy, was like some of the immense abysses that we travel past, or like the monotonous noise of the buses that took us there. I don't know if he had his emotions imprisoned, but from his mouth we had no expression of complaint or euphoria. I only know that the heat of the sacred mountain grew more and more, and the adventurers rucksack he brought from England was full of questions for this meeting in Marcahuasi.

San Pedro Casta lives the national holidays to the rhythm of the arrival of the tourists, the square full of backpackers, similarly the tourist office, and the loudspeakers repeated : "Please community, we need 2 horses, and 4 donkeys ..."

I see no red bus! There's no Big Ben around here! Where am I ? 
No Andy, you're in San Pedro de Casta we told him "Ah, ok, ok!" 

Andy, in one glance, took in and grasped this madness of the call to Marcahuasi. But he continued silent, not asking anything, just accepting what was passing around him, cold like the bitter winters of his land, and cold of another sort was waiting for us in the amphitheatre.

We left the town very late, because Ysrael and Carlos wanted it like this! [editor : because they arrived late]. The route varied with everything that it handed to us ... the route of portachuelo (long track). Andy took the lead, and nobody in the group passed him, his pains, his tiredness, and his ... only he knew what. We arrived at the "marcahuasi hotel" by night, full of backpackers, full of shouting ... I don't know if it was of happiness, of pain, or of madness.

"With every experience there is suffering, and for any suffering there is something good later on". This is what Andy said when he had removed the burden of the ascent.

The next day, between jokes and laughs, we prepared the "brunch", and then we headed to the ruins of Huacracocha and the hut, where the Monument to Humanity waited for us. A sculpture that silenced Andy even more, his appreciation was censured; I think he asked and they responded in silence.

He said, "Uuuuuuhhhh, y ..." and then stayed quiet, petrified like the shout of this mysterious cyclops. 

Then we walked via the Lake of Huacracocha and the cliffs, cliffs that filled Andy with fear, like an English joke ... nobody understands it ... perhaps in his country they remember that cliffs are a place to fill you full of emotions and questions.

"Marcahuasi is different for everybody. It's a place of discovery" (Andy) We returned to the amphitheatre tired, thirsty and hungry. We cooked rice, with onion and tuna ... and also cooked our ideas and theories of what is, and was, Marcahuasi.

When the night invades the amphitheatre, when the inner warming starts to have an effect, the bonfires start to surrender to the cold, Andy, forgetting for an instant his origins, and we are reminded of Jose Antonio, Jose Antonio of the beautiful Chabuca Granda, and we finish the night off with a salsa of Grupo Niche, singing and dancing ... that, that's it, cheers Andy. That is the westerner we wanted to see ...

"I liked spending a night in the amphitheatre" affirmed Andy.

We still needed to got to Cachu Cachu and the Fortress, so that's where we went. The journey was seasoned with photos and lots of enthusiasm, when we arrived at the fortress, "This is a place with significant mystery, who lived here, and why, there was sufficient defence back in the fortress, no?" For something? Andy made this immense question in that blanket of mystery and silence. This lives and hides in Marcahuasi.

We returned to the amphitheatre to recover, and spend our last night, a night full of conversation, of music and singing. There we met Marco Antonio, a friend of these altitudes, a type of free paparazzi, self-styled searcher for UFOs.

To end the trip to the sacred mountain, Andy left these reflections about San Pedro de Casta, Marcahuasi and the tourists :
- "I believe that San Pedro de Casta ought to do much much more to attract and cater for tourism, in books, and tourist guides of Marcahuasi there is very little information to see all of these sculptures, at the most appropriate time of day etc"
- "Marcahuasi, for me, has it's place with a deep mystery in its rocks and ruins ..."
- "There was a lot of rubbish left by tourists, some caring for Marcahuasi, but others not. Some with a lack of respect for this sacred place".
- "Who can solve the insatisfaction of the tourist, the lack of information?" Asked several times on the plateau.

"Sat in the amphitheatre, if you look down, at the ground or at some point a short distance away, but not fixedly, relax yourself and your muscles, you can see air currents, or something of that form, ... only if you relax completely and let the moment take you, air currents? or something similar. The important thing is I saw them, and felt it". 

Our English medium affirmed it like this. Must be true, no? 

Andy returned to his country on the 17th of September, perhaps missing his steak with "English-style egg" (half raw) [editor : a peruvian belief that people in England eat half cooked eggs, God knows where they got that idea], but left with the promise to return and perhaps compromise himself with some of his reflections. In Marcahuasi, the law of giving and receiving is important. Andy, that the sacred mountain has captivated you with its mysteries, and they will accompany you, as Marcahuasi demands.

"I feel nostalgic for Marcahuasi - I want to return"

You have to look at both sides of the equation; the national tourists, and the foreign tourists. Of the believers and the non-believers of the Marcahuasi mystery. Of those that go up a single time, and those that return continually. Andy's visit, like that of many others that came or will come from afar, is valient, and these are the primary free diffusors of the sacred mountains significance. For that it's great to share our knowledge of Marcahuasi, and with all of those that arrive at the plateau, to not only admire it, but also to make it your own. It's the case of Patricio Marambio (Chile), Alan Mathew (USA), Peter Schneider (Switzerland), and many others that have no problem in identifiy themselves with Marcahuasi.

Thanks Andy Jefferson, for the diffusion that you do for Marcahuasi, and for allowing me to write of your visit, of many silences, and surprises; surprises for the delight of this backpacker world of Marcahuasi.

Photos from the experience
-Andy and the mystical cross

"Here on the mystical cross I felt a tremble en my hands - there was something - I'm sure of it -" said Andy, after the ritual of concentration and meditation.

"There are many interesting places, especially the Monument to Humanity, the fortress, the chulpas and the lake of Cachu Cachu" the English lord emphasized.

"Another hot drink?" - "Yes, thanks..." replied andy - "It's Marcahuasi tea" -replied Marco Antonio. "Ok, it's good, just like the tea from my country" - said Andy.


-Andy and Carlos ... washing plates with the water ....

"Save the water Andy, or do you want to go down and bring more back up again?" - advised Carlos, "For me that wouldn't be a problem, whereas for you, I think it may be more difficult gordito..."


- Andy and the Huacracocha ruins ...

The chulpa ruins of this necropolis of Huacracocha were something that he liked a lot, but demanded their preservation, and more respect from those who visit them.


Next Post: Graffiti in Marcahuasi
Photos: John Ysrael Guevara

Foreign Writers and Marcahuasi

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

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

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.

Read the original post (in Spanish)

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Photos : John Ysrael Guevara