Puncuyoc, Sacred Inca Sanctuary

The building shows evidence of having been plastered with reddish clay inside and out, which must have made it look something like a Santa Fe Pueblo. Life here for more than a night or two would have been bitter on this exposed cold mountain.

Although resembling a rather typical high status residence, some notable differences indicate its ceremonial use. The lower chambers contain large doorway-sized niches with round ring stones (eye binders) set in the center.

This is very similar to the so called "puma ring" building at Choquequirao. Unfortunately, whatever ritual or meaning was associated with these rings is lost to history. Also, unusual for an Inca site, we find no canal or water source.

Many Inca ceremonial sites seem to be placed on a ridge with a high mountain behind and a lesser peak to the front just as is Inca Wasi. The best examples are Pisaq, Machu Picchu and Choquequirao. At each of these sites the lesser peak contains a hill top ceremonial platform.

An exciting, exposed rock climb to the summit above Inca Wasi revealed only natural erosion. But I am coming to the conclusion that this place was built by folks with limited assets. Some things just could not be done in the grand old way.

The "piece de resistance," however, is the view from the main entrance. Both White and Lee describe the phenomenon that greeted us, but nothing could prepare us for the reality.

Shortly after high noon, the image of a great white rock tower (Yurok Rumi) is reflected in the small lake in the basin below as if it were the only thing in view. This appellation can only be seen from the central doorway! Chilled from more than the mountain breeze, we stand speechless as the reality and magic of this most sacred of Inca shrines overwhelms us.

Visiting the lake, we decided that the shores have been utilized as a working area for shaping blocks of granite into round pegs, eye binders and building stones. Lee reports a pile of some thirty pegs at the southeast corner of the lake.

We counted more than eighty with others scattered around the lake. Several partially completed blocks near a talus slide on the north side indicate that this was probably the source. I picked up several hematite hammer stones (martillos) used in the "pecking" technique.

A neat little fitted stone bano, undoubtedly ceremonial as no one would choose to bathe in this frigid water, lies just beyond the lake to the southwest.

Below the basin, above and below a spectacular 100-meter waterfall, we mapped two groups of field stone structures, each with similar sunken baths, which we named Pacchac unu bajo and alto (upper and lower waterfall). The upper group was built into a large boulder, typical of Inca shrines.

The building walls were only one meter high. At first we thought that these were remains of fallen walls but decided that they were in fact finished and intact structures.

My imagination envisioned a house with low walls and a high sloping thatched roof. This was indeed crude and hasty construction for an obvious high status site.

Another curious aspect is the lack of shaped or worked boulders in the area that are typical of such sites.

The following days were spent climbing the high summits, looking in likely places for undiscovered ruins and locating Inca roads. All being super fit, we covered a week's worth of exploration in a few days.

Basically, our predecessors had done a remarkable job of locating and mapping the region. We worked from dawn to dark filling my notebook with measurements, comments and drawings.

So far, we have located a few structures, corrected Vince's map and mapped an Inca road.

Moving base camp down to an unusual lake, LLana Cocha (dark lake), we examined a reported pre-Inca settlement on the cerro (hill) above called Lump'u Moqo. Not much is known about the people who occupied Vilcabamba before the Inca.

Only vague historical references are made to the Chancas, conquered by the Inca before the arrival of the invading Castilians. We do know that the Wari culture occupied the region some 400 years before the expansion of the Inca. These earlier people lived in round houses like those we examined above the lake.

So, I complete my journal. Joan reads a chapter aloud from Hiram Bingham's Lost city of the Incas. Hugh sips his martini.

Morning breaks, and I stroll out for a morning necessity. Before me is an unnaturally shaped boulder sitting in the open meadow. It is a sculptured representation of Cerro Ima rising through the mist above us.

Then, Hugh points out the near hill above our camp. Of course, we find an unreported pre-Inca settlement hidden in the dense vegetation. Several dozen circular depressions and low foundations are hidden on the forested hill. Out of time, we make a cursory inspection then depart for our waiting transport and the bright lights of Cusco.

We leave this and the moss-covered shapes we passed in thick fog late one evening for the next expedition.

The story ends for now. Puncuyoc was a very special ceremonial retreat built during the few years when Manco Inca resided at Vitcos or perhaps later by his son, Titu Cusi. Manco attempted to continue the traditions of the lost empire but lacked the resources of plentiful skilled workers.

The stacks of completed pegs and unfinished building stones indicate that much more was planned, perhaps another Machu Picchu? But then time ran out for the last of the Inca.