Cachicata Trek is an off the beaten track one day trail in Cusco. It takes you to the largest Inca Quarry. This trail is full of history and nature. It is one of those trails that is not so popular yet.
Ollantaytambo, the well known village in the Sacred Valley of Incas was also an administrative centre of Incas. When Pachacutec (Pachacuti) was the emperor of Inca, he ordered a construction of many sites including Machu Picchu and Choquequirao.
He also did a rapid development in Ollantaytambo. The village demonstrates some of the impressive stone works of Incas in the whole of Sacred Valley. The stones those were used for the construction were carved in Cachicata. The trail takes you right to the source of it.
Infact, the Incas also had plans to build more sites in Ollantaytambo but due to Spanish invasion they had to let go off the project. These finely carved pink marble stones known as cut stones are left scattered in the quarry which can be seen even today.
On this one day Cachicata Trek, you will be retracing the footsteps of Incas on the path they took to transport these stones from the Quarry to Ollantaytambo.
Furthermore, you can also visit the picturesque site, Inti Puku or the Sun Gate. It is 450 metres above the quarry.
Cusco Hotel Transfer
0600 AM
At 0800 in the morning we will be pick you up from your hotel in Cusco. Then we will embark in our private transport to Ollantaytambo. The journey will be along the Sacred Valley of Incas.
Once in Ollantaytambo, we will cross a small bridge and following the course of Urubamba river, we will begin the trail. In 2.5 hours we will be reaching 3000m from 2800m. We will be stopping at the site which once was home to the workers of the Quarry. Then we will be visiting the Quarry itself.
If you can, then we will continue further to see Inti Punku (Sungate). It offers a spectacular view of the snow capped peak of Veronica .
After this, we will start descending back the same way. From Ollantaytambo we will be driving you back to Cusco. We will be reaching Cusco at around 0600 PM.
We signed up for this full day tour to Cachicata Stone Quarry. It was a wonderful experience. The site was all for us and the guide was very informative and explained many interesting things. We highly recommend this before your trip to Machu Picchu.
