Little Known Facts about Peru History: Choqequirau? What’s that?
What’s that? I didn’t know about Choqequirau (pronounced Cho-kee-ke-rau) until Carlos, our Peruvian host "father," grew absolutely ebullient in singing its praises one night at dinner. Usually, Carlos says little – he doesn’t speak much English, and too often, his bursts of Spanish either leave us glassy eyed, or prompt a stumbling response that tells him we’ve missed the point. He lets his wife, Zonia, carry the conversation. That night, he dug out a two-page travel article from the June 3, 2007, New York Times touting Choqequirau as the "other Machu Picchu." Another spectacular lost Inca city, and piece of Peru's history, Choqequirau hasn’t become a major tourist destination because it’s too isolated. It’s a 100-mile drive (no train or regular bus route) from Cusco over less-than-perfect roads to get to the starting point at the tiny town of Cachora. Then, it’s a two-day hike or mule- or horseback-ride over two mountains. Last year, 6,800 visitors made it to Choqequirau. Machu Picchu gets more than 650,000 visitors a year.
We lingered another hour after dinner, peppering him with questions. "What’s it like? Describe it. How do we get there? Where do we stay? (What, no hostels there? No restaurants?) How much will it cost?" Each enthusiastic response generated another two questions. Each question generated a flurry of facts about Peru history. We had only to listen, nod, and formulate follow-up questions. It was one of our most exciting conversations, both because of what we learned of Peru history, and the focused language practice it afforded.
We didn’t get the subtleties, mind you, the details about Choqequirau, but clearly we understood that it is spectacular, and that a trek there, especially with Carlos as guide, would be a trip of a lifetime. What we did learn, though, is that even with a limited vocabulary, mastering the art of flipping out snappy questions is a great way to keep the conversation flowing – and shade in our grasp of the topic at hand, bit-by-bit. Add this technique to your language learning strategies; it is particularly helpful if you can start with questions requiring short, factual answers that can lead to other questions. Now, all we have to do is our follow-up research on Choqequirau. October 31 update: We did some research, found and bought a stunning bilingual book, Choqequirau, Historical and Ecological Sanctuary by Luis Lumbreras, Renzo Uccelli, and Walter Wust (published by Servicios Editoriales del Peru, goliar(at)tp(dot) com(dot)pe). Choqequirau is indeed the other Machu Picchu, an important part of Peru's history. (See www.choqequirau.com). Learn more about Choqequirau as an historical and ecological sanctuary; you can see photos of the place (which is where we got the ones in this blog.  --Posted by Ann October 31
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Add this to your facts about Peru history: Choqequirau.
