File number:- pba0124

© South American Pictures/ Kathy Jarvis

Peru. Choquequirao is a late Inca site at 3000m /9840 ft overlooking the Apurimac river on the western side of the Vilcabamba range. The name is derived from local words Choque - meaning unrefined gold and k'irau to swing as in a cradle. Bosses protrude from the walls of local stone set in mud mortar. Ropes of tough grasses were used to hold the thatch to these bosses.