Overview
Waqrapukara Full Day Tour, Discovering the majestic Inca construction of Waqrapukara or “horn-shaped fortress”, located in the canyon of the mighty Apurimac river, will be an unforgettable experience, since it is a hidden treasure for travelers who are looking for something different and with few people. This beautiful sacred place combines an incredible work in stone with spectacular natural formations and small lagoons around.
Tour Waqrapukara Full Day Tour
Waqra is “horn” in Spanish. Pukara is equivalent to strength. The “horns” rise 4,300 meters above sea level, on the summit of a huge ravine covered with forests that crown the chasms that overlook the Apurimac River canyon. The archaeological monument is surrounded by impressive platforms, squares and a forest of stones that resemble thrones with mythological giants contemplating the Andean landscape.
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Waqrapukara Full Day Tour FAQs
It is a fortress of pre Inca and Inca construction. In the Pre Inca Period it was a small citadel, for this reason they called it "Llaqta Pukara" where the Qanchi leader lived, and family, also used as an astronomical observatory; He had a shrine to God Teqci Pachakamaq Wiraqocha.
First, it was built by the Qanchi ethnic group in the period of the Auqarunas 1500 to 1000 BC. The current construction is from the Inca Period, it was made in the Inca Wayna Qhapaq period, with the intervention of architects of that government, also involved Qanchimachu and Ttito Q’osñipa.
Why in the time of the Auqarunas, there is already a need to form warrior men and places to defend the territory conquered by ethnicity and tribe. Not only to defend their territory and the leader. In pre-Inca and Inca times, these leaders were called curacas, and in the Colonial Era it was called Caciques. In the Purunrunas period there was no need for pucaras, because they lived in a place they wanted.
The Q'anchis "Believed, that there is a Maker of all created things, which they call Teqci Wiraqocha." "To worship the sun, they should have taken them from the Incas." (Pedro Cieza, Chronicles of Peru) One day a man came named Contiti Wiraqocha Pachayachacheq, San Pedro de Cacha and taught them of the Creator God, and the men of Canas who occupied Cacha, wanted to kill him, but fire came down from heaven and they were afraid and escaped from the place. In memory of this fact, they built a temple in Raqchi. (Juan de Betanzos, Narration of the Incas, 1551)
It has a triple jamba cover, this means that it is very sacred. Instead, the gods created by man, such as the sun god, the moon, the stars and others have their sanctuaries with double jamb covers. God Tecsi Pachakamaq Wiraqocha, called invisible God, the chronicler Santa Cruz. This deity was welcomed by the Incas, for this reason a temple or sanctuary was also built in the city of Cusco, it was in the place of the Cathedral. (Chronicler Juan Santa Cruz Pachacuti).
This chronicler was a native of Urcosuyo sector that limits the territory of Qanchi ethnicity, his father was Diego Felipe Condorcanqui. He presents God Pachakamaq Wiraqocha as the Creator God of the sun, the moon, nature and man. He is also called Wiraqocha Pachayachacheq. He is the God of the Q’anchis, the one worshiped in Waqrapukara. This deity has a plan to solve the problem on earth. (Chronicler Santa Cruz)
For the enmity they maintained after the battle in the pampas of Cangallo (Checacupe) and Combapata. In this battle they lost the Q’anchis against the Inka army commanded by the Inca Wiraqocha. The other reason was the collection of taxes on products, objects of silver and with the military mita that they had to contribute to the Inca government. In the period of Wayna Qhapaq was the curat Ttito Q’osñipa in the Pomacanchi sector. (Fredy Caballero)
Wayna Qhapaq sends an army to quell the Qanchi army led by curaca Ttito Q’osñipa. The Qanchi leader is heading towards the city of Cusco, to add more soldiers and extend their territory to the territory dominated by the Inca. The meeting was in the Pampas of Phiñaypampa, near Corma, in this battle the army of Ttito Q’osñipa loses, a group of Q’anchis soldiers are taken prisoner… (Dr. Vargas)
Ttito Q’osñipa returns to the Waqrapukara fortress and resists the Inca army for about a month. When they deprived the Q’anchis of water, they surrendered and were taken prisoners to Cusco, more than one hundred Q’anchis along with curaca Qanchi. In Cusco the sentence was going to be the death penalty for the rebels; but Wayna Qhapaq, forgives them, only make them cut the ears of the Q’anchis, as a sign of rebellion. He recommended that they would change their behavior. Before the cut, he made them dance the Qanchi tusuy… (Dr. Vargas)
Wayna Qhapaq, with its thousands of soldiers are heading towards the Ecuadorian territory, many ethnic groups from the north are defeated and conquered, the most important being of the Cañari ethnic group. They return with war skills and Cañarís prisoners, a part of them were located by the place of Picchu in the city of Cusco and some of them were brought to the territory of the curate Qanchi, then he was already an Inca general, to whom the Inca gave A ajlla as a wife.
