If you ever walked in the highlands of Peru you surely witness stone-made pedestrian roads crossing beautiful valleys and impressive mountains. These roads extend through the territories of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and are known as the Qhapaq Ñan built along the XIV and XV century as part of a political, military, ideological and administrative project that shaped the Incan empire of the Tahuantinsuyo.
This amazing road network gives birth to a handmade ancestral bridge, that dates back to those Incan times and is still alive in its people memory and costumes. Q’eswachaka, also known as the last Incan bridge is part of the historical and cultural heritage of Peru and surely is a must to know if you were impressed by this Incan road system. As good adventurers, we couldn’t miss it and let alone miss it being so close to it.
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On our way to Combapata
We started our journey leaving Cusco at 07:30 in the morning from the bus terminal to Sicuani hoping to have enough time to spend in Q’eswachaka.
We didn’t reach Sicuani, because we had to get off the bus in Combapata and continue in the direction of Yanaoca and then Quehue. In Combapata we found ourselves in the middle of a fair where we took the chance to have breakfast.
Any bus to Q’eswachaka?
After that, we crossed the fair and found the bus stop that would take us to Yanaoca, the capital town of the Canas province at forty minutes drive approximately. Once in Yanaoca, we found an ‘express’ taxi that wanted to take us on a round trip to Q’eswachaka for 100 soles. We didn’t have that money, so we dared to find some other alternatives. We found a car that took us to Quehue for four soles each, something we considered fair enough and then we could walk to the promised place.
After forty minutes, the bus stopped and left us at the entrance road for Q’eswachaka. Afraid of not being able to find a bus back to Yanaoca, we started our journey.
Q’eswachaka bridge?
On the road, we found locals who told us we were going to last two hours approximately to get to Q’eswachaka bridge. Calculating the hours left and the time we had to be back to take the last bus leaving for Yanaoca, we decided not to get to Q’eswachaka bridge this time 😰, we were running out of time, we had to leave the experience for another opportunity.
In the end
As mentioned lines above we could never arrive at Q’eswachaka bridge. In the path, we left that long-awaited wish to know it 😰. We were so close to doing it. However, we promised to come back and this time in a particular car following the route through the four lagoons described on the map and also looking for the famous caves of Ccarñahui. Looking forward to coming back!
