Stories by Tony Bartelme

Discovering Peru Lost Incan city site of recently uncovered white stone llamas BY TONY BARTELME The Post and Courier Sunday, August 8, 2010 CHOQUEQUIRAO, Peru -- As the blistering afternoon sun lit up the ruins of an abandoned Incan city, we plunged into the cloud forest in search of llamas. We found them a half-hour later, down a twisting, knee-crushing trail: At least 24 llamas made of white stones set in the walls of terraces that spill like a waterfall down the flanks of a near-vertical mountainside. Photo Gallery Choquequirao, Peru Machu Picchu is one of the world's wonders, but Peru is filled with other less famous but equally important Inca sites, including the lost city of Choquequirao. Like Machu Picchu, Choquequirao was a key religious and economic center before it was abandoned to the Andean cloud forest in the 1500s. Unlike its more famous twin, Choquequirao is difficult to reach, a two-day hike through spectacular mountains, so only a handful of tourists per day explor