Balcon del Diablo

This guide to Balcon del Diablo, a cliffside opening above the Chacan river outside Cusco, starts with the local legend of a devil who tried to force his body through solid rock and left the crack behind. It traces how water, not brimstone, actually widened that seam over thousands of years into the balcony you're standing in, and follows a second thread linking the spot to Inca priests, the ceque lines running toward Chinchero, and the hawks that ride the gorge's updraft through the gap without a wingbeat. Lean toward the opening and feel the cold air rising off the river below.