Coca Museum

The Coca Museum in Cusco opens on a chasqui, one of the Inca empire's relay runners, sprinting downhill along the Qhapaq Ñan with a wad of chewed coca in his cheek. It follows the chaskiwasi relay stations spaced along the royal road, the strict rules for passing a message without ever slowing down, and the harsh penalty for getting it wrong. Inside, small woven chuspa bags once used to carry coca sit alongside older Paracas-era ceramics showing chewers with one cheek swollen just like a runner's. Look closely at those faces before moving on to the road itself.