Juchuy Coscco

This guide to Juchuy Coscco above Cusco's Sacred Valley opens with the eighth Inca, Viracocha, fleeing an approaching Chanca army and building this retreat as a private mirror of his own capital, while sending his son Pachacuti to defend the city instead. Pachacuti's victory reshaped everything: he deposed his own father and took the throne, leaving Viracocha to live out his life here in exile, a king with a great hall, storerooms and canals, but no empire. Look at the long stone hall behind you, forty meters that once sheltered his household, as you listen.