Peru Guide
The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
Espiritu Pampa
The ruins at ESPIRITU PAMPA – "Plain of the Spirits" – were discovered by Hiram Binhgam. After briefly exploring some of the outer ruins at Espiritu Pampa, Bingham decided they must have been built by Manco Inca's followers and deduced that they were post-Conquest Inca constructions since many of the roofs were Spanish-tiled. Believing that, at Machu Picchu, he had already found the lost city of Vilcabamba he was searching for, Bingham paid little attention to these newer discoveries. Consequently, as it was accessible only by mule, Espiritu Pampa remained covered in thick jungle vegetation until 1964, when serious exploration was undertaken by US archaeological explorer Gene Savoy. He found a massive ruined complex with over sixty main buildings and some three hundred houses, along with temples, plazas, wells and a main street. Clearly this was the largest Inca refuge in the Vilcabamba area, and Savoy rapidly became convinced of its identity as the true site of the last Inca stronghold. More conclusive evidence has since been provided by the English geographer and historian John Hemming who, using the chronicles, was able to match descriptions of Vilcabamba, its climate and altitude, precisely with those of Espiritu Pampa.
Getting to Espiritu Pampa requires expedition-type preparation, the hire of local guides (best done through Cusco tour agents) and possibly even mules. You'll need a week or more even to cover the nearer sites. There are no services or facilities here and the site is not is staffed by permanent onsite guardians, so they are free and open as long as you have permission from the Instituto Nacional de Cultura.
To visit the ruins at Espiritu Pampa independently, you can get there via the villages of PUKYURA and HUANCACALLE, in the Vilcabamba River valley. These settlements are reached in six hours by trucks which are usually easily picked up (small fee charged) at Chaullay on the Ollantaytambo– Quillabamba road.