ON THE TRAIL OF ART AND HISTORY That way lies a string of fascinating villages, churches and archaeological sites, enough to satisfy any curious traveler. It takes a special effort to escape the gravitational pull of Machu Picchu. Both literally and symbolically you must turn your back on the Sacred Valley, and take the road less traveled towards Lake Titicaca. About 13 km. from the center of Cusco you come to Saylla, a village locally famous for chicharron, deep fried pork. About thirty restaurants offer the dish, so if it's lunch time and his-little-piggy is your fancy, hit the brakes here. Just one kilometer ahead lies Huasao, off the highway to the left. Here a more mysterious activity lures Cusquenos to spend their money. Want to know why your wife left you? Who stole your bicycle? Want to get back at the s.o.b that fired you?, just want your fortune told, or blessing from the Apus for a new business? Do you want to feel better? Spells, fortunes, offerings, healings - Huasao is the place. Right by the Plaza on Calle 28 de Julio, the Casa del Curandero displays the three coca leaves of the kint´u, as a professional symbol like the striped barber's pole. Down the street on Av. Juan Velasco Alvarado a rival, the Centro Exótico Naturista Huasawino, offers cards, coca, tobacco and caedle readings. Ten more kilometers brings you to the turn-off for Tipon. One must drive through the village of the same name and about 5km. beyond to reach the Inca ruins of Tipon. One can easily spend all day exploring this site, climbing up the magnificent terraces with intricate and still functioning water systems to the U shaped temple and the 1.4 km. long aqueduct. Higher up you will come to scores of overgrown terraces on the hillsides, and reach an old pre-inca fort on the hilltop. The sacred mountain of Pachatusan (Cross-beam of the universe) looms over the site. This was a royal Inca estate, but like other places o this circuit, it does not get many visitors. 2km. beyond the Tipon turn-off lies Oropesa, Cusco's breadbasket, a town with 47 bakeries plus a splendid colonial church with fine murals. Seven more kilometers south the shallow, read-lined lake of Huacarpay fills the Lucre basin, an important stop for migration birds, and the birthplace of the Inca Huascar, rival of Atahualpa. The ruins of Huascar's estate line the lake shore. On the heights across the highway, the Wari site of Pikillaqta looms over the landscape. It is a massive grid of block-like buildings which once stood two-and three-stories high over the Cusco landscape, a center for imperial Wari ceremony and feasting, according to the archaeologists. Formerly stuccoed with the abundant white gypsum of the area, it must once have dazzled the locals. But Wari collapsed around 900AD, and the locals avenged themselves by burning the site. As the road climbs over a rise you pass Rumicolca, a Wari aqueduct which watered Pikillaqta. The incas remodeled it, turning it into a massive gateway and control point for the Huatanay valley. At Km. 37 stands the right-hand turn-off to Andahuaylillas. This village retained much of the colonial charm that has disappeared elsewhere. Towering pisonay trees dominate the plaza, where a famous colonial church stands on the foundations of an Inca palace. Some forgotten marketing expert called this church the "Sistine chapel of the Americas". Notwithstanding the hyperbole, the place should not be missed. The walls are and ceiling are covered in colorful frescoes and gold leaf, and hung with superb religious art. A mural in the entranceway has a highly instructive depiction of Hell, and how to avoid it. An inscription inside the entranceway is written in no fewer than five languages - Latin, Spanish, Quechua, Aymara. and the fifth? Pukina. This is probably the only time in your life you will see anything written in the now extinct language of the Uros of Lake Titicaca. A final hill climb to Canincunca ends at Km. 47, where a small but richly decorated colonial chapel marks the end of the circuit. Once again, you have to look for the ecónomo, this time around the back of the building. The church has a sumptuous gilded altar, and densely painted murals. Across the highway stands a pre-inca pyramid, perhaps a Tiwanaku structure, which has been eroded by time, and partially destroyed by the construction of the highway. The church overlooks the lake of Urcos where, legend has it, the Inca Huascar's gold chain was thrown to prevent it falling into the hands of the Spaniards.