On the road between Jauja (located in Junin at the center of the country) and Pachacamac (in Lima), the Incas built a monument to their own skills -an imposing stairway consecrated to the Apu Pariacaca and a gift that was impossible to better.

Half way between Cusco and Cajamarca, on the great Inca road that crossed the peaks of Chinchaysuyo is Jauja a provincial capital of the Empire. Its large size, population and beautiful designed fascinated the conquistadors, who promptly made it their capital city. Although they later found it expedient to move their capital to the coast, Jauja remained important throughout the colonial period as an obligatory stop on the journey from Lima to Cusco, whilst it gained a reputation as a city with a healthy climate. The new arrivals were not, however, the first to travel this route, the Spaniards did as they had done in almost all the territory they conquered, simply following the astonishing roads left by the Incas. It may well have been superimposed upon an earlier route, but the Inca road was built to link the centers of worship of two ancient and important divinities they had adopted: Pariacaca and Pachacamac.

The road starts from Jauja and runs west crossing the powerful river Mantaro near the village of "Parco", where the remains of the old Inca bridge can still be seen next to the Spaniards' early stone bridge. One of many tracks on the west bank of the river, its antiquity only becomes apparent when you are approaching Tambojasa and is clearer still on the plain leading to the valley of the river Cochas, by Escalera creek. The stone steps by which the road descends into the valley are only the preamble to the great stairway facing the snow-covered mountain. In the valley itself the road is visible, where it can be seen at all, as a slight terracing retained by a course of stones and remains thus until it crosses the road to Tanta 14,700 feet or so above sea level on the lower slopes of "Portachuelo" hill. From this point it is impossible to mistake, wide, paved with stones for long stretches and well preserved as far as the top of the stairway facing two beautiful snowy peaks.

Descending its 1800 steps, now a little disturbed after so many years of neglected, is an exercise in breathless admiration in which you cannot help but ask yourself what made the Incas build such a monument on the roof of the world, and how did they do it? It is as high as a 100 story building, made from thousands of stone blocks and in some parts is up to 13 feet wide. Like every great work of the past it was built for the Gods, a cyclopean climax to the veneration of Pariacaca, whose place of worship stood at the summit. It was destroyed in the 17th century during a move to eliminate idolatry -a sort of lobotomy on the Andean memory - and its exact location is now a mystery.

The snowy peaks are visible from anywhere on the stairway and at the very bottom you can see "Culebrayoc" and "Escalera" lakes surrounded by chill wetlands filled with ducks and gallaretas among other birds. Truly a pleasure. At the foot of the stairway is "Cuchimanchay", a rocky grotto formed by great stones that have fallen from the hill and containing 10,000 year old rock paintings of camelids that are beautifully fluent.