���á�Գܳ���

Found near the "House of the Inca" in the Huanuco Pampa archaeological zone in central Peru, local archaeologists believe that the bath may have served a religious purpose for high-ranking members of the Inca empire, which 500 years ago extended from southern Ecuador to the center of Chile.

Luis Paredes Sanchez, project manager at Huanuco Pampa, said the structure was similar to "more hierarchical, restricted and sacred spaces within the Inca administrative centers, because rather than having a utilitarian or hygienic function, they also served for religious functions and worshiping ancestors."

The Huanuco Pampa archaeological site is part of the Qhapaq Nan project, a complex 25,000-kilometer-long road network that linked Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

But to experience ancient Peru at its wildest, this trek from Chavín, the original centre of Andean civilisation, to one of the great Inca sites at ���á�Գܳ��� Pampa, is hard to beat.

There’s nothing like riding a small sure-footed Andean horse into the mountains with a herd of llamas around you – unless it’s having a cold beer when you reach your final destination, which in our case was ���á�Գܳ��� Pampa, the biggest of all the storehouse complexes along the Great Inca Road.