Not only is it one of the most visited ski resorts in Chile, but also one of the few places that hold the impressive legacy of the Inca empire in Chile.

Not only is it one of the most visited ski resorts in Chile, but also one of the few places that hold the impressive legacy of the Inca empire in Chile.If you are a snow lover, probably more than once have you skied in the mountains of Portillo. There, next to the classic yellow building of the winter center, lies the lagoon of the Inca and, with it, one of the most unknown and spectacular legends of the Andes mountain range.

By: Faro Travel / www.faro.travel 

To know it, we must go back more than 500 years to pre-Columbian America, when the Incas dominated much of northern and central Chile. It was at that time that Prince Illi Yupanqui married Princess Kora-llé, the most beautiful woman of the empire, on the shores of what we know today as the lagoon of the Inca.

As part of the ritual, after the celebration the princess had to walk down a very narrow path, with her wedding dress and jewelry. However, the weight of her clothes and the pebbles on the road made her lose her balance and fall to a deep cliff.

Hearing the cries for help, Illi Yupanqui ran as fast as he could to rescue his beloved, but by the time Kora-lle arrived she was already dead. Amid deep sorrow, the prince decided to give his wife a special burial, submerging his body in the lagoon.

As the woman's body sank, the waters began to change color, acquiring an intense emerald tone, the same of the eyes of Kora-llé, that today we can admire from Portillo. It is said that at night it is possible to hear the cries of lamentation of the prince, who still suffers from the loss of his wife.

Do you dare to go to this corner of the mountain range after knowing this story?