| Living in a deep canyon in the Andes Mountains gives | | | | promising, a little ways above me. It wasn't very dark |
| me lots of opportunities for hiking and exploring. One | | | | but was in front of a large boulder so I figured it would |
| thing it doesn't provide are leisurely "walks in the park", | | | | be sheltered from the breeze. I pulled myself up on top, |
| which is fine with me. I don't particularly like flat trails, | | | | only to be disappointed in how cool the surface of the |
| either hiking or mtn. biking. Ups, downs and curves are | | | | rock was. However, half of it was covered with a thin |
| what make a trail interesting and enjoyable. Here you | | | | layer of dirt and that was warm, so I settled in there. |
| can follow the rivers up the canyon or down the | | | | From my high vantage point above the ruins, I could |
| canyon. You can hike down to the river or up to the | | | | see the canyon and mountain ridges on both sides. |
| mountain peak or ridge. And if you are making a round | | | | The one on the left was about 1000 feet above me |
| trip of it, you will be doing both up and down. There are | | | | and the one on the right was about the same |
| very few level trails. Even those that traverse a | | | | elevation as I was at. Down past the mouth of the |
| mountain usually go up and down because of cliffs | | | | canyon I could see the Cotahuasi Canyon and halfway |
| and gullies, as well as the fact that the villages are at | | | | up to the high plains on the right of that was the village |
| different elevations. There is also no such thing here as | | | | of Huarhua, where there are ancient salt mines. The |
| a recreational trail, they are all either used by people | | | | sun was shining there and after awhile I noticed that a |
| and animals to get from village to field or village to | | | | patch of sunlight was making its way up the canyon |
| village, or they were used for that in times past, during | | | | towards me. Soon I was basking in a bit of sun, |
| the Inca and Wari (pre-Inca) cultures. Most people here | | | | enjoying my lunch, and thinking what it must have been |
| can't quite comprehend why I am out hiking just for fun, | | | | like here during the time of the Incas. |
| and not because I have to get from one point to | | | | On the ridge to the right were numerous ruins, including |
| another. | | | | a fairly large city just out of my view, which was |
| My favorite trails are the old ones that aren't normally | | | | blocked by the mountain behind me. Below me on both |
| used any more. Cattle, burros, mules, and a few | | | | sides of the canyon, were the remains of terraced |
| herders use some, as they look for areas to graze; | | | | fields, still visible under the layer of brush and cactus. |
| others are overgrown and unused. Because the trails | | | | The only water nearby was down in the bottom of |
| were so well built, and it is quite dry here most of the | | | | the canyon where the stream was fed by a spring |
| year, it is usually possible to still follow the trails, and | | | | hidden in some almost inaccessible step at the bottom |
| with not too much work clear them enough to make | | | | of the dry waterfall. Below this is a fern covered falls, |
| them usable. I usually carry a pair of pruning shears | | | | and then the stream continues down the canyon for a |
| with me when I go hiking, so that I can do trail | | | | few miles before either drying up or going underground. |
| maintenance on these old trails. I have noticed that | | | | This section of the canyon is the most beautiful, as |
| after I have cleared some of the trails, other people | | | | there is always water flowing, and there are numerous |
| and animals have used them. However no one else | | | | pools, small falls, trees and other greenery. It is very |
| seems to consider doing any trail maintenance. If the | | | | difficult to traverse this area because of the falls, but it |
| trails are used enough, that keeps them clear. If they | | | | can be done without ropes if you know where the |
| aren't used they become overgrown. The only | | | | bypass routes and old trails are. |
| exception seems to be if there is a landslide or | | | | My curious mind was wondering how much interaction |
| rockslide, then someone may do some work on the | | | | there had been between the ancient villages and what |
| trail, but it usually takes a long time before they get | | | | their daily life was like, all the time marveling at the |
| around to it. | | | | amount of work it must have been to live during that |
| The whole area around Cotahuasi, the province of La | | | | time. Just going down to get water would have taken |
| Union (like a county in the U.S.), was inhabited by the | | | | about an hour, assuming that the trails were in better |
| Incas (technically only the top leader was the Inca, the | | | | condition then than they are now. All of the crops that |
| people were Quechua, the same group of people who | | | | were grown down there, would have had to been |
| make up most of the inhabitants today), and before | | | | carried up to the villages for storage and use. Also |
| them the Wari. As a result there are ancient ruins, and | | | | none of the fields in this area were irrigated. There are |
| trails between them, throughout the mountains and | | | | no water sources above the stream, and no canals |
| canyons. The Inca believed that the mountains were | | | | coming from the area above the high waterfall. |
| gods, and they seemed to like to be near their gods. | | | | Possibly there was more rain then, but the climate now |
| Ridges and other high points were very popular places | | | | only allows for about a three to four month growing |
| to build their villages, and they buried their dead nearby | | | | season without irrigation. Did they also have fields |
| on other high points. This area is all volcanic, with lots of | | | | down lower near the village of Cotahuasi, which can |
| large boulders that have fallen down; many creating | | | | be irrigated? Did they trade with others for the |
| caves or hollow spots underneath them. There are | | | | products they needed? I know that people came from |
| also lots of caves on the sides of the cliffs and | | | | long distances to get salt from the mines in Huarhua. |
| mountains. These were favorite burial places if they | | | | There is still a large network of old trails going in all |
| were near a village. Another method was holes dug | | | | directions from there. They had llamas and alpacas, |
| on ridge tops, and then they covered them with rocks, | | | | which could carry small loads, but no horses, mules or |
| sometimes level with the ground and other times | | | | burros. It is common even today for the people to |
| making a mound. I enjoy exploring and finding hidden | | | | have a couple of different homes, one in one village, |
| ruins and tombs, but I don't know anything about | | | | and one miles away in another area. They move back |
| archeology, so I have no idea what era or culture they | | | | and forth depending on the time of the year and the |
| are from. | | | | crops that are being planted and harvested. Most |
| The problem with building the villages up high was that | | | | people live in the villages, and go out daily to their fields |
| there was no farmland there, and usually no water. So | | | | to work them. It is not like where I grew up in |
| there were trails going down to the terraced fields on | | | | Minnesota where we lived on our farm and went into |
| the lower and gentler mountain slopes, and to the | | | | the town to go shopping or go to school. |
| rivers or springs to get water. There is an intricate | | | | The loss of the warm sunlight and what felt like the |
| network of canals here to bring water to the fields and | | | | start of a drizzle put an end to my wonderings about |
| lower villages. These date from the Inca period or | | | | the past and I got up to look around, now wondering if |
| before, and are still in use today. However even the | | | | the rain I could see a couple of miles away on the high |
| Incas couldn't make water flow uphill, although it | | | | plain was going to come my way. I was surprised to |
| sometimes looks like it does. I am constantly amazed | | | | notice a low opening underneath the large boulder right |
| and wondering about how much time and labor they | | | | behind me; I hadn't even seen it before. I pushed aside |
| must have spent hauling water up to their villages, and | | | | the brush and saw a number of human bones and a |
| what they carried it in (From my research, it sounds | | | | few pottery pieces scattered around in the dirt. Just to |
| like they used large pottery jars with narrow necks). | | | | the left was another opening; this cave was filled with |
| On a recent hike I went to a hilltop above Alluay | | | | more bones, and at least 14 skulls. I suppose an |
| Canyon, which is up and over a mountain ridge above | | | | archeologist could find some of the answers to my |
| Cotahuasi. Alluay Canyon is one of my favorite places | | | | questions by doing research here, as well as in the |
| here, and it is nearby so I spend a lot of time hiking | | | | ruins of the small village right below me. I could only |
| there. In spite of its closeness to Cotahuasi, almost no | | | | think that these were the remains of the people that I |
| one goes there and I consider it like my own private | | | | was wondering about - what were their lives like and |
| canyon. It is about six miles long, if you could follow the | | | | how did they survive from season to season, year to |
| winding stream at the bottom of the canyon. The | | | | year? Were they the ancestors of some of the |
| stream is just a trickle or even dry in many places | | | | people I know down in the village now? If only these |
| much of the year, but can be a raging torrent when | | | | bones could talk, what stories they would have to tell |
| there are heavy rains up on the high plains at the foot | | | | me! |
| of Nevado Solimana. The stream is also fed by | | | | Forgetting about the weather, I decided to continue |
| numerous small springs along the way, but that isn't | | | | searching for more graves up above and found a |
| enough to keep it flowing during the dry season. | | | | number of more sites, most with a few bones and a |
| The canyon can be accessed on both ends, as well | | | | skull or two. There was no more pottery or other |
| as in the middle, but it isn't possible to hike it from one | | | | artifacts, and no pieces of clothing. However I did see |
| end to the other, due to a large waterfall, which is | | | | a piece of coarse brown cloth on the main trail on the |
| about 500 feet high. It is dry much of the year, but is a | | | | way up, just before I reached the first ridge. It was |
| beautiful sight after a few days of rain. It is possible to | | | | right in the trail and was not there a week ago when I |
| hike around the falls, which is the trail that I used to | | | | hiked up there. It looked just like the cloth I have seen in |
| reach the hilltop mentioned above. It was a warm | | | | other gravesites in the area. The tomb raiders are still |
| sunny morning but by the time I reached there at 1:00 | | | | active here, anything that looks like a tomb is usually |
| pm, heavy clouds had rolled in and the slight breeze | | | | dug open and the contents are often scattered |
| was cool. I decided to find a dark rock to sit on while | | | | around. Having reached a very steep area, and what |
| eating my lunch, knowing that the rock would still be | | | | looked like the end of possible gravesites, I turned |
| warm from the morning sun. I was on a small saddle | | | | around and headed back down. The sun even got |
| with the ruins covered hill to my right, and a steeper | | | | below the clouds, warming my way before |
| boulder covered hill to my left. The ruins are quite | | | | disappearing behind the distant mountain range. Other |
| overgrown with prickly brush and cactus, and I knew | | | | than all the stickers in my sock and shoes, in spite of |
| there weren't any suitable rocks on the top of the hill, | | | | wearing leather boots and gaiters, it was a pleasant |
| so I decided to go left. | | | | hike back, arriving home just after dark, thankful I had |
| In about 100 feet I reached a very large boulder, which | | | | remembered my headlight. |
| has a few open graves under one side of it. However | | | | Where to next? A friend told me about another |
| the top is at quite a slant so I kept scrambling up the | | | | nearby cave with partial mummies still in it. I have also |
| hillside. It seemed that all of the rocks were either | | | | seen photos of intact mummies in a cave at the top of |
| white, and therefore cool, or too steep of an angle to | | | | a mountain that is a few hours away. In my previous |
| sit on. The climb was getting steeper and I would soon | | | | two attempts, I ran out of time before I found the |
| be reaching a shear rock wall, but I still hadn't found a | | | | cave. So much to do, so little time. At least I don't have |
| suitable spot. Finally I found a rock that looked | | | | a desk job! |