Exploring the Inca Agrriculture
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Mon 5 Jul 2010 07:48
Tapon which is the opposite direction to the Sacred Valley and where we have
explored, there is a one of the best examples of INCA agriculture and
irrigation here. It is also off the normal tourist path, not surprising as
it is gets little mention in the guides, and when we turned off the main
road to LA PAZ and headed up this gorge on a dirt road. We bumped and
rattled, the taxi surprisingly staying together, the boys thinking they are
on a roller coaster and Tracy getting worried, we weaved ourselves around
sharp bends, climbing vertically up one side of the valley. Moving through
mud brick villages that house today's population at the lower part, people
going to church (Sunday) and washing outside in these round big containers.
We kept climbing up and up, till eventually we again overlooking the valley,
at the top of the range, and then in this gorge you see these retaining
walls and tiers again.
What the Incas have done is in this hanging gorge they have basically filled
it in putting this big tires of flat agriculture space from one side to the
other, the retaining walls about 15 feet high out of stone, and then the
tires about the size of a football field. But they have captured the stream
and diverted it into a series of channels aqua ducts that can be pushed to
any part of the complex. As I sat there and talked it through with Sean,
(who is just soaking this up, understanding how the water runs without
pumps, how they get to different pastures etc) the magnitude of the earth
movement and landscaping for this to happen is just incredible and again all
hanging on the side or top of the Andes Mountain range. In this area the
buildings are not spectacular as they are small, rock buildings, but it is
the way they have mastered the agriculture and provide food and experiment
with different crops at different tiers that is amazing. I am still
astounded as to why they went to so much trouble doing this on the
mountains, when just below (1000 M) there is a rich flat river plain that is
cultivated today, other than for security it seems a significant effort.
It was a great morning of exploring and taking it in, Sean wants to build it
again when he gets to the beaches, and then afternoon of been in the plaza
with the locals feeding pigeons and talking with people, getting to be a
little part of the community.
Stay tuned.
