Sacred Valley of Urubamba: Rediscovering American roots

Much has been written of the Incas and its wonderful buildings, the megalithic walls, irrigation canals and agricultural terraces that after centuries continue to be fertile and usable.
But I feel worth sharing my reunion with the land that is also part of our American identity, as in urgent need of being rescued and retold.
Backpacking walked behind the sacred valley of Urubamba seventeen years ago, and was stunned by the grandeur of the temples, cities and fortifications Incas. Today, a journey much more comfortable and relaxed I was struck by the same things, and found others.
I realized that despite the majesty of the works, they do not contrast with the landscape, not imposed on the landscape, rather it is built along its lines, coupling to the anatomy of the rocks, trying to go unnoticed, blending with the mountains.
Urubamba, which means “valley wet ‘is within a relatively narrow canyon and one of the theories that explain this” organic architecture “is that the Incas had grown to take up space, making their buildings on steep slopes, giving the best land for corn, potatoes, quinoa and other plantations.
Maybe it’s true, but does not detract from the beautiful to the fact that rock built building that already were there millennia before cutting them into steps if need a ladder, making wings of a condor for a religious monument.
In Pisac dead are buried, the lowest ranking, of course, little holes in the high slopes. They were placed in a fetal position with the ashes of mummified bodies in his hands. From there, the top, a condor would take his soul to heaven. At the foot of the escarpment impressive Pisac still be seen and used by many agricultural terraces, with their layers of rock, gravel, sand and soil, each performing a specific function.
Adobe homes In the Urubamba valley the hills are sienna. Despite being of outcrops of limestone, slate, pink granite, and almost every thing geological range of possibilities, everything is covered by a brown ground that looks brownish fertile yet. The same blend with the houses of this, because the inhabitants of the region build their houses with mud made of his land, then, the homes of today also blend with the landscape, human constructions and mountains form a unit .
Sacsahuamán, built of solid limestone that weigh up to 125 tons each, has a zigzag shape that mimics the beam, one of the natural gods.
On the steep slopes of Ollantaytambo are observed several drums, exposed to cold winds blowing off the glaciers. Was stored in drums with “cooling” natural corn and other food to feed the population, while living in very demarcated social strata and hierarchical, never went hungry. Along with their small dairy farms were the messengers stations, or messengers of the empire, through a relay system could bring a message of Quito to Cuzco (2,400 miles) in ten days.
In Machu Picchu unstoppable water runs through the city, which may accommodate up to 800 people and run the water from melting of the Andean highlands. Rooms are small but the world outside was green and hilly.
Why not build that way our modern cities? Respecting the trees that have grown for decades in one place, or the beauty and usefulness of beautiful rocks we have in our territories. Why should we paint the cement colored square boxes in which we live, when they can have the tone of the earth or the sea or the hills?
Small steps ascend the fault scarp of Huayna Picchu, the mountain girl to take me to your top amazing. The ruins of Machu Picchu, the mountains old, begin to appear early-morning mist. A mysterious city, wonder of the world of pure granite, as granite that will endure for millennia. I feel proud that a place like this is on my continent, is an icon of Latin American identity. And despite that, we know so little about the Andean culture. The Incas did not get to invent writing and only we have the evidence of his quipus or system of knots, which remain as inscrutable mysteries. The story has been preserved largely through oral tradition. Parents have told their children about the past of this fascinating civilization, but has been told in Quechua, a language full of ambiguities and multiple meanings that few have the fortune to know. What concepts will be in the Quechua or Quechua in Ecuador, for which there are no words in Spanish?