HOW THE INCAS EXPERIENCED ISOLATION IN THE HIGH PLACES?

The Andean people's experience of being separated from the rest of the population living at lower levels was treated as a sacred way of life, especially for the religious class of the Inca empire.
It was a distinct experience that made them to have a high degree of spiritual commitment specially in their attitudes towards those communities absorbed by them with religious deities unknown to them. They integrated the ones who had a very powerful connection to the spiritual world known to them and  to the Inca's way of life and at the same time they were completely tolerant and show satisfaction with the new communities' own way of life, and in that respectful way unifying the four corners of the whole empire.
The Inca religious class that were very extensive, retreated from the lower places by choice, having specific goals in mind and specific practices. The apparent perfection of the high places, surrounded by beautiful views and fresh air, touch them in their nature, in their soul, in their hearts, and made feel that the Supreme Creator dwelt in those places and their mission was to keep the energies held them in peace with the universe and the environment and in the daily ritual they performed they were giving thanks for the land and the food they received specially the food that grew in such extreme circumstances giving to them an example of how to survive in peace with everything. This fact made them unique in terms of dealing with the spiritual communication they maintained with entities from other realms.
The religious and common class were highly connected with the spirits of the natural world. That was part of the culture. Not everybody was able to do that. The ones able to support such experience were chosen and prepared from birth with the right food, the right mind, the right heart, and the right spirit. For the rest of the inhabitants in those high places, breathing the clean air every day made them to appreciate life in its deepest sense. By be just one with the howl of the wind. Seeing deserts areas like the Atacama at 4,000 metres above the sea level, with scarce rainy season, feeling the thin and dry air and at the same time connecting to it, sensing the beautiful stillness of the landscape that will never be shattered. Hearing the sound of the silence because nothing else is there. Those experiences were the every day teaching that many Andean people were familiar with.
Lake Uyuni in Central Bolivia, for example, was venerated as a sacred place,  because during the daytime, its huge salt pan looks like  an endless stretch of bright white merging with a shimmering horizon. But during the night time, the cold air and the howl of the wind transform the place into a world of shadows because you can't see through the deepest darkness that fall over the lake.
Throughout the Andes, the Incas built a network of roads and temples tailored to glorify its own culture as a manifestation of the power invested to them from the Sun itself. That belief reinforced the idea that they were superior people destined to rule fairly the natural powers entrusted to them.
They allowed lesser powers to continue their existence acting through the people that were absorbed into the Inca realm but at the same time they expected everyone in the empire to participate in the state religion and to worship the Sun and the rest of the Inca deities.
The Incas trekked everyday into high places to receive through the sunlight the wisdom they needed in order to conquer the spirits of the land and made them be subjects to the power of the Sun from which they were created.