The Sacred Valley of the Incas is a Valley in the Andes of Peru running West to East and include everything along the Urubamba River between the town and Inca ruins at Pisac Westward of Machu Picchu. Pisac lie atop a hill at the entrance to the Valley and the Inca ruins are separated along the ridge into 4 groups: P'isaqa, Inti Watana (Temple of the Sun, Baths, Altars, Water Fountains, Ceremonial Platform, and a volcanic outcrop carved into a hitching post for the Sun), Qalla Qasa (built onto a natural spur that overlooks the Valley, known as the citadel), and Qinchiraqay.
The Sacred Valley has elevations above sea level along the River ranging from 3,000m/9,800ft at Pisac to 2,050m/6,730ft at the Urubamba River below Machu Picchu. On both sides of the River , the mountains rise to much higher elevations, especially to the South where 2 prominent mountains overlook the Valley: Sahuasiray (5,818m/19,088ft) and Veronica (5,680m/18,640ft) in elevation.
The Inca constructed agricultural terraces on the steep hillside, which are still in use today. They created the terraces by hauling richer topsoil by hand from the lower lands enabling the production of food at impossible altitudes. With religious, agricultural, and military structures, the site served a triple purpose. Pisac defended the Southern entrance to the Sacred Valley, while Choquequirao (precious metal) at an elevation of 3,050m/10,010ft defended the Western entrance, and the fortress at Ollantay Tambo the Northern entrance. The controlled Pisac Inca route connected the empire with the border of the Rain Forest.
The Sacred Valley's floor today is intensely cultivated for about 1km/0.62ft wide on average. Side Valleys and agricultural terraces (andenes) expand the cultivatable area.
The Sacred Valley was formed by the Urubamba River, also known as the Vilcanota River (House of the Sun). It is fed by numerous tributaries which descend through adjoining Valleys and Gorges.
The Sacred Valley was the most important area for maize production in the heartland of the Inca Empire and access through the Valley to tropical areas facilitated the import of products to Cuzco. Maize uses were developed and became a major staple food along with squash, potato, quinoa, beans, and amaranth. Maize was a prestige crop that formed the highland people's identity. Because it is cold-tolerant, in the temperate zones maize is planted in the spring. Its root system is shallow, so the plant is dependent on soil moisture. Maize provided support for beans, and the beans provided nitrogen derived from a bacteria which live in the roots of beans and other legumes using it as host to fix nitrogen because they cannot independently fix it; and squashes provided ground cover to stop weeds and inhibit evaporation by providing shade over the soil. The highlanders make a special fermented and non-fermented maize drink named "chicha,"and it is consumed in large quantities at their many ceremonial feasts and religious festivals. Chichas can also be made from quinoa, kaniwa, peanut, cassava, palm fruit, potato, and various other fruits.
The Inca agricultural terraces at Moray, NorthWest of Cuzco on a High Plateau at about 3,500m / 11,500ft and West of the Village of Maras, contains several terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is 30m/98ft deep, with an irrigation system as with many Inca sites. The purpose of it is uncertain but their depth, design, and orientation with respect to Wind and Sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15*C/27*F between the top and the bottom.
The Town of Maras is well known for its nearby Salt Evaporation Ponds, in use since Inca times. They are 4km North of the Town, down the Canyon that descends to Rio Vilcanota and the Sacred Valley.
Since pre-Inca times, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating Salty Water from a local subterranean stream. The highly salty water emerges at a Spring, a natural outlet of the underground system. The flow is directed into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the Water runs gradually down onto the several hundred ancient terraced ponds. Almost all the ponds are less than 4 meters square in area, and none exceeds 30 cm in depth. All are necessarily shaped in polygons with the flow of water carefully controlled and monitory by workers. The altitude of the ponds slowly decreases, so that the Water may flow through the myriad branches of the Water-Supply channels and be introduced slowly through a notch in one side wall of each pond. The proper maintenance of the adjacent feeder channel, the side walls and the water-entry notch, the pond's surface, the quantity of water, and the removal of accumulated salt deposits requires close cooperation among the community of users.
It is agreed among local residents and pond workers that the Cooperative System was established during the time of the Incas as a Sacred Duty as a continuity of the labor that previous cultures developed for the same purpose. As Water evaporates from the Sun-Warmed Ponds, the Water becomes supersaturated and Salt precipitates as various size crystals onto the inner surfaces of a pond's earthen walls and on the pond's earthen floor. The pond's keeper then closes the Water-Feeder Notch and allows the pond to go dry. Within a few days the keeper carefully scrapes the Dry Salt from the sides and the bottom, puts it into a suitable vessels, reopens the Water-Supply Notch, and carries away the Salt. The Salt's color varies from white to a light reddish or brownish tan, depending on the skill of an individual worker.
The Salt Mines traditionally have been available to any person wishing to harvest Salt. The owners of the Salt Ponds must be members of the community, and families that are new to the community wishing to propitiate a Salt Pond get the one farthest from the community. The size of the Salt Pond assigned to a family depends on the family size. Usually there are many unused Salt Pools available to be farmed. Any prospective Salt Farmer need only to locate an empty currently unmaintained Pond, consult with the local informal cooperative, learn how to keep a pond properly within the accepted Communal System, and start working, maintaining in this way the sacred ritual practiced by the ancient highlanders in order to keep the holiness of the Sacred Valley.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
THE ANDEAN BELIEF IN AFTERLIFE.
The Andean people believe in an existence of an overall supreme power, and that the course of history forms a succession of repetition and renewal. Each age is ruled by a sun and the general course of development is from the more primitive to the sophisticated. Each world is suppose to end by some sort of catastrophic event.
The ancient cultures in the Andes believed heavily in the afterlife and because of that the dead received a lot of care whom they mummified and placed into tombs. Mummification was a way of preserving power, not memorializing it. The relatives of those placed inside stone palaces and atop sacred mountains tombs would bring food and other objects to their resting places in order to keep their incredible power over the living alive and their energy used in their lifetime were maintained in the world of the living until it was no more. This treatment generated a kind of telepathic message able to communicate things through dreams or symbols. The priests interpreted them and communicate to the community the reason of them.
The Western spine of South America is the Earth's natural laboratory for making mummies. The sands of its dry coast, stretching from Peru down to Northern Chile, were made by nature. Then 7,000 years ago, the pre-Incas cultures in the Andes learned to mummify their dead -2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians. They transformed their loved ones into representatives of the community -ambassadors to the natural world who ensured the fertility of their descendants and their resources.
By the time of Inca expansion, the Andean highland peoples were already placing their ancestors in burial towers (chullpas), whose location marked resources and divided territory.
The religion of the Incas were intimately connected with nature and their rulers were the receptors of the power of the sun god, Inti. Religion, then, was closely tied into everyday life of the Inca as well as with their government. They believed that many spirits roamed the universe and inhabited a multitude of places and objects in the natural world. The spirits occupied 3 different realms: the sky or Hanan Pacha; the inner earth or Uku Pacha; and the outer earth or Kay Pacha. They built many beautiful temples to such forces and the most important of them was the Coricancha built in the heart of the City of Cuzco to the sun god, Inti. The walls and floors were covered with sheets of gold, a symbol of its power. Coricancha means "Golden Temple."
The expansion beginning with Pachacutec's rule was the result of the Inca leader's greater emphasis on ancestor worship. He believed strongly in the afterlife. Pachacutec ruled that descendants of Inca rulers would inherit their father's earthly powers, but the father's possessions would be used only to continue glorifying the father by paying homage to and maintaining his mummy, and by recognizing his continued influence. The ruler's son, or successor, would be responsible for making his own conquests and expanding the empire's wealth.
The Inca burial rituals were extremely powerful and revered by most of their followers. The mourning color was black. They used sacred objects and held rituals on sacred locations. Examples of sacred places, areas and objects are: the Vilcanota, the "Sacred River," which is a section of the Urubamba River, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Intihuatana Stone, the Golden Sun Disk (a disk-shaped golden object representing the sun). Huacas, then, were their holy places: temples, tombs, bridges, hills, rivers, springs, and caves. Periodically, ceremonies implicating offering of huacas took place during Inca times. Most households contained two or more huacas. They were placed into a wall niches ( in the shape of a rectangle) and offerings were brought to them. The offerings contributed to the balance of the forces of nature and the people working together for the sake of i, influencing their well-being, happiness, and crop production.
The embalming and mummified body of an ancestor was a form of a supernatural object (huaca) and sacred spaces were organized around it. Cuzco is one such space and it is the location of hundreds of huaca (points of sacred energy). These places, because they were visible from great distances, helped to maintain in mind the unity in the vast empire by reminding the individual of they shared beliefs. Their minds did not work promoting individuality, it was the opposite. For this reason, new conquered people were accepted with their own spiritual forces that governed them as long as they submitted themselves to the power of the Inca supreme god, Inti, and that the Inca emperor as its chosen representative.
During holy festivals the dead ancestors were paraded behind the living emperor, their history and achievements were added to those of the living. The Incas believed that spirits looked after their living descendants and the symbolic practice of feeding the dead was an act of honoring one's ancestor. Whether permanently buried or temporarily interred, the mummies remained an a very important way alive -like a dried seed, ready to bloom, with an extraordinary invisible strength.
In the afterlife, it was believed that a member of the Inca royalty returned the power invested in him to the source, and depending on how he used it, the individual obtained a happy existence in communion with the source, or a life beneath the earth, a place of unending cold, pain, and hunger. For the Incas, a virtuous earthly life was achieved by following a simple rule of behavior: "Do not steal power that does not belong to you; do not lie about it; and do not be lazy."
The ancient cultures in the Andes believed heavily in the afterlife and because of that the dead received a lot of care whom they mummified and placed into tombs. Mummification was a way of preserving power, not memorializing it. The relatives of those placed inside stone palaces and atop sacred mountains tombs would bring food and other objects to their resting places in order to keep their incredible power over the living alive and their energy used in their lifetime were maintained in the world of the living until it was no more. This treatment generated a kind of telepathic message able to communicate things through dreams or symbols. The priests interpreted them and communicate to the community the reason of them.
The Western spine of South America is the Earth's natural laboratory for making mummies. The sands of its dry coast, stretching from Peru down to Northern Chile, were made by nature. Then 7,000 years ago, the pre-Incas cultures in the Andes learned to mummify their dead -2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians. They transformed their loved ones into representatives of the community -ambassadors to the natural world who ensured the fertility of their descendants and their resources.
By the time of Inca expansion, the Andean highland peoples were already placing their ancestors in burial towers (chullpas), whose location marked resources and divided territory.
The religion of the Incas were intimately connected with nature and their rulers were the receptors of the power of the sun god, Inti. Religion, then, was closely tied into everyday life of the Inca as well as with their government. They believed that many spirits roamed the universe and inhabited a multitude of places and objects in the natural world. The spirits occupied 3 different realms: the sky or Hanan Pacha; the inner earth or Uku Pacha; and the outer earth or Kay Pacha. They built many beautiful temples to such forces and the most important of them was the Coricancha built in the heart of the City of Cuzco to the sun god, Inti. The walls and floors were covered with sheets of gold, a symbol of its power. Coricancha means "Golden Temple."
The expansion beginning with Pachacutec's rule was the result of the Inca leader's greater emphasis on ancestor worship. He believed strongly in the afterlife. Pachacutec ruled that descendants of Inca rulers would inherit their father's earthly powers, but the father's possessions would be used only to continue glorifying the father by paying homage to and maintaining his mummy, and by recognizing his continued influence. The ruler's son, or successor, would be responsible for making his own conquests and expanding the empire's wealth.
The Inca burial rituals were extremely powerful and revered by most of their followers. The mourning color was black. They used sacred objects and held rituals on sacred locations. Examples of sacred places, areas and objects are: the Vilcanota, the "Sacred River," which is a section of the Urubamba River, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Intihuatana Stone, the Golden Sun Disk (a disk-shaped golden object representing the sun). Huacas, then, were their holy places: temples, tombs, bridges, hills, rivers, springs, and caves. Periodically, ceremonies implicating offering of huacas took place during Inca times. Most households contained two or more huacas. They were placed into a wall niches ( in the shape of a rectangle) and offerings were brought to them. The offerings contributed to the balance of the forces of nature and the people working together for the sake of i, influencing their well-being, happiness, and crop production.
The embalming and mummified body of an ancestor was a form of a supernatural object (huaca) and sacred spaces were organized around it. Cuzco is one such space and it is the location of hundreds of huaca (points of sacred energy). These places, because they were visible from great distances, helped to maintain in mind the unity in the vast empire by reminding the individual of they shared beliefs. Their minds did not work promoting individuality, it was the opposite. For this reason, new conquered people were accepted with their own spiritual forces that governed them as long as they submitted themselves to the power of the Inca supreme god, Inti, and that the Inca emperor as its chosen representative.
During holy festivals the dead ancestors were paraded behind the living emperor, their history and achievements were added to those of the living. The Incas believed that spirits looked after their living descendants and the symbolic practice of feeding the dead was an act of honoring one's ancestor. Whether permanently buried or temporarily interred, the mummies remained an a very important way alive -like a dried seed, ready to bloom, with an extraordinary invisible strength.
In the afterlife, it was believed that a member of the Inca royalty returned the power invested in him to the source, and depending on how he used it, the individual obtained a happy existence in communion with the source, or a life beneath the earth, a place of unending cold, pain, and hunger. For the Incas, a virtuous earthly life was achieved by following a simple rule of behavior: "Do not steal power that does not belong to you; do not lie about it; and do not be lazy."
Sunday, April 2, 2017
THE JAGUAR AND ITS POWER.
Jaguars hold great religious and cultural importance in many cultures of South America, Central America and Mexico.
In South America pre-Inca and Inca cultures, Jaguars were seen as representatives of power, ferocity, and valor. To the Andean people of today, they are a symbol of strength, courage, and spiritual power, playing a variety of roles ranging from a wise and powerful leader, to a fierce warrior, to a deadly monster. It represents the power to face one's fears, or to confront one's enemies.
Jaguars are also associated with vision because of their ability to see with clarity during the night and to look into the dark parts of human consciousness, often warning disasters. Cats have binocular vision, meaning each eye can work by itself, which provides them with better depth perception giving Jaguars more evidence to their connection with vision and foresight.
The Jaguar is an important figure in the religious belief of the Andean people of South America. They treat the soul of the animal as a companion, specially in the case of healers. The Jaguars will protect them from evil attacks, while they move between the earth and the spirit realms. In order for the shaman to combat whatever evil forces may be threatening him or for those who rely on the healer for protection, it is necessary for the healer to transform 'a cross over to the spirit realm.' The soul of Jaguars are used as a mean of protection because of its tremendous strength , necessary for the healer in order to dominate the 'spiritual entities' in the same way as a predator dominates its prey. It is said that Jaguars possess the transient ability of moving between worlds because of its comfort both in trees and the water (jungles and swamps), the ability to hunt as well in the Nighttime as in the Daytime, and the habit of sleeping in caves (semi-arid mountainous regions), places often associated with the deceased ancestors.
The Aztecs associated Jaguars with royalty, war, and magical power. The highest order of Aztec warriors was known as the Jaguar Warriors or Jaguar Knights, and Jaguars frequently served as spirit animals to them and other Meso-American shamans (spiritual healers).
The Mayans primarily associated Jaguar with the Underworld and the Night. The classical Mayan god of the Underworld is represented as a Jaguar.
In South America pre-Inca and Inca cultures, Jaguars were seen as representatives of power, ferocity, and valor. To the Andean people of today, they are a symbol of strength, courage, and spiritual power, playing a variety of roles ranging from a wise and powerful leader, to a fierce warrior, to a deadly monster. It represents the power to face one's fears, or to confront one's enemies.
Jaguars are also associated with vision because of their ability to see with clarity during the night and to look into the dark parts of human consciousness, often warning disasters. Cats have binocular vision, meaning each eye can work by itself, which provides them with better depth perception giving Jaguars more evidence to their connection with vision and foresight.
The Jaguar is an important figure in the religious belief of the Andean people of South America. They treat the soul of the animal as a companion, specially in the case of healers. The Jaguars will protect them from evil attacks, while they move between the earth and the spirit realms. In order for the shaman to combat whatever evil forces may be threatening him or for those who rely on the healer for protection, it is necessary for the healer to transform 'a cross over to the spirit realm.' The soul of Jaguars are used as a mean of protection because of its tremendous strength , necessary for the healer in order to dominate the 'spiritual entities' in the same way as a predator dominates its prey. It is said that Jaguars possess the transient ability of moving between worlds because of its comfort both in trees and the water (jungles and swamps), the ability to hunt as well in the Nighttime as in the Daytime, and the habit of sleeping in caves (semi-arid mountainous regions), places often associated with the deceased ancestors.
The Aztecs associated Jaguars with royalty, war, and magical power. The highest order of Aztec warriors was known as the Jaguar Warriors or Jaguar Knights, and Jaguars frequently served as spirit animals to them and other Meso-American shamans (spiritual healers).
The Mayans primarily associated Jaguar with the Underworld and the Night. The classical Mayan god of the Underworld is represented as a Jaguar.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
THE VOLCANO UTURUNCU.
Uturuncu is a double-peaked dormant giant Bolivia's volcano classified as one of the only 7 super-volcanoes in the World. Super volcanos are one of nature's most destructive forces. The world's fastest-inflating one is situated 70km/43mi West of the main Volcanic Arc and it is shedding some light on how super volcanos become so powerful.
A volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanos formed above a convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced or sinks due to gravity into the layer between the crust and the outer core (mantle). The volcanos positioned in an arc shape seen from above.
Most of what scientists know about super volcanos comes from studying the after-maths of eruptions.
At Uturunku, scientists can observe in real time how the volcano is evolving because thanks to infrared satelite images, the magma chamber of the volcano is shown not only huge, but fills up at a rate never measured before (1cubic meter/sec). Uturunku was active between 890,000 and 271,000 years ago. Volcanic activity was episodic with bursts of eruptions separated by between 50,000 and 180,000 years of rest. The volcano mountain has been rising more that 1/2 inch a year for almost 20 years, suggesting that the volcano is steadily inflating.
Researchers discovered an enormous molten lake bubbling under a huge magma basin of 70 km diameter below the volcano at a depth of 15km/9mi and is expected to burst anytime in the future causing a massive impact on the World's climate. Such eruption of ash, rock and pumice could produce 1,000 times the strength of the 1980 eruption of Mount Helen in Washington State, the worst volcanic event in modern American history, and 10,000 times that of Icelandic eruptions in 2010 that paralyzed global air traffic for weeks.
Starting in 1992, and increasing in 1998, a 70km/43mi wide circular region around the volcano has been deforming at a rate of 1-2 cm/year (0.39-0.79 in/year). A ring of decreased surface is now surrounding the uplift and expand the size of the deformed area to a diameter of 150km/93mi. It looks like a tumor growing within the earth and the way to discern if it is benign or malignant depends on the understanding of the laws that control the forces of the natural World.
Analysis of the electrical conductivity of the ground beneath Uturunku has shown the presence of layers where electrical conductivity is high. The scorching sulfur gases that leaks from small holes in the ground are evidence of a heat source close to its surface. Also the white soil near the summit that from a distance it looks deceptively like snow are the result from thermal changes below. The mix of water and molten rock in huge amounts triggers an eruption. Super-eruptions occur only every 100,000years or so. The last one, that of the Toba volcano in Sumatra about 74,000 years ago, spewed enough ash to cause 6 to 10 years of 'volcanic winter,' a 1,000-year global cooling period and a loss of life so vast that changed the course of human life on earth.
Uturunku is the Quechua word for 'jaguar'.The jaguar is the only Panthera species that are native to the New World. Being the the 3rd largest cat after the tiger and the lion, the jaguar is the most compact and well-muscled feline. A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept to climbing, crawling and swimming. It is a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator, having an exceptional powerful bite. This allows to pierce the shells of armored reptiles and employs an unusual killing method: it bites directly to the skull of the prey between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain. For the Andean people, the jaguar is a symbol of power and strength. A jaguar cult was disseminated by the early Chavin culture and was accepted over all of what is today Peru by 900 BC. Later the Mochica culture used the jaguar as a symbol of warrior power and its soul is placed in many of their ceramics.
Uturunku, as part of the Andes, is located in the Lipez mountain range in Northern Potosi, Bolivia, and Northern Argentina, helping to form the boundary between Bolivia and Argentina. Thus the Lipez is a transverse range in the Andes, between the Oriental and the Occidental mountain ranges, creating also the Southern boundary of the Bolivian High Plateau. The Uturunku is the highest peak of the range at 6,008m/19,711ft above sea level. Despite the high elevations, there is no current glacier activity in the Lipez mountain range, just some semi-permanent snow fields.
Until mid of the 1990s there was a sulphur mine on the lower peak at an altitude of 5,900m which was accessed via a ride-able road. Nowadays the runway is only maintained for touristic purposes by few local guides who were the ones who used to work for many years in the mine and have the skills to teach tourists how to prepare themselves for the trip to the summit either by driving or by biking.
This road brings the traveler to 5,600m above the sea level and it is the highest ride-able road in South America and in the World of today thanks to the sulfur mine. There is an amazing view down to the Bolivian High Plateau. The road leads up to the saddle between the 2 summits, from the higher right-hand peak (6,000m) to across the light sulfur field over the dark boulder area. At the cross-over from the sulphur field the lane narrows and the way becomes very stony and partly rocky.
It is a real challenging road and a true test for a vehicle and the individual stamina. The biggest problem for engines is the extremely low oxygen for the engine combustion and the bad condition of the road with extremely large pot holes that could potentially pop a tire, crack a rim, or screw up the car alignment. The road also abounds in twists and narrow turns that sometimes the wheels of the vehicle hang above the precipice. An average gradient on the first 5 km is some 8%, and increase to more than 10% between 5,100 and 5,600 meters and finally lowers in the upper part of the road.
The road is very sandy in its lower part and in an altitude of more than 5,000 meters the lack of oxygen becomes a very severe problem for bikers. The pulse is much higher that in lower altitudes and it quickens to anaerobic respiration when the biker tries to get back onto the bicycle seat after a little driving mistake causes the tires to slip in the loose sand. The gasp for breath becomes a challenge and it feels like being held by an invisible power because the partial pressure of oxygen, at 5,000m altitude, amounts to only half of that on sea level. The 10% slope is then hardly ride-able and it is more bike pushing than bicycling for a biker. After many kilometers the gradient finally decreases and the run-way turns bicycle-able again for the bikers thanks to the strong North West winds that gets up and pushes rider and bicycle to the finish point.
There is no other run-way on the Bolivian High Land, or the Chilean Atacama desert, or the Himalayas where cyclists can get higher, or daring drivers with a well prepared vehicle want to reach the sky.
A volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanos formed above a convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced or sinks due to gravity into the layer between the crust and the outer core (mantle). The volcanos positioned in an arc shape seen from above.
Most of what scientists know about super volcanos comes from studying the after-maths of eruptions.
At Uturunku, scientists can observe in real time how the volcano is evolving because thanks to infrared satelite images, the magma chamber of the volcano is shown not only huge, but fills up at a rate never measured before (1cubic meter/sec). Uturunku was active between 890,000 and 271,000 years ago. Volcanic activity was episodic with bursts of eruptions separated by between 50,000 and 180,000 years of rest. The volcano mountain has been rising more that 1/2 inch a year for almost 20 years, suggesting that the volcano is steadily inflating.
Researchers discovered an enormous molten lake bubbling under a huge magma basin of 70 km diameter below the volcano at a depth of 15km/9mi and is expected to burst anytime in the future causing a massive impact on the World's climate. Such eruption of ash, rock and pumice could produce 1,000 times the strength of the 1980 eruption of Mount Helen in Washington State, the worst volcanic event in modern American history, and 10,000 times that of Icelandic eruptions in 2010 that paralyzed global air traffic for weeks.
Starting in 1992, and increasing in 1998, a 70km/43mi wide circular region around the volcano has been deforming at a rate of 1-2 cm/year (0.39-0.79 in/year). A ring of decreased surface is now surrounding the uplift and expand the size of the deformed area to a diameter of 150km/93mi. It looks like a tumor growing within the earth and the way to discern if it is benign or malignant depends on the understanding of the laws that control the forces of the natural World.
Analysis of the electrical conductivity of the ground beneath Uturunku has shown the presence of layers where electrical conductivity is high. The scorching sulfur gases that leaks from small holes in the ground are evidence of a heat source close to its surface. Also the white soil near the summit that from a distance it looks deceptively like snow are the result from thermal changes below. The mix of water and molten rock in huge amounts triggers an eruption. Super-eruptions occur only every 100,000years or so. The last one, that of the Toba volcano in Sumatra about 74,000 years ago, spewed enough ash to cause 6 to 10 years of 'volcanic winter,' a 1,000-year global cooling period and a loss of life so vast that changed the course of human life on earth.
Uturunku is the Quechua word for 'jaguar'.The jaguar is the only Panthera species that are native to the New World. Being the the 3rd largest cat after the tiger and the lion, the jaguar is the most compact and well-muscled feline. A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept to climbing, crawling and swimming. It is a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator, having an exceptional powerful bite. This allows to pierce the shells of armored reptiles and employs an unusual killing method: it bites directly to the skull of the prey between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain. For the Andean people, the jaguar is a symbol of power and strength. A jaguar cult was disseminated by the early Chavin culture and was accepted over all of what is today Peru by 900 BC. Later the Mochica culture used the jaguar as a symbol of warrior power and its soul is placed in many of their ceramics.
Uturunku, as part of the Andes, is located in the Lipez mountain range in Northern Potosi, Bolivia, and Northern Argentina, helping to form the boundary between Bolivia and Argentina. Thus the Lipez is a transverse range in the Andes, between the Oriental and the Occidental mountain ranges, creating also the Southern boundary of the Bolivian High Plateau. The Uturunku is the highest peak of the range at 6,008m/19,711ft above sea level. Despite the high elevations, there is no current glacier activity in the Lipez mountain range, just some semi-permanent snow fields.
Until mid of the 1990s there was a sulphur mine on the lower peak at an altitude of 5,900m which was accessed via a ride-able road. Nowadays the runway is only maintained for touristic purposes by few local guides who were the ones who used to work for many years in the mine and have the skills to teach tourists how to prepare themselves for the trip to the summit either by driving or by biking.
This road brings the traveler to 5,600m above the sea level and it is the highest ride-able road in South America and in the World of today thanks to the sulfur mine. There is an amazing view down to the Bolivian High Plateau. The road leads up to the saddle between the 2 summits, from the higher right-hand peak (6,000m) to across the light sulfur field over the dark boulder area. At the cross-over from the sulphur field the lane narrows and the way becomes very stony and partly rocky.
It is a real challenging road and a true test for a vehicle and the individual stamina. The biggest problem for engines is the extremely low oxygen for the engine combustion and the bad condition of the road with extremely large pot holes that could potentially pop a tire, crack a rim, or screw up the car alignment. The road also abounds in twists and narrow turns that sometimes the wheels of the vehicle hang above the precipice. An average gradient on the first 5 km is some 8%, and increase to more than 10% between 5,100 and 5,600 meters and finally lowers in the upper part of the road.
The road is very sandy in its lower part and in an altitude of more than 5,000 meters the lack of oxygen becomes a very severe problem for bikers. The pulse is much higher that in lower altitudes and it quickens to anaerobic respiration when the biker tries to get back onto the bicycle seat after a little driving mistake causes the tires to slip in the loose sand. The gasp for breath becomes a challenge and it feels like being held by an invisible power because the partial pressure of oxygen, at 5,000m altitude, amounts to only half of that on sea level. The 10% slope is then hardly ride-able and it is more bike pushing than bicycling for a biker. After many kilometers the gradient finally decreases and the run-way turns bicycle-able again for the bikers thanks to the strong North West winds that gets up and pushes rider and bicycle to the finish point.
There is no other run-way on the Bolivian High Land, or the Chilean Atacama desert, or the Himalayas where cyclists can get higher, or daring drivers with a well prepared vehicle want to reach the sky.
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