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| When the Inca emperor
Pachacutec built the elaborate settlement of
Ollantaytambo, he had various objectives in mind. The
familiar, imposing temple/fortress complex was designed
to dominate the site, across the Patacancha river from
the prestigious residential area of the local Inca
rulers, which still forms the core of the modern village.
Less well known to most modern visitors, but also hugely
important, was the immense and intricate complex of
agricultural terraces, irrigation channels and sunken
lanes spread across the fertile alluvial fan of the
Patacancha valley, between Ollantaytambo village and the
Vilcanota (Urubamba) river - an Inca agricultural
engineering project par excellence, which remains
virtually intact and in full production to this day. Then, most archeaologists agree, the Incas also chose this site for its strategic value, because it was a narrow choke-point where hostile rivals could be stopped from entering the main Vilcanota valley. The Incas covered every inch of this bottleneck in their Sacred Valley with stone structures still standing today, which continue to produce stupendous crops of the famous fat-kerneled maize of the Urubamba valley, and are considered one of the marvels of world archaeology. But, in an ironic twist of fate, the towering, rugged mountains that force all human traffic through this narrow passage, and once defended the Inca heartland, may now provoke Ollantaytambo's destruction. Something that seems unthinkable to anyone who has known this area over the years, is about to happen. Right through this living Inca settlement, they are planning to build a modern, paved, big-truck highway. The reasoning goes that this cannot be avoided, that the valley town of Quillabamba, some 170 Km. by road north-westward down the Urubamba valley, needs a better highway, and that the Ollantaytambo gap, via the 4600 m. Málaga pass and Amaybamba, is the only possible route. The highway is projected to push even further downstream, opening up the region around Kiteni, the river town where navigation begins on the Urubamba. The Quillabamba-Kiteni region, producer of coffee, fruit and coca, is pleading for this highway. The area lost one of its main outlets to the rest of Peru early in 1998, when a landslide of truly Andean proportions swept away forever a long section of the Cusco-Quillabamba railroad, downstream from Machu Picchu. But the glittering crock of gold at the end of this rainbow lies even further down the Urubamba river from Kiteni. It is called Camisea. Camisea is to Peru what the North Sea was to Britain, a fossil fuel bonanza waiting to be tapped, in a country thirsting for new sources of energy and revenue. Peru is a net importer of oil, and international petroleum prices are going up, making the Camisea project ever more urgent. It is one of the world's largest natural gas fields, but it lies in a remote rainforest region, and its development has been held up for years, essentially by the logistical difficulties of getting its product to market. This year, a series of high-level political decisions have settled some of these issues, opening the way for bidding on the multi-million-dollar contracts that cover different aspects of the project. The economic logic seems irresistible. Against all of the above, what price your ordinary average Living Inca Settlement? |
But, aside from its
immense historical, cultural and aesthetic importance,
Ollantaytambo is also a major economic resource in its
own right. Tourism is one of Peru's principal foreign
exchange earners, and indeed the Peruvian government,
through its national promotion agency, PromPeru, has just
recently started boosting Ollantaytambo as a place to
take walking tours and enjoy the bucolic Andean
experience. Ollantaytambo's appeal would be drastically
curtailed if a major highway were to be built across the
site. Can we have our Camisea, and Ollantaytambo too? Some people are asking whether other feasible routes from Cusco to Quillabamba have been adequately considered, in the headlong rush to get this highway constructed. A possible alternative would be to upgrade an existing road that runs through the town of Calca, over the Urubamba mountain range through Amparaes and down the Yanatile valley, connecting with the Quillabamba-Kiteni highway near Quellouno. This is a longer, more circuitous route, but the current road is in reasonable condition and represents a genuine alternative. Another choice would be to push a short tunnel under Pinkulluna mountain just east of Ollantaytambo, and build the road up the Patacancha valley, over a pass leading to the Ocobamba valley, down which it could connect up with the aforementioned Calca-Quellouno highway. Yet this route would endanger wild areas and traditional Quechua villages to a degree scarcely less problematic than a highway through Ollantaytambo itself. Any search for a route from Cusco to Quillabamba-Kiteni-Camisea ultimately winds up caught between a rock and a hard place. What are the alternatives within the confines of Ollantaytambo? There are, after all, choices of lesser and greater evil to be made along the Urubamba valley route itself. Some of the more horrific proposals have even included driving the highway right through the center of Ollantaytambo village. Currently, the main option under consideration seems to be to construct the 10m.-wide highway alongside the existing railroad, destroying a number of Inca terraces, but by-passing the town, along with the most of the main area of terracing. The "Save Ollanta" viewpoint would, however, prefer a highway on the south side of the Vilcanota (Urubamba) river, where there are fewer and less well preserved Inca terraces, and the impact on Ollantaytambo itself would be the least. But this version of the project has reportedly been ruled out by the Peruvian government agencies involved, because it would require two bridges and one tunnel. In other words, more money. How much more? Many people think that, if two-bridges-and-a-tunnel is truly the least damaging option for Ollantaytambo, then these should be built, almost regardless of the cost. And if the longer route through Calca and Amparaes is a better solution, then it should be adopted, and the money should be found. They might also add that Camisea is very big money indeed - and Camisea should foot the bill to save Ollantaytambo. |