In the second week of June, residents of Quehue District in Canas Province in Peru come together to repair Queshuachaca, the last remaining Inca rope bridge, which has spanned the Apurímac River for more than 500 years.
Cutting a swathe through gorges and canyons which reach depths of up to 3,000 metres, around 730 kilometres in length and dotted with rapids and falls, the Apurímac River stood between the Incas and the Pacific Coast. In the thirteenth century, the Incas began to construct suspension bridges over the Apurímac, with one famous example purportedly the inspiration for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Fey by Thornton Wilder, following an illustration by E. G. Squier.
Traditionally constructed from the ichu grass endemic to the region, today the restoration of Queshuachaca serves as a tribute to ancestors while breathing fresh life into old skills.The work lasts for three days and survives as a communal effort, from the cutting and twisting of straw and the preparation of mats for decking to the braiding and hanging of ropes. Most of the residents of Canas Province are indigenous people of Quechua descent.
For many years, Victoriano Arizapana has led the annual rebuilding project, having learned the craft from his father and grandfather. The knowledge and skills required for the restoration of Queshuachaca were classified an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2013, while in 2015 Arizapana and some of his fellow builders were celebrated at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
Last year the repair of Queshuachaca was put on hold owing to the coronavirus pandemic, and in March the bridge collapsed. But this year the local Huinchiri, Chaupibanda, Choccayhua, and Ccollana Quehue communities have been back in action, putting old skills to good use. Groups of workers started from both sides of the 98-foot pass, balancing precariously on a main rope which stretched out 60 feet above the river rapids. Working in tandem they progressed gradually towards the middle, stringing together the handrail and padding out the walkway floor.
Regional governor Jean Paul Benavente said:
‘Last year because of the pandemic, it wasn’t strengthened. That is why at the beginning of this year the bridge fell. But now it is like an answer to the pandemic itself. From the depths of the Peruvian Andean identity, this bridge is strung up across the Apurímac basin and we can tell the world that we are coming out if this little by little.’
Canas Province lies in the southern highlands of Peru, in the Cusco region which was once the social and political heartland of the Inca Empire. The city of Cusco is a World Heritage Site which attracts millions of visitors each year, and intrepid travellers plus waifs and strays have increasingly been making their way to Queshuachaca.
Once these swaying rope bridges transported llama and chasqui runners, the agile young messengers of the Inca Empire, with construction a matter of obligation and tampering even punishable by death. Now the restoration of Queshuachaca is a local celebration and a spiritual endeavour, boosting tourism while the Quechua commune with the land and pay homage to the past.
