Q’eswachaka rope bridge construction… my most intimate moment in Peru.

This past weekend I traveled with 4 friends and two babies (one of them my 1 year old daughter, Lila) to the annual festival for the building of the Q’eswachaka straw rope suspension bridge near Quehue, in Canas province near Cusco. I have lived in Peru for 5 years, working in tourism and independently exploring and this event was by far one of my most spectacular adventures.

Intimate was the word that came to my mind as I stepped out of the truck at the event. “This is SO intimate”, I said to my fellow travelers.

We drove from Urubamba at 6am, picking up the others on the way, drove down the Sacred Valley and then out of Cusco towards Sicuani. A little before Sicuani we turned up the mountain at Combapata and onto the curvy single lane road, passing Pampamarca, Yanaoca and lots of smaller villages. When we got all the way up to Quehue we left our things in a family guesthouse that we had reserved and then headed a bit back down to the bridge site.

When we arrived there were small groups of women sitting on the sides of the road curves above the bridge, all in their traditional clothing and all twisting straw rope with their hands. We were the only foreign visitors. Men in black and white woolen clothing stood around and I could see more men down at the bridge working and some sitting in ritual.

I stood in the middle of the road for a moment taking in the monumental scenery of the canyon, the stunning colores of textile and beautiful faces and I was hit by how intimate it was to be standing there. The people, the event and the tradition were part of the land, part of the place and we were right there too.

I had my baby on my back and I walked up to a group of women and sat down, they immediately smiled at me and handed me a bunch of straw. I had come to see how this was done. I watched and they instructed me and I managed to twist up a small bit of one of the thin ropes that were to be the sides of the bridge.

During the construction, women are not permitted to go down to the lower part near the bridge. Men come up, gather the ropes from the women and take them down to progressively build the bridge. During the 3 days of construction, 4 curanderos (local shaman) continuously remain in ritual, asking for the bridge to be completed safely.