Reaching This wide valley, some 200 km long, is split by the Santa River and It is largely a land which time forgot. It is also where the Dowbrigade Boys, our 20 and 23 year-old sons, have We recently returned from 15 days as a guest in the still-under-construction It contained a charming and revealing collection of myths and legends, Of course, the stories are adapted and elaborated with each retelling, We managed to translate about a dozen of the legends, which we are <\/p>\n The Origin of People <\/strong><\/p>\n In the beginning there were The Wirakunas were giants. They carried gigantic boulders on their But they turned out to be evil. They destroyed themselves with constant The extermination greatly angered Japallan Kamakoj. He called to him Travel around the entire world proclaiming that the Aukas must be punished.<\/p>\n The condors traveled to every corner of the earth, proclaiming their It rained for an indeterminably long time. The earth was drenched to And when no sign of life remained, the waters withdrew, leaving behind After the punishment was complete, Japallan Kamakoj again called the Now bring me three pairs of human beings, man and woman.<\/p>\n The condors flew around the world. In their passage they saw that other The three condors loaded the humans on their back and carried them Interesting echoes of the Great Flood. Pre-historic disaster High in the Peruvian Andes lies an isolated valley, rich in history and natural wonders, called the Callejon de Huaylas. Long before the reign of the Incas and the invasion of the Conquistadors, this rich ecosystem was the center of … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/ice2.jpg\")
High
\n in the Peruvian Andes lies an isolated valley, rich in history and natural
\n wonders, called the Callejon
\n de Huaylas<\/a>. Long before the reign of the
\n Incas and the invasion of the Conquistadors, this rich ecosystem was
\n the center of the Chavin civilization, one of the oldest in Peru. <\/p>\n
\n its height between 400 and 600 B.C., the Chavin
\n civilization<\/a> was known for its intense design skill, fueled by ritual
\n use of psychedelic snuff, especially visible in their advanced textile
\n and metal work. After a prolonged and gradual decline, they were eventually
\n conquered by the Incas less than a hundred years before the arrival of
\n the Spaniards.<\/p>\n
\n fringed by a picturesque group of towns and villages, among them
\n Huaraz, Carhuaz, Yungay and Caraz. Today, the Callejon is known as
\n the "Switzerland of South America" and is a center of mountain climbing
\n and eco-tourism.<\/p>\n
\n Wedged between two
\n soaring
\n mountain
\n chains
\n -the
\n Cordillera
\n Negra and Cordillera Blanca- the Callejon de Huaylas offers incomparable
\n Andian vistas, an indigenous population living largely as their ancestors
\n did centuries ago, and easy access to snow-capped peaks, pristine mountain
\n lakes, and little-known ancient ruins.<\/p>\n
\n settled in to build an eco-tourism hotel on a beautiful piece of land
\n alongside a river above the town of Carhuaz, which we bought over 25
\n years ago, for a song, and let lie fallow for decades while we
\n developed a more conventional career north of the border.<\/p>\n
\n hotel, working title "Villa Maria", a complete escape from the wired
\n world and our normal concerns and behavior patterns. While there,
\n holed up in a cozy adobe cabin, two simple rooms with a hand-crafted
\n fireplace, electricity but no phone or internet access, bathroom down
\n by the river, we came across a slim volume published by a tiny local
\n press and titled "Legends of Ancash." <\/p>\n
\n collected over 20 years by Marcos Yauri Monteros and first published
\n in 1961 by P.L. Villanueva, Lima, ed. The stories were collected from
\n three main sources throughout the Callejon: 1) high school students,
\n most of them living in towns and monolingual in Spanish; older people
\n from
\n the
\n town and villages, almost all bilingual Spanish-Quechua, and 3) camposinos,
\n nearly all monolingual Quechua speakers. Quechua is the most widely-spoken
\n indigenous language in the entire Anedean region, a linguistic descendent
\n of the language of the Incas, and the second "official" language of Peru.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/gabejoewolf.jpg\")
Having little else to do without internet access, we set out to translate
\n some of these legends from Spanish into English. Of course, the
\n book we were using was already a translation, from Quechua into Spanish,
\n of an oral tradition which had been passed down from generation to generation
\n since before the Spanish arrived.<\/p>\n
\n so these "modern" versions bear unmistakable influences of Spanish, Catholicism
\n and the cultural influence of whatever oblique reflections of Western
\n civilization penetrated these Andean redoubts. To us, this cross-cultural
\n pollination and mongrelization only make the legends that much more poignant
\n and fascinating.<\/p>\n
\n please to share with you over the coming weeks. Here is one for
\n a starter, an origin myth.<\/p>\n
\n no men. In the world there lived only animals, plants, and stones.
\n But the
\n god
\n Japallan
\n Kamakoj
\n decided
\n to populate it with superior beings. For this reason he had the earth
\n give birth to the Wirakunas, who established themselves in Pomabamba. <\/p>\n
\n shoulders, with which they built beautiful cities.<\/p>\n
\n warfare. Then from the East came the Aukas, who were better warriors
\n than the Wirakunas, and exterminated them.<\/p>\n
\n three condors and said to them:<\/p>\n
\n fateful message. It only took them three days to cover the entire planet.
\n At the end of this time began a tremendous storm, the likes of which
\n had never been seen. Between thunder and lightening that seemed to
\n never cease, a diluvial rain began to fall.<\/p>\n
\n its foundations. The great cities of men were reduced to rubble, and
\n the
\n people, plants and animals all died. The earth was converted into a
\n huge muddy lake, with its great cities buried in its uncharted depths.<\/p>\n
\n the ruins of the cities.<\/p>\n
\n three condors to him, and said: <\/p>\n
\n cities and other peoples had been destroyed by different disasters.
\n But each bird was able to find one couple, man and woman, alive among
\n the
\n rubble.<\/p>\n
\n back to Pomabamba. Japallan Kamakoj ordered that the three couples
\n be taken
\n to Pinkosmarka, where they established themselves. Their descendents
\n populated the American continent.<\/p>\n
\n movie?<\/em>\n <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"