Urubamba River

The valley of the Río Urubamba

The Urubamba is the right source of the river pink colored Ucayali

Urubamba

The confluence of the Tambo (front) and Urubamba (right) to the Ucayali ( to the left)

Urubamba (View from the train to Machu Picchu )

The Urubamba River is a river in Peru.

It originates on the watershed between the south-eastern Andean chains of Peru and the highlands ( Altiplano ) of Peru and Bolivia, near the Andes pass Abra la Raya northwest of Lake Titicaca.

River

Parallel east and north of the River Apurimac the Urubamba flows through one of the culturally and scenically diverse areas of Peru, passing numerous ruins of the Incas plants and older cultures (see also Valle Sagrado ).

After the village of Ollantaytambo, the Urubamba winds through the deep canyons (eg Cañon Torontoy ) meandering manner towards rainforest. Is at this point high above the ruined city of Machu Picchu. At the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera, he then runs through a wide and fertile valley (fruit and tea cultivation ) of the province of La Convención with the regional center Quillabamba. Further west vanishes the Urubamba River in the rain forest ( cloud forest ), by the last foothills of the Andes and this the water gap " Pongo de Mainique " by pushing past the sources of natural gas from Camisea before it joins at Atalaya with the Rio Tambo to the Río Ucayali.

Valle Sagrado

The Valle Sagrado ( Sacred Valley of the Incas, Quechua: Willka Qhichwa ) is the agriculturally important high valley of the Incas. As Valle Sagrado is the area between the towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo, north of the city of Cusco called. This originally deep valley at the foot of snow-capped mountains was alluvial material wide ( partially 3 km), and is so to this day fertile soil for agriculture ( especially corn ). Here are in addition to the aforementioned small towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo other smaller settlements and the larger centers of Calca and Urubamba.

Name

The Urubamba River is to the confluence of the Río Huatanay east of Cusco ( at Caicay ) and Río Vilcanota ( Vilcomayo, Quechua: Willkamayu, " Sacred River " ) called. The name comes from the Quechua and means something like " level of the Spider " ( which refers to the valley, the river is called in its entire length in Quechua Willkamayu ).

The Urubamba in the film

The Urubamba River is one of the rivers, at the 1971 Werner Herzog film Aguirre turned, with which he portrays a Spanish Expeditionszug looking for the land of gold Eldorado. In the lead role of Aguirre Klaus Kinski occurred.

Even Duke Fitzcarraldo (also with Klaus Kinski as the main character ) and parts of his My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done were filmed on the Urubamba River.

The largest inflows

One of the biggest inflows include ( downstream ):

• Yavero (right)
• Timpia (right)
• Mishansha (right)
• Camisea (right)
• Picha (left)
• Inuya (right)

Major towns on the river

( Order in flow direction)

• Sicuani
• Raqchi ( ruin)
• Urcos
• Andahuaylillas
• Pikillaqta ( ruin)
• Pisac (place and ruin)
• Calca
• Yucay
• Urubamba
• Ollantaytambo
• Llactapata ( ruin)
• Aguas Calientes
• Machu Picchu ( ruin)
• Santa Teresa
• Quillabamba
• Echarate
• Quellouno
• Atalaya
• Colonia Penal de Shepua