we marveled at a spectacular display of petroglyphs. They testify that these remote places have been inhabited for thousands of years, and watched the caravans of commerce pass between the towns settled on the coast and those of the altiplano. Here we leave the Vitor valley to enter a secondary ravine that brings water only during the rainy season, so there are no signs of permanent agricultural exploitation. After a few kilometers, the road leaves the bot- tom of the ravine and rises to reach the plateau of the Atacama Desert. After a journey that takes us quite a while -but hardly more than twenty kilometers- we arrive at the town of Timar (2,373 meters above sea level) located, like the towns previously visited, at the bottom of the deep Garza ravine, where a stream flows down to irrigate the valley, turning the area into an orchard. Timar is organized as a sort of linear village along a single street, ending in a small plaza in front of the small church dedicated to San Juan Bautista. Here, and thanks to the previous coordination of the Altiplano Foundation, we were welcomed by representatives of the community who took the time to open the church, tell us part of its history, and even sing some religious songs with us. Our collaboration in this matter was rather null, leaving the bulk of the work to the voices of three women who managed to make different harmonies. Leaving Timar we begin a journey of just under fifty kilometers and a climb of 800 meters to reach the church of the Virgen Asunta de Tic- namar Viejo (3,230 meters above sea level), located about 600 meters from the current Ticnamar plaza. The old town of Ticnamar was located next to the riverbed with the same name and was swept away by a flood in 1959, so it was moved to a higher area, only keeping the church and the cemetery at its original location. This history gives the temple a special characteristic since it is completely isolated in the landscape and inserted in a grove with gigantic eucalyptus trees, so it is very easy to forget the surroundings and imagine that you are somewhere in the Chilean central valley. Next to this church from the XVII/XVIII century, a delicious and var- ied picnic was waiting for us along with some select wines, which gave us encouragement and strength for what awaited us. However, that is another story. !
San Juan Bautista and Virgen Asunta preside over life in the Garza ravine. The Pachamama also blessed it with a stream that trans- formed the area into an orchard. Tignar & Ticnamar with Fruits & Chants With this view, the tour becomes alive and deep. Heritage surpasses the building and reaches the settlement and the landscape that signifies and educates. What are the lessons that our modern landscape and way of inhabiting will provide for the future? What and how will be the heritage landscape that we will deliver? ! Inhabiting the ravines in the desert is a lesson for us. As architects and designers of tomorrow, we find clues for our present and future in their visit. Today, those who inhabit these sites do so considering the same keys as the pre-Hispanic peoples. Fragility and scarcity of resources. Critical edges between life and aridity. Respect for the rules of the en- vironment. Insecurity in the face of natural disasters. Self-sufficiency in the face of isolation. Shelter and mutual aid. Fraternity and hospitality before the traveler or visitor. Silent admiration of the stars. Responsi- bility in caring for the place, its fauna and flora. A unique and personal perception and habitation of the temporal dimension. Ancestral values as lessons of habitation. The traces of the occupation are everywhere: ruined corrals, stone barns, tambos, aqueducts, terrace cultivation. A brilliant and rounded way of settling that recognizes and makes the most of the resources given by the environment -the slope, watercourses, shady eaves, oasis of greenery, arable land, stone, mud, and straw as available materials- and manages and articulates them giving rise to a cycle of exploitation capable of sustaining life for millennia. It contributes to the human need for registration, identity, and spirituality, leaving behind its rock art, ceremonial enclosures, and memory. Ofragía is, then, a little bit of all of this. As a periodical newspaper library of prehistory, it accumulates layers and layers of selected information for its contemporaries and, perhaps unintentionally, for those of us who follow them in their historical evolution.
By: Klaus Benkel
After a quick visit to the Vila-Vila tourist complex near Codpa (1,850 meters above sea level), whose stone and adobe huts are being built according to the recommendations and teachings of the Altiplano Foun- dation, we headed down the valley to reach the town of Ofragía, where
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