<h1>The Fantastic Cumbemayo</h1>

This admirable work of hydraulic engineering skill is a singular testimony of the old man Cajamarquino deployed, open channel was carved on the rock and finely decorated with mysterious carvings. This hydraulic complex has a cultural sequence spanning periods preceding the Chavin dissemination and reach the Inca conquest.

Cumbemayo, villager in Quechua means "river Fino" is a work that can be dated to the first millennium BC architecture encompasses three major groups: the Shrine (a grotto, modeled on the basis of a huge cliff in the shape of a human head); Las Cuevas (anthropomorphic petroglyphs) and Aqueduct (made of volcanic lava, a true marvel of hydraulic engineering).

Located in the southwest, at the foot of the hill Cumbe, five hours or so of the city of Cajamarca, is the so-called ceremonial Cumbemayo hydraulic complex, having a height of 3,510 meters above sea level.

It is a place of particular beauty that significant attractive, creating a scenario where we combine the work of man and the action of tiempo.La area is characterized by a climate with a dry season from May to October, with abundant warm and sunny day and a rainy season between November and April.

The complex, discovered by Ernesto de la Puente in 1937 and put in value by Julio C. Tello the same year, is considered one of the most significant water projects in the Andean region, whose main characteristic is to derive the waters of the Pacific side of the Atlantic.

The petroglyphs of Cumbemayo are part of one of the most important hydraulic works of the pre. His magic-religious connotation attracts domestic and foreign. These blocks carved by running water on a gentle slope, which includes tunnels and elbows in a zigzag to slow the current.

This amazing work of Hydraulic Engineering, 9 km. long, was built during the pre-Inca period. Many of the sections, carved into the rock, with between 35 and 50 cm. wide, and 30-65 cm. deep. It also frets and angles used to slow the water and, at the same time, prevent soil erosion.

The Aqueduct: singular work of hydraulic engineering of the pre-Inca, was described by historian Julio C. Tello as a "gigantic work of its kind." It is an open channel in rock, with linear and broken lines at right angles in certain sectors, was built in order to derive and use the waters flowing towards the Pacific side of the aqueduct is Atlántico.Junto the ceremonial altars petroglyphs, ironically well designed.

The caves or shelters: they contain many petroglyphs (rock engravings). its outline and complexity reminiscent of the engravings of the aqueduct, his style is decisive and resounding strokes of Chapin classic.

The Sanctuary: A cliff in the form of a human head, in the part that seems to correspond to the mouth has dug a small cave, inside there are petroglyphs. The walls of this room are carved with motifs confusing and suggestive, it is in bas-relief figures, cross, square, octagonal signs, staggered, spiral, curved and infinite combinations.

Stone Forest: covers a considerable area cliffs, with different shapes and the best known being that resemble the silhouette of monks in silent procession, hence the name "Friars".

The channel length is about 850 meters, was designed a pipeline with a depth that reaches 50 cm and a width of 30 cm in which currently runs the agua.Estudios made by the researcher Cajamarca Rogger Ravines indicate that the channel was in use for many centuries and that might be associated with a temple carved into the rock, located near the canal, the edge of a rocky outcrop known as The Frailones.

Cajamarca has an abundant water supply, the channels were not needed, so I may have had ceremonial or religious function. At this point early in the morning, Cumbemayo religious explanation becomes more plausible. The energy and sunlight, which is covered in grass bunch grass and is punctuated by strange volcanic formations, making palpable his hypothesis.

Thus, Cumbemayo not have been an aqueduct irrigation but a ceremonial center of worship of water, as Kenko, in Cusco and Saywite in Apurimac.

In 1965 preservation works were carried out but ended with an extension of the channel that affect its authenticity. Over time these aggregates were in disrepair and were eventually have almost disappeared. At present, the channel conducts only water areas and is affected by the accumulation of sediments, due to lack of maintenance and cleaning. The water runs so slowly that it seems stagnant and erosion has weakened many sections