Incallajta

With my good friend Saul standing on the ruins of Incallajta. We found out you're not supposed to do that--stand on the ruins--oopps! Llajta in Quechua means pueblo, and inca of course refers to the Incas. This place was an Inca outpost in the early 16th century to keep the unruly natives in line. Although Quechua is the language of the Cochabamba valley, the Quechuas are relatively recent arrivals to what is now Bolivia, sent by the Incas from Cuzco who were themselves Quechuas to populate Kollasuyo, the part of their empire that is now Bolivia. This is the origin of the term kollas that cambas (people from Bolivia's eastern department of Santa Cruz) use to refer to Bolivians from the altiplano, Bolivia's high western plains. Cochalos, people from Cochabamba, refer affectionately to their city as la Llajta, one of many examples of everyday use of quechua words by Spanish speakers.