Cusco Inca Rope Bridge, Apurimac Canyon, Cuzco Province, Peru

Famous examples
The greatest bridges of this kind were in the Apurimac Canyon along the main road north from Cuzco, with a famous example being one spanning a 148 foot gap that is supposed to be the inspiration behind the 1928 Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Bridge of San Luis Rey".
The last remaining Inca rope bridge is the Q'eswachaka, (also spelled Qeswachaka, Keshwa Chaca or Keswachaka), spanning the Apurimac River near Huinchiri, Peru, in the Province of Canas. Even though there is a modern bridge nearby, the residents of the region keep the ancient tradition and skills alive by renewing the bridge annually, in June. Several family groups have each prepared a number of grass-ropes to be formed into cables at the site, others prepare mats for decking, and the reconstruction is a communal effort. In ancient times the effort would have been a form of tax, with participants coerced to perform the rebuilding; nowadays the builders have indicated that effort is performed to honor their ancestors and the Pachamama (Earth Mother). The event has also been supported by video productions for Nova and the BBC and is the subject of an independent documentary titled The Last Bridge Master (in-production, 2014). It is becoming a minor tourist attraction, with some small tolls charged for tourists to use the road during the festival to walk the newly completed bridge. In 2009 the government recognized the bridge and its maintenance as part of the cultural heritage of Peru, and there is now some outside sponsorship.