Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/07/30/every-year-this-scary-rope-br.html
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I was on a movie crew once that involved filming on a rope bridge over a gorge and this bridge was made of concealed steel cables and even it was pretty scary. The locals wanted the production to leave it behind, but lawyers required it be removed.
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OK, I watched the video but I still don’t know why. Is it because it’s a major community event? It’s certainly not about safety or labor-saving…
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Lawyers are not good people… shoulda taken a photo from before, and said it was taken after removal… “Yeah, we took it down, see!”
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Watched the video and still don’t have any inkling as to why a more modern solution isn’t put in place. Bad headline is bad.
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Tradition, an illogical reason to continue to use outdated technology.
They could just create a holiday to celebrate the installation of the new 50-100 year bridge instead of celebrating the yearly installation of the old 1 year style bridge. And they could make mini old style bridges for that celebration to educate the youth about the history and purpose of the celebration; honoring the old ways and those of their ancestors who used them.
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Well, I haven’t watched the video, but I bet it’s because the bridge-building is also an opportunity to build bridges between the two communities. Every year, for millennia.
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Do you want to see it? 
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They could probably save time and materials by replacing the bridge every 2-3 years. What’s the worst that could happen?
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If they use materials that will last 50 years, by the time it’s necessary to replace the bridge, there will be no one left alive who has the experience to do so.
Also, the cost of the bridge is essentially free, other than the physical labor involved.
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There’s this thing called community pride. And honoring one’s ancestors/gods by continuing old traditions. There’s also a thing called money, which tends not to be available to small rural communities of indigenous people in Peru. Especially when the government has already built a standard modern bridge “nearby” (source:wikipedia). But mostly I suspect it’s community pride.
ETA: from google maps, the modern, paved bridge detours in a loop compared to the rope bridge. Eyeballing it, It’s maybe a mile(?) further by the road than by the rope footbridge.
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Better than the last time they took care of it.
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I am a lawyer and I hate this sort of thing. Lawyers are remarkably self-centered like this. The objection “But they’ll sue!” (and they may), can always be answered with “But we can buy insurance.” Lawyers provide a good network for running things, but they never want to admit that the best approach is rough out the basic conditions and then calk the holes with a decent layer of insurance.
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on the other hand obesity and / or isolation, loneliness doesn’t appear to be a major public health problem in those parts.
tradition might also have its benefits.
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and the process of its creation has enormous health benefits.
no need to go to the gym.
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Because it’s cool to build something with your own two hands?
I know, back when I was a Scout, we built a rope bridge across a river for no better reason than “Building shit is cool.”
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Nice bit of work.
I think I’ve seen that bridge before:
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Yes, but then again, the cost of [i]anything[/i] is essentially free, other than the physical labour involved.
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There’s no such thing as outdated technology. There’s just technology that privileged people with money and access to hardware stores have the luxury of declaring to no longer be relevant to themselves.
For people who don’t have money, cars, or jobs that pay well enough to enable them to buy expensive things like nylon rope or steel cables, ropes handmade from the grass that grows in their backyard is the best, most up-to-date bridge making technology in existence.
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