A ''pongo'' is a word used in the

Peruvian Spanish Peruvian Spanish is a family of dialects of the Spanish language that have been spoken in Peru since brought over by Spanish conquistadors in 1492. There are four varieties spoken in the country, by about 94.4% of the population. The four Peruvi ...

dialect for '

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

'. It is derived from either

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

''puncu'' and the

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

''ponco'', meaning 'door' or 'gate.' See: * The

Pongo de Manseriche The Pongo de Manseriche is a gorge in northwest Peru. The Marañón River runs through this gorge (and water gap) before it reaches the Amazon Basin. The Pongo ('gate' in Quechua) de Manseriche is 3 miles (4.8 km) long, located at 4° 27� ...

: a gorge in northwest Peru where the

Marañón River , name_etymology = , image = Maranon.jpg , image_size = 270 , image_caption = Valley of the Marañón between Chachapoyas ( Leimebamba) and Celendín , map = Maranonrivermap.png , map_size ...

runs. The Marañón River has 35 miles of ''pongo'' before it joins the Amazon River. * The

Pongo de Mainique The Pongo de Mainique ('gate' in Quechua) is a ''water gap'' (canyon) of the Urubamba River in Peru. Inside the water gap, the river is constricted to a width of . The Pongo de Mainique is long. The elevation of the river is approximately . T ...

: the most dangerous whitewater pass on the

Urubamba River The Urubamba River or Vilcamayo River (possibly from Quechua ''Willkamayu'', for "sacred river") is a river in Peru. Upstream it is called Vilcanota River (possibly from Aymara ''Willkanuta'', for "house of the sun"). Within the La Convención Pr ...

. * The

Huallaga River The Huallaga River is a tributary of the Marañón River, part of the Amazon Basin. Old names for this river include ''Guallaga'' and ''Rio de los Motilones''. The Huallaga is born on the slopes of the Andes in central Peru and joins the Marañón ...

forms the Pongo de Aguirre when crossing a part of the Andes.

Notes

References

* . . . Geography of Loreto Region Landforms of Amazonas (Brazilian state) {{Topography-stub