Apu
The Quechua word for a mountain lord, a protector of the community, and its kin: the huaca, any place or thing holding sacred power.
Also: apus, huaca, wak'a, wamani, achachila
Apu, Quechua for lord, is a mountain spirit in the Andes: the great peaks of Ausangate, Salkantay and others are named apus. Highland communities hold that each guards and provides water and herds, and offerings, such as the despacho, are made to them. In some areas the word wamani, or among the Aymara achachila, is used. Huaca (wak'a) is a wider Inca word for any thing or place with sacred power: a spring, a rock, a tomb, an ancestor's mummy. Spanish authorities in the sixteenth century sought to destroy huacas, and the campaign of extirpation recorded them in detail. Today some Peruvians pass a mountain without pointing at it, out of respect. Mountain tourism and mining have raised conflicts about sacred peaks.