August 13th 2015
I was at Kuelap, an ancient Chachapoyan city/fortress, on valentines day 2015 already, but it was impressive enough that I’m excited to be heading back, especially since visiting Machu Picchu, which while grander in scale felt very overcrowded, Kuelap in February for contrast was almost empty, with two mini buses worth of people there. I’m also excited to show Rob and Bethan this incredible archaeological wonder of northern Peru.
We head to our tourist agency in the plaza de armas just before 8 in the morning to get going, having already paid the 30 soles for our tour. (not including Kuelap’s entry fee of 15 Soles for adults 8 soles for students) and soon after arriving we’re walking the two blocks back to our wonderful hostel Chachapoyas Backpackers and climbing into the waiting minibus outside.
Perhaps the only downside of most of the tours based out of Chachapoyas is that most of the sites are some distance away and most of the roads are far from good. We drive for just over an hour with our friendly guide telling us all about how the Spanish utterly destroyed the chachapoyan culture after defeating the Incas, by forcing leaders and important people to move to the new spanish cities, leaving their civilization behind.
We pull up to our first stop, a brief one, at a viewpoint of another old farming and small settlement site built into the mountainside on the other side of the river below. I’ve seen it before and there’s not much to be told so I just snap a picture or two before we all pile back into the minibus and continue up towards Chachapoyas which sits at about 3000 meters above sea level.
We stop in one of the small towns to order lunch for our way back before continuing on straight away to the entry. I line up and get our tickets while the others use the bathroom and then, finding myself to impatient to wait, I let our wonderful chilled out guide Christian know I’m going to head up on my own, eager to get to the actual ruins.
I’m thrilled to find I’m in significantly better shape than I was in February, when the walk up left me sweaty and gasping for breath. Today I’m in a trekking mood and zoom past most people on the trail, enjoying the blue skies and incredible views of the ruins above, and mountainous valleys below. I’m only a few pounds lighter, but evidently lots of trekking in Chile and Southern Peru has helped things.
About half way of the way up the 30-40 minute walk up a helicopter swoops low in the sky and I wonder what on earth it’s doing here. All I can think about is that they’ve just broke ground on the new cablecar up to Kuelap which is supposed to be ready for use next summer.
By the time I reach the top the helicopter has returned to the skies but a huge contingent of fully uniformed Peruvian police officers still there. chatting with one of them I find out I’ve just missed the president of Peru on his first visit to Kuelap ever. It’s a shame but at least the police are friendly posing for a few photos at the behest of a friendly german couple.
I then head up to the massive front wall of Kuelap and climb around the rocks, looking at the incredible ancient construction of the Chachapoyan people, still intact to this day. Eventually Rob, Bethan and the rest of the tour join me at the wall and we decide to ask our guide if we can go off on our own. He happily obliges and so it passes that I am serving as tour guide for the day.
We continue around the base of the wall to the only entrance left open to the public at the far end of the ruined city. It’s much more crowded than it was in February, although nothing like Machu Picchu. still the 40 or so tourist in February seem to have multiplied by 5, luckily it’s a pretty big site so most of the time it doesn’t feel too crowded.
We immediately head off the wooden boardwalk which was only just being built last time around and head to a lookout on the back end of the lower city, picking up a few pieces of trash as we go.
Then it’s up to the more spectacular upper city with dizzying views of the rolling green andes that surround us. We come up to the tower where it is surmised that the Chachapoyan people used to launch barrages of rocks from the peak with slingshots, not necessarily as a means of defending their mountain city (which would have been so hard to invade) but as a ritual meant to bring rain for the surrounding farms.
We continue along ahead of the group tours and make our way slowly towards the main temples and most impressive point in Kuelap. First though I manage to remember something fun to show Rob and Bethan, approaching a certain wall and peering between the individual stones to a view of bones. In 2000 they found hundreds of bodies buried in the walls and while now only a few remain, its crazy to think about.
We head down a small level past some geometric designs on some of the round chachapoyan houses before eventually stopping for lunch at an impressive lookout, sitting on the grass and sharing our meal with a friendly little dog who I’m sure I met here six months ago.
After lunch we continue towards the main temple but are forced to detour from the boardwalk again (not strictly allowed but not exactly prohibited either) when we spot a few Llamas amongst the ruins of some houses near the edge of the city.
After some photos of the llamas and the one reconstructed house to show what the city might have looked like in it’s height, I eventually follow Bethan and Rob up to the main temple and the highest edges of the city which provide dizzying views amidst the thick and still impressively intact ruins. Here we decide to spend a little time, though one of the first steps goes into recreating a photo taken by Elin and Olivia six months ago. I’m sorry you have to see another one of these.
Rob has some fun playing with a bag and reacquainting ourselves with our canine friend. I put on some music and wander the edges of the ruins looking down and thinking, glad of the blue sky which was in short supply last time I was here.
From there we glance at our watches and decide it’s time to start heading back since we’re due to meet our group back at the ticket office around three. Shortly later w’re glad we left with time to amble as we spot more llamas down in the ruins, this time three of them together.
It’s only as we draw closer that we realize what we’re walking in to. Let me tell you one thing first. The sounds Llamas make while having sex are more perfect than anything you can imagine. Quiet and dignified, something similar to an excited hum mixed with grunts. Sadly my videos didn’t catch the quiet if persistent sounds.
We watch from a distance as the two enjoy themselves while the third seems to keep his back turned as if to say “Really guys, I’m right here. Get a room.”
Eventually we leave them to their fun and head back down the way we’ve come winding out of the city and back down the path towards the minivans. We climb back into the minibus and head back, making a brief stop for lunch, where we eat our pre-packed sandwiches before eventually making it back to Chachapoyas for more pizza at Candela.
We spend the next day and a half relaxing in Chachapoyas enjoying apple pie at fusions cafe and playing lots of cards and scrabble which we won in Lima. We also get to appreciate some more fireworks and some incredible street art created for the weekend festival.
In the main square the roads are shut down and huge murals are built out of pressed flower petals and other things all around the main square. We walk amongst the incredible art and marvel at it snapping a few photos.
It’s incredible and very strange to walk out into the plaza just a few hours later and see all the beautiful art destroyed, swept away and run down by cars. But we don’t let us bother us, as later that afternoon we’re off to Pedro Ruiz, to walk to Yumbilla falls, the third tallest waterfall in the world.
