Chachapoyas

Even though we had slightly fancier seats, our 10 hour overnight bus journey still meant a very broken sleep and we arrived in Chachapoyas at 7am and quickly had to put on layers as the temperature had dropped with the altitude. We had booked accommodation which was basically 2 rooms in a small apartment, which is great for having access to a kitchen and can be more comfortable, but it does also mean we had to rely on the owner of the apartment to be available for check in. I had already messaged them saying we were arriving early but they had not replied, and when we arrived at the address there was nobody there. Our only option was to get breakfast at a place with WiFi and hope we can get hold of the owner.

After over 2 hours of hanging around in a cafe and multiple messages and calls to the owner we still had no response. Chachapoyas itself didn't have much going on, and all the trips would take most of a day. If we were going to do anything that day we couldn't leave it too late, so Jonno managed to sweet talk the staff at the café to store our bags, and we would try and check in when we returned. 

Chachapoyas is not on the usual tourist trail, in a way good as it does not feel overcrowded but also not so easy to find out how to get transport for day trips to the places we wanted to go. There are no public buses to these locations, so we had to rely on the combi system, some of the journeys involving a change of combi.

Kids playing in the village

The first place on our list was called Karijia, where there were sarcophagi over 600 years old in the cliffs. This required 2 combis and a lot of hanging around to wait for enough people who wanted to go for the car to fill up. Once we were in the nearby village, Cruz Pata, a 1km walk downhill took us to the viewing point for these tombs. Seeing the figures sitting in the cliffs looking out to the mountains was a haunting sight, some of them with skulls perching on top. We walked a little further, almost missing the pile of human bones on one of the rocks along the footpath.

Our first view of the sarcophagi

Not the easiest place to access

Surprise bones along the path

The journey back was easier than we predicted, luckily there was a guy with his combi waiting in the village, and we picked up others along the way, one guy needing to get in the boot of the car so we could all fit in.

Obligatory dog pictures 

The following day we went to find some ancient pre-incan ruins in a place called Kuelap. This required another combi ride for about an hour, then we had 2 options- take a cable car to the ruin site, or a 9km hike, ascending 1km up. Jonno gave into my pleading eyes, and we went with the latter. Unfortunately, as soon as we were dropped off at the start of the hike it started to rain. This didn't seem as appealing now but we were hopeful the weather would improve. It didn't. It took about 2 hours 45 minutes, and the steep climb needed quite a few rest stops. This was not Jonno's idea of a fun time, and even I was looking forward to the end of it.

Steep and rainy

Loving every minute!

Jonno found a pup

Both posers but both adorable

We finally reached the top, and entered the site of the ruins. They were perched on the top of the mountain, and included lots of circular huts and a temple at the highest point.
(There is a 2013 documentary on the Chachapoyas people on youtube which explains the history and culture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGf0JIat0s )

The walls of the ancient city

Some of the ruins have been left to nature

By the time we had walked around the ruins we were pretty exhausted and thought we would opt for the cable car down rather than the hike down the steep muddy mountain. We queued up, only realising when we joined the queue that it closed at 4pm (it was 3:50 by this point) and they stopped selling tickets at 2:30. This may not be as easy as expected. Thankfully they took pity on us and let us buy a ticket and we were the last ones to board the cable car.

The last trip was, yep, another hike! This was to Gokta waterfall, apparently originally thought to be the 4th highest waterfall but actually the 15th (quite a big difference!). Another hour by combi, and a 5km hike each way. This was apparently a fairly easy hike, although still involved more uphills than we were hoping for. We have seen a lot of waterfalls, and didn't expect much, but the height of it was fairly impressive and was a nice place for our picnic lunch before the hike back the way we came.

More than just a trickle

Watching the water swirling down

We had 2 options for leaving Chachapoyas- either a 24 hour bus straight to Lima or to go back to Chiclayo to break up the journey. In the end we decided to suck it up and go for the full 24 hour torture. And the nicer seats were sold out. Good luck to us!