From Chachapoyas by whichwayisnorth

Travelers to the city of Chachapoyas, Peru know what it really means to go “off the beaten path,” like whichwayisnorth who spent two days getting to this land of archaeological wonders, using a creative variety of transportation including their feet, a 1980’s station wagon, mototaxis with flashlights for headlights, and a basket rigged by pulleys used to cross a wild river and skirt a landslide. In this case, both the journey and the destination made their trip special; here, the ruins of a lost kingdom still remain — Kuelap, a defensive fortress built in the 9th century, still stands with its amazing palaces and temples, all alighted atop a 10,ooo foot mountain. Today, Kuelap is called the “Machu Picchu of the North,” but has many less visitors because it’s hard to get to.

Whichwayisnorth found the challenges they experienced getting to Chachapoyas worth the reward of seeing Kuelap and the other incredible archaeological treasures of the area. Here’s an excerpt from their travel blog, Chachapoyas:

“We all shared a car to the site of the landslide and started walking. The only way around it was to take a sort of basket across the river. Local workers had rigged up a kind of emergency pulley system that could accommodate 3 people at a time. Everything was pretty hectic but we managed to get across. Then just a 30 minute hike through the woods to the next basket across the river. By the time we finally got to Chachapoyas we realized why this amazing area is not exactly a tourist destination yet. There´s simply no easy way in or out. But man is it worth it. There are over 280 precolumbian ruins in the area and little to no tourists. There´s also the 4th tallest waterfall in the world, Gokta, and about a week after we left Chachapoyas the newspaper in Lima reported that a waterfall even higher than Gokta had been discovered. Unfortunately we only had 3 days to explore the area, but during that time we got to see some amazing sites. The sarcophaguses pictured were embedded in cliffs thousands of meters high. You could hike up literally 10 feet away from them, passing bones along the way.” (more…)

To learn more about what whichwayisnorth found in Chachapoyas, check out the rest of their blog, including fascinating photographs of the sarcophagus’s built into the cliff faces.

Useful Links:
Chachapoyas Travel Blogs
Peru Travel Guide
South America Travel Guide
Chachapoyas, Kuelap and Cajamarca