La Casona De Leymebamba Chachapoyas

... and have breakfast and before you know it we were off on a mini van out to the archaeological site. <br><br>One of our main aims of going to Chachapoyas was to see Kuelap and although there are many sites around the area we decided due to limited time to do a proper tour of Kuelap. We arrived to the parking lot and had about a 3km walk up the hill to the location of site. It was an impressive site to see perched on top of this massive mountain looking down on ...

... by a ramshackle little place with concrete buildings and little charm. <br><br>Thankfully I didn't have to stay too long as the next morning I boarded a long bus ride to Chachapoyas. After asking several people how long the journey would take and getting several different answers I figured that the true answer was "quite a long time" and so settled in to the mindset patient acceptance. Fortunately the minibus was one of the most comfortable forms of transport ...

... one headed to a town called Tingo, and hour and a half away, and at the foothills of Kuelap. <br> Kuelap is an ancient ruin site built in a cloud-forested mountain range between 900 and 1100 AD by the Chachapoyas, or &#8216;people of the clouds.&#8216; Three levels high, with remains of 400+ circular stone houses that housed about 8 people each, and shared by all people in the population (nobility and townspeople alike), Kuelap used to be a city that held ...

... managed to get into a colectivo coming to Chacha. Colectivos are cool - they're just cars that run shortish routes back and forth between two places and they set off whenever the car is full (full being the operative word - I've been in some where they squeeze two in the passenger seat and four in the back). However, they are unpredictable because the cars vary in quality and safety and the drivers can be 'interesting'. The road ...

... than a dozen here. Built more than 500 years earlier in the cloud forests, the Chachapoyas were known for their "ahead of their time" stonework skill, and the 20m high stone walls surrounding this 700m long fortress city which housed 3,500 people are still in fantastic condition, as are the bases of their cute round houses, complete with stone made ...

... up and into the side of a cliff. Fairly impressive, though we were not very close to them, so for all the effort involved in both the entire day and the walking into and out from the cliff side... hhmm probably not entirely worth the effort. <br>Day two and our sole destination was the ruins of ´Kuelap´, again pre-Incan (though some additional parts had been built by the Incans), a surprisingly large complex built on the top of a mountain, so there were ...

... were reported killed, and rumors abound about how many indigenous people were killed (some say serveral hundreds). So the people in town seem very angry with the police and the government, and the week of festivities changed into a week of protests. The marchers are no longer dancing, but carrying large banners demanding better treatment from the government, their voices booming around the plaza day and night. The bands ...

... de population change. Notre bus est tout de meme bloque 1h par des indigenes ayant barre la route avec des pierres et des arbres et se balladant en petits groupes armes de lances en bois. Nous sommes ensuite bloques 2h a cause d'un camion renverse sur la route, il fait nuit. Nous arrivons finalement a 22h a Pedro Ruiz ou nous devons donc passer la nuit. Ce que nous faisons a l'Alojamiento Mary, glauque (30 clients en 3 ans sur le registre) mais propre.<br>

... who was there and imagined small people ducking behind rocks every time he turned around. I have had similar feelings at other sites and don't know for sure what to attribute it to but I think there are spirits at these places that we may or may not connect with. I've had that feeling at Mesa Verde in Colorado and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Past life experience? I don't know. But I know that feeling and I thought it was great that Ronal ...

... or horses to carry their loads (and occasionally ride on). Although electricity has reached this area, it's basically a pretty primitive and traditional life. We got to Cruz Pata, parked the car and our guide led us to the steep trail to the site. The hike out would be a killer...but on we went. The sarcophigi of this site are perched high on a cliff above what used to be a Chachapoya village. Chachapya means "People of the Clouds" and were a pre ...