Kuelap Ruins
Trip Start
Feb 06, 2007
1
71
332
Trip End
Jan 14, 2008
Chachapoyas,
Peru
Sunday, May 6, 2007
We moved our stuff to Hostal Kuelap early. At Hostal Juhamaji we had suffered noises off at 4.30am, crashes and odours from the restaurant across the corridor at all hours, and sheets too short for the bed, for one night too many. Our new place costs 35 sol but is much nicer, friendly staff, a window overlooking a garden, a double bed, and (shame) a telly.
On the tour to Kuelap there was a Belgian woman, Anna, who spoke French and Spanish, a German student spoke German and Spanish, and our guide Julio who spoke Spanish only. Pete was the only one needing English, so he had to put up with Barb's occasional inaccurate translations. It was about 2.5 hours to get to Keulap, which is sited on top of a hill at 3100 metres The road wound round the hills for ages and must have gone at least 5 times as far as the straight line distance. In one place all it would take would be another downpour and the road would wash away into the ravine below
Bones from 1400AD
. But today it was still there. The ruins are of a Chacha civilization from about 1400 AD. They are on top of a hill and have high walls (up to 11 metres) completely encircling the 600 metre by 140 metre place, such that any would-be invader would have a very hard time getting in. First he would have to avoid rocks tossed from above. There are 3 narrow entrances, wide enough for one person only. One was for the important people, one for crops grown below the town, and we are not sure what the third one was, maybe for the ordinary people. Inside the fortifications there was a village consisting of circular houses, with up to 5000 people living there, and the usual military quarters and the leaders' buildings. There were tombs, still containing bones that you could see when Julio pulled out a loose stone. Everything was built of stone hewed on the site, using the strata of the rock and wooden implements to make the blocks. It must have taken a huge amount of manpower to construct the town.These Chacha people only had peace for less than 100 years, when the Incas arrived and hot on their heels the Spaniards. Both Incan and Spanish artifacts were found inside the town, so somehow the invaders must have avoided the raining of rocks from above and forced an entry.
It was a really interesting trip, organized by Chacha Expeditions, and our guide Julio, who was a high school teacher of Spanish, was full of information. We can fully recommend this tour, unless you speak no Spanish, because there are only a few explanatory notices on the site in English.Back in town we had a coffee in the plaza, and noticed a woman sitting at the next table who looked familiar. We joined her and found that we had all been on the boat from Santa Rosa to Iquitos about 2 weeks ago. She is going to Celendin on Tuesday too. Small world.
