The Cloud People

Chachapoyas is remote. Located in an area of limestone mountains cut by 700m deep river canyons. It takes time to get here and takes time to get around. Yet even here Peru had another "civilisation" to add to it's long list. The Chachapoyas people or "Cloud People" (due to the location in the eastern Andean cloud forests) established a complex society from 800AD to the 1400's when they were overun by the empire building Incas.

The cloud people left behind what is generally regarded as the most impressive pre-Incan site; the fortress of Kuelap.

Built with more stone than that use to build the great Egyptian pyramid, the castle like fortess is located on a 3000m ridge and was once home to 3000 people. The ride up was terrifying with the road hugging the mountain with a precipice of horrible depth falling away the other side of the road.

The ruins are in the main unrestored, and cloud forest vegetation grows amongst the circular low stone walls that remain. In many ways it is a city of the dead for within each ruins and even within each wall are human remains. It is fortress built of rock and bone.

Third Highest Waterfall

Never ever fully believe what you are told! Today I have two examples of this............

I took the overnight bus from coastal Chiclayo to Chachapoyas, a remote, small, Andean town halfway down to the Amazonian plains. Surrounding the main square are a few tourist agency offices (including one in my hostel). All proclaimed the tour to the "Third highest waterfall in the world". After my visit to these impressive falls, I asked Mr Google..............

At 771m the Gotca waterfall is the 15th highest in the world. Oh well.........watch this space for in December I should see the world's highest falls. Robbie Williams made a single about them.

I had to choose an agency to get me to the falls. It seems all agencies will tell you anything to get your cash. I knew one agency was running the trip. The agency at my hostel was not as there were no other gringos about. However on my way to book the trip my hostals agency told me they had 2 others wanting to go!! The trip would start at 4.00am.

The 2 others turned out to be a party of 30 teenage girls on a schooltrip. We returned at 10.00pm after visiting the falls (they screamed as they got wet under the falls), then a lake (so the girls could scream on a boat ride) then a disco (so the girls could scream to the music). So a screaming, 16 hour trip, that would have been a tranquil 8 hours if I had used the other agency.

QED

The Lord of Sipan

The Lord of Sipán (El Señor de Sipán) is a mummy found in Sipán by Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva in the 1987. The tomb is in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, an area in Chiclayo.

The Señor de Sipán tomb is a Moche site in Peru. Some archaeologists hold it to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in this region of the world in the last 30 years, because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves.

Sipán is located in the northern part of Peru, close to the coast, in the middle of Lambayeque Valley, 35 Kms. at east of Chiclayo. Four tombs have been found in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, the huaca is a mausoleum built by the Moche culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru from the time of Christ to 700 AD, centuries prior to the Incas.

Gold Gold Gold

From the high Andean valley of Cajamarca I returned down to the derset coast. This time to the small city of Chiclayo.

In the numerous river valleys around the city are the remains of Moche and Sipan civilisations, and I explored these over two days. The oldest adobe pyramids here are also the largest. Remains from these two mounds, abandoned after the 1100AD El Niño floods are shown in the Sican site museum. Here are some of the exhibits:





The actually site from where these items were discovered still has ongoing archeological work going on.




Final stop of the day was to the Brunning museum which contains many items from the numerous civilisations Peru has given birth to. The exhibits here were fabulous.

Pachamama`s pinnacles

High upin the mountains that tower over Cajamarca is an area of volcanic tors. Very photogenic. These are the Cumbe Mayo, and attracted the Incas spiritual tendencies. Here they cut a rock platform (for sacrifices to Pachamama) and a series of water channels to carry water from this holy place down to Cajamarca.

Incas End

From Trujillo I took a bus back into the Andes. It took just 8 hours including a needed lunch stop by a newly created reservoir. My destination was Cajamarca. a beautiful colonial city, second only to Cusco in "colonial charm".

It was here that the Spanish first encountered the Inca army, slaughtered them, taking captive their leader. So ended the Inca Empire.

Chimu Chan Chan

The big sight around Trujillo is the Chimu civilisation (they have had a lot of civilisations in Peru1), city of Chan Chan. Built of mud, it is an interesting place.Most ruins are craggy and rough, but these adobe ones have been rounded by the El Niño rains over the centuries.