Our trip from Ecuador to Peru was quite exhausting…
We had started our first of two days at 6 am in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. We coincidentally met up with a couple from Montreal Canada, Ariane and Jon, that we had met the day before. The four of us were all headed for the same border crossing into Peru. We opted for the less popular border crossing in La Balsa because it was closer to our first destination in Peru, Chachapoyas.
Our first mode of transportation was a 7 hour bus ride to Zumba Ecuador, then an open sided truck called Ranchero, for another 1.5 to La Balsa, Ecuador. We crossed very easily into Peru as we were the only ones. We took a Taxi from the border for another 1.5 to San Ignacio, Peru. After 12 hours of travel time, we had some beers and stayed the night in San Ignacio.
Dave and I in the Ranchero
Check out the massive security between Ecuador and Peru. It was crazy.
Our taxi ride from the border to San Ignacio with our new friends.
We thought we were getting some yummy dark beer finally. Turns out it’s really sweet. Oh well.
We woke up early the second day too and started with a tuk tuk ride to a colectivo, a 15 passenger van, to Jaen. Once we were in Jaen, we took another tuk tuk to a colectivo to Bagua Grande. Once there, we took our final colectivo to Chachapoyas. In total, the second day was 8-9 hours of travel.
Crammed into the back of the dusty colectivo. A nice peruvian couple did offer us some of their freshly cut pineapple. We couldn’t say no, it would have been rude. We survived, there were no bugs in the pineapple and it was tasty. Thanks again nice Peruvian couple!
Finally in Chachapoyas!
Chachapoyas was a hub for some of the local attractions. We decided to visit two of them. The first was a trip to the pre-Inca civilization of the Chachapoyas people called Kuelap. It was quicker to get there if you booked it through a tour, so we did.
One the way to Kuelap we stopped at another pre-Inca civilization site that was build on the side of a mountain face. There were estimated to be about 200 people living on this cliff. Not sure how they did it or how they got from house to house.
A little hard to see the actual rock walls, but they are there on the side of this mountain.
Close up of the rock walls they build on the side of the mountain for their houses.
Kuelap fortress was recently rediscovered in 2006 and is on top of a mountain at 9,842 ft high in the cloud forest.
Kuelap park entrance
It was originally built by the Chachapoyas people and was estimated to house anywhere from 2400-4000 people as it has 400 round house structures. To put it into comparison, Machu Picchu is estimated to house 200-300, if I remember correctly.
Map showing the layout of the round house structures that were found inside the Kuelap Fortress.
Kuelap was eventually invaded and taken over by the Inca and then several decades later, the Spanish and Chachapoyas people worked together to reclaim Kuelap Fortress. It was determined to be pre-Inca as all the structures are round and Incas always build things in squares. Here are many great pictures from the site.
This wall surrounds the fortress and can get up to 19 meters (62 ft) high. The fortress is about 600 meters (1,968 ft) long and 110 meters (361 ft) wide.
Entrance #1 into the fortress. It might be a little hard to see, but they started out wide and then got narrower as it got closer to the entrance for safety reasons.
Top view on entrance #1.
View from above entrance #3, this shot does a good job showing how high up this city was.
The tight squeeze up to the second level where the most important people lived.
Human remains were found in the walls of some of the buildings.
Dave and I standing next to the reconstructed building to show what they looked.
The three sideways diamonds represent the earth, sea, and air.
A face carved into the highest structure.
Dave with the cloud abyss behind him.
One of the densely population sections of Kuelap.
The second attraction we decided to go see was the Gocta waterfall. The waterfall has two falls with a total height of 771 meters (2,530 ft). If you talk to the local tour guides, they’ll say it’s the third tallest in the world, but if you google it, it’s actually the 16th tallest. Still, pictures doesn’t do it justice, this is a tall waterfall.
The view from the road towards the waterfall.
Dave in front of the falls trying to get some perspective on size. Also, note Dave’s facial hair.
It was a 3 mile hike through the Andes Mountains and through some farms near the village. This trail and some of the roads to the village were not there prior to 2005. Before these were created it was a 4-day trek to go see the waterfall. I’m glad these were constructed when we were visiting.
Trail along the mountains towards the waterfall.
This section was a little scary because there was loose rock and a steep fall to the river below.
A small section was very jungle like.
Overall the waterfall was very beautiful and a lot prettier than we thought it was going to be.
Getting close enough that you can’t see the first of the two waterfalls.
Dave and I and Ariane and Jon at the bottom of the falls.
It’s hard to show just how tall it actually is.
Peach and Bones 