The Highlands of Northern Peru: Waterfalls, Ruins, Mummies and a Travel Hiccup

Maggie/Mago here, in a semi-delusional state after our 4th overnight bus ride last night. I thought I was getting the hang of this but this afternoon has me slowing down quickly! We are now in Huaraz, Peru which is a starting point for lots of hiking (or trekking as I am quickly learning to say) in the Cordillera Blanca, an incredible mountain range that surrounds the town and that I didn't really know existed until a few weeks ago. Typical American, right?

We spent the last week getting a little further off the Gringo Trail by heading back up into the Andes in Northern Peru. As EJ wrote in the last post, we took a night bus from Chiclayo to Chachapoyas (or Chachas as it is also called) where we spent 3 nights. Chachapoyas was a beautiful little colonial town, all white-washed walls and a pretty Plaza and is a jumping off point for a number of day trips.

While EJ was recovering from his stomach bug, I joined a day hike to see Catarata de Gocta or "Gocta Falls". Apparently the falls were measured in 2005 by a German who "discovered" them at that time (though of course everyone who lived the region had always known of them) and it is hotly contested whether it is the 3rd or 5th "free-leaping waterfall" in the world, or some even lesser number. Apparently there is also a local legend about a mermaid who lives in the pond under the falls. Regardless of it's height, it made for a beautiful and challenging day hike - after about a 1 hour drive from town we hiked 3 hours out to the falls and about 2 hours back. I met a few French women and a Spanish couple on the way out and on the way back befriended an 8 year old Peruvian girl and eventually when she hopped on a horse for part of the walk, I got to chat with her dad for over an hour and have my first good Spanish practice in a little while. The falls were beautiful, one of those things that couldn't be well captured in a photo, and it was a great and tiring hike.

Gocta Falls in the distance

The lower half of the falls

View from the trail

The next day, EJ was feeling much better and we headed to Kuelap with another small tour group. Kuelap is a massive walled city built on the top of a mountain by the Chachapoyas people starting in the 6th century AD - and it was occupied until around 1500 - until Incan and then Spanish conquests. Although it looks like it could be a fortress, it is thought to have primarily been a village, probably for high-ranking Chachapoyan people, a place of worship and a burial ground. All of the buildings are built in a round style. The site was rediscovered around 1840 and is a much less visited site than Machu Picchu, partially because of the difficulty to reach it. This is likely to change soon as they are close to completing a cable car that will get people to the site without having to drive on the somewhat treacherous one lane gravel road along the mountainside (yikes!). Anyway, the site was beautiful, our tour guide was great and it felt really special to be somewhere so ancient and peaceful.

I think I'd build my walled city here too

One of the entrances to the city, described by our guide as being possibly a representation of a vagina

A reconstruction of what the homes may have looked like

Llama sighting!

Jeffrey our guide pointing out the face of a God one one of the burial structures

The next day we headed to the even tinier town of Leimebamba, a little bit south of Chachas. Leimebamba is also a charming little colonial town with a Plaza de Armas with a population of only about 1100. We were interested in checking it out because just south of the town was a museum that houses a collection of 200 mummies found in a burial site on a cliff nearby overlooking a lake called Laguna de los Condores. The bodies were discovered in 1997 and are particularly fascinating because although the Chachapoyan people used some mummifying techniques (removed organs to prepare the bodies), they didn't use any embalming techniques but instead found microclimates to store the bodies that were dry and cool and would preserve them. The mummies on display at the museum were absolutely amazing - many wrapped but some unwrapped and with skin visible and some seriously scary faces. Of course, I loved it. The museum was in a beautiful building and also has the collection of pottery, textiles and other artifacts that were left with the bodies.

Ok, this is a picture of a picture, but you get the idea

Beautiful museum grounds, complete with llama

Decaying bus on our hike to the museum

We had checked ourselves into a hospedaje (hostel-ish setting) in town that cost <5 USD for the night, it was a bit musty but pretty comfortable and we were looking forward to a good night's sleep in this tiny little village. Instead - there was some kind of disco/bar located directly on the other side of our hospedaje that was playing crazy loud dance music as we were getting ready for bed - we figured, hey, it's Saturday, we're acting old, it's a tiny town, it's bound to settle down soon - but no, the music continued until probably 4-5 AM. Earplugs and pillows over the head helped some, but we were basically up all night, and then at 5 AM we suddenly heard brass instruments, drums and what sounded like gun shots. Oh yes, there was a parade at 5 AM (and they were fireworks). We headed out to the Plaza to see high school age kids playing music and groups of kids dancing in the street. We pieced together that it was an annual celebration of the anniversary of the local high school (celebrating it's 51st year). It was too funny and unexpected not to laugh.

We had already made plans the night before to take a collectivo (minibus) to another town called Celendin where we could catch another collectivo onto our goal destination of Cajamarca. We had been told the collectivo would roll through town sometime between 7:30-8:30 AM so after watching the kids in the Plaza for a while we gathered up our stuff and began to wait for our ride. And wait...

Grumpy locals waiting for the collectivo that never came

Cute schoolgirls watching the band play around 6am

We were repeatedly reassured that the ride was coming, just late, and we were entertained watching another 2 hour formal parade through the town plaza with the kids and teachers (this time in uniform). But then, after about 4 hours it was confirmed that there was a breakdown of some sort and it wasn't happening. That left us with the option to take a 10pm bus overnight to Cajamarca or wait until the next day. We sat down in a restaurant (on the same Plaza, of course) and while eating, a guy came in and said there was another collectivo he could get us in that should be coming around 3:30pm - we said we'd take it. Our spirits lifted, and we continued to wait in the Plaza. Then, 4:30 came and the guy was still making calls and giving us increasingly confusing answers. Finally, the said collectivo arrived in town with no room for us. So, we went ahead and bought our 10pm bus tickets.

Not such a bad place to be all day, right?

All day long, I'd been saying what a minor problem this really was, at least we were in a charming  and safe place, the weather was pretty nice, and it was just one day gone. But, by the end of the day (after it had started raining), we were both feeling a lot like the street dogs we'd been hanging out with all day, and were pretty relieved to finally board that bus. I'm sure the people of Leimebamba were tired of looking at the pathetic gringos that had been hanging out in the Plaza for 16 hours too. All this on 1 or 2 hours of sleep. But, we made it to Cajamarca intact! And kept on rolling.

Cajamarca, another beautiful colonial city in the mountains

Beautiful textiles and a new style of hat on the indigenous women in Cajamarca

View of Cajamarca