Day one: We left Chachapoyas at 5 AM and headed to the Valle de los Muertos, one of many Chachapoyas ruins in the area. The Chachapoyas lived in the Andes for about a 1,000 years before the Incas conquered them, and they had a pretty developed culture. We saw some sarcophaguses that were just discovered a year ago and actually ran into the archeologist who is currently working on excavating the area. If you look closely in the pic you can see the clay sarcophoguses on the steep mountain wall. We had lunch in a small village, stopped at the local market for dinner goods and then headed out to the mountains. After driving on a very sketchy, muddy mountain road (amazingly, we only got stuck once), our driver dropped us off and bid us farewell. Bay, myself and our guide, Jose, headed off for the Valle Bejen. We stayed the night in a small cabin in the valley, sorrounded by beautiful mountains and wild horses. There were six local workers staying in the cabin with us and before dinner we had a three on three soccer match. We didn´t last too long though, since playing soccer at 10,000 feet really knocks the wind out of you. After dinner, we spent the evening chewing cocoa with the guys and trying to converse with broken english and spanish. 
Day two: We hiked out of the valley and headed to another set of Chachapoyas ruins, about three hours away. We ate lunch surounded by 1,000 year old stone circular houses that were enveloped in plants and vines. After another four hour hike, we made it to the small village of Colgon where we had a room and a great cold shower. The house we stayed in had an amazing balcony where we could see the coffee trees that supplied the coffee we drank. We could hear the cuys (guinea pigs) squealing in the kitchen; fortunately for them, our dinner consisted of pasta and yucca. As it got dark, we watched the chickens climb up a skinny branch to roost in the avocado trees.
Day three: Day three killed me. It started off good though with fresh coffee, fried plaintains and yucca. It was raining off and on all day and we had a pretty vertical ascent for most of the day. We checked out some more Chachapoyas ruins (they were everywhere) and then had lunch at the top of the mountain in the house of a very friendly older couple. They are pretty isolated up on the mountain but seemed to enjoy it. After a hearty meal of egg soup, rice, beans and avocado and mint tea, we set back out into the rain. We finally made it to the top of the mountain at about 4 PM. We were wet and exhaused but very happy. Our trusty driver, Manuel Rubio, was waiting for us and took us down to the local village for a quasi-hot shower and a tasty meal of lomo saltado (beef, potatoes and rice). We were warned not to use the bathroom by the river (check out the pic).
Day Four: Day four was pretty relaxed as it consisted of hiking around the ruins of Kuelap, the Chachapoyan fortress high up on a cloudy mountaintop. Archeologists are still excavating the site and it was cool to watch them in action. After Kuelap, we headed back to Chachapoyas and had a tasty lunch with Jose and his family and then watched Ecuador destroy Peru 5-1. 
2 comments:
I thought sarcophoguses lived on Sesame street. Who knew.
what was wrong with that bathroom?
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