CHACHAPOYAS: Peru´s Gem

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Chachapoyas is a little known name outside of Peru, and yet its place in the countries´ history is undeniably pivotal. We are now in the North of Peru, and the Chachapoyas culture thrived here in this fertile region - despite the modest elevation of 2300m, the forested hills are fed by the presence of cloud milked of moisture by the cooling of the ascending air stream from the Pacific some 200k´s away.

In a process of brutal Darwinian selection, the million strong tribal population of aggressive discords earned their reputation for being tough enemies. The mighty Incas from the South felt expansive, and desired both the sacred coca growing regions of the Chachapoyas, and probably preferred to subdue a tough neighbour, rather than leave their expanding flank exposed. Suspending their internal issues to unite against the common threat, and engaging in a race to expand the mighty fortress of Kuelap, they were as ready as they would be - with up to 24m high stone walls, this was their prize defensive asset after 1000 years of tried and tested military evolution.

But not silly, and well versed in the needs of a fortress, the Incas awaited the dry season, and strangled the river supply to the defenders, and a thoroughly messy struggle for survival ensued. While the Incas were victorious, and employed remarkably sophisticated techniques to integrate these people into the empire (including intermarriage of the leaders to Incan princesses and Incan education of the offspring), the wounds were too deep for this warlike culture to be part of anyone elses´game.

And so within 100 years of Incan control, a small contingent of strange men with shiny helmets arrived from the North, heading South. Greeted as saviours in the the Chachapoyans fierce determination to throw off the Incas, they elected the devil they didn´t know, and joined the few hundred Spanish with 10´s of thousands of troops to attack and decapitate the Southern Incan Empire.

So into Chachapoyas town we walked after an exhausting windy night-time bus trip, and were blown away by this lovely friendly little town. It was just big enough to have its roads and footpaths sealed, but not big enough to have any drainage. So the daily rainfall washed a fine layer of dirt to every surface, giving this place some genuine authenticity. The torrential rain one night turned the streets into wide water courses. Throughout the people were genuinely welcoming and socially well adjusted. Such a delight in a tourism fatigued/wary country.

Two day trips to various Chachapoyas remains, and we were soaking up the sights of stunning bush growing inside the mighty remains of Kuelap, and a wealth of funerary facilities built on impossibly steep hillsides by rope assisted climbing techniques, and no doubt some dedicated individuals who joined their dead warriors and shamans while providing them with impressive mausoleums. The narrow and hairy walkway built on the cliff face at the City of the Dead was enough to have us spooked as we inched along, occasionally looking down...

So Chachapoyas was a stunning surprise hidden away in the bush. Far from the tourist pack train of the Southern major sites, yet as rich as anything elsewhere in Peru.

Gracias todos, Chachapoyas es muy bonita.

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Photos

Those walls were made for defending...
And thats just what they tried to do.

Ceremonial entrance passage
Looks risky if you dont come in peace.

Clean up time
The van driver empties the crap the locals dumped on the floor of the van. Rubbish is that stuff that someone ELSE picks up...

Reconstruction zone ahead
This whole site is an amazing pile of materials carefully removed and awaiting jigsaw reinstallation.

Ceremonial entrance
This route was us the Hobnobs, and the religious types. A completely different entrance was provided for the OTHER types (incl Llamas).

Try attacking this...
This is the second pinch point an attacking army would have to squeeze through. And being harrassed from above all the way...

Circular achitecture
Most buildings were round, whiloe the walls waved along with the existing terrain. Fantastic flow...

Regrowth
The natural jumble of Kuelap was stunning, as the bush has swallowed it whole, only to be mostly uncovered by the many efforts of those humans.

Intricate
The patterning around these priests houses was simple but amazing. Representing the eyes of various animals, we were being watched.

Ceremonial entrance adornments
A few of the blocks making up this magnificent entrance were carefully carved with all manner of odd animals and people

Bones dem bones dem dry bones
Many of the little niches with their sarcophogi have dislodged in the past 800years through erosion and earthquakes, and the contents had survived pretty well... only to be carefully placed against the cliff and left to themselves.

Begonias?
The little palms randonly addorning the whole fortress were the sort of thing you would find at a garden centre for lots of money, but here their unkempt cluttering was vastly more beautiful.

Cliffside path to city of the dead
The hill got steeper, and the cliff got taller, and THEN we were at the "city" where these people had built some homes... weird.

Sarcophogi.
Mud. Wood. Art. All good. And still in great nick.