Marian Johns' Journal of the Desert
Explorers trip to Peru in 2002
Images by John Page unless otherwise noted
Day 24, September
27, Friday
Chachapoyas to Leimebamba See
Map
Sept. 27, Friday – I feel much better. The hotel doesn’t serve breakfast, so we went to a restaurant next door on the second floor to eat. Returned back down the mountainside to the main road by the Utcubamba River and then followed it up to the village of Tingo. Here, we took another side road that goes to Kuélap, the huge fortified city built by the Chachapoya people who were eventually absorbed by the Inca Empire.
It took one and a half hours to make the drive up from the principal gravel highway along the river. First, we passed the clean, tidy village of Nuevo Tingo which has an array of topiary animals in their central plaza,
and then climbed up a narrow, one-lane road with scary drop-offs. The views of the countryside were spectacular – fields are cultivated on steep slopes and livestock graze on these steep slopes too – don’t know how they stand up on such steep terrain. There doesn’t seem to be a level inch of ground anywhere.
At the end of the road, we were faced with a hike up to the ruins of Kuélap. The guide book says it’s a ten minute walk - a gross underestimation, I would say, even for a fit person. It took me much longer because I went extra slow. Yesterday’s bout with a bug has left me less than my usual self, which isn’t very fast to begin with – plus the elevation is nearly 10,000 ft.
Kuélap is located at the end of a mountaintop ridge. The exterior walls, which surround the entire city, are truly impressive – 60 ft. high in some places. The two entry ways are narrow slots, easily defended should an enemy try to enter.
A secondary level inside is reached by another slot. I wore myself out climbing up to that secondary level, but didn’t see much there; however, the view from there, of the precipitous hillsides and our narrow little road, was awesome. The high wall of the enclosure on that side, which is perched at the edge of the near-vertical mountain side, must have been quite a challenge to build.
The guide books say the building material used to construct this citadel was greater than the largest pyramid in Egypt. It appears that much of the “building material” was rubble used to fill and raise the interior level to the tops of the wall. Inside the fortress are the remains of more than 400 dwellings.
Most are round, and one has been reconstructed. It was quite roomy inside, with a raised sleeping platform about one foot high against the back wall. In the lower living/kitchen area was a large, flat stone – sort of a giant metate. A steep, conical, thatched roof rested on a circular stone wall that was decorated on the outside with geometric stone designs.
I was completely bushed by the time I started back down to the truck. On the way up, I managed, unintentionally, to miss seeing the ticket booth. On the way back I saw it, but I wasn’t about to retro-pay. I was just too exhausted to go out of my way. I made it back to the truck by going super slow. I’d do it again though; what an incredible place.
Back in Tingo, we continued up the river canyon on the main road to Leimebamba. When Kathy was making hotel reservations, we found that the guide books gave no phone numbers for the hotels in Leimebamba. However, there is phone service there after all, and last night’s hotel owner in Chachapoyas kindly called ahead for us to make reservations in an old home called La Casona with several second-floor rooms that had been converted for tourists. There were no directional signs to this place, so we just asked and finally found it.
We were allowed to park the truck inside, behind locked doors. By opening several adjacent doors at the entrance, our host made a seemingly wide access; yet, it was still quite narrow and something of a trick to get the truck in the tiny space available. First, John tried going in frontward, but the street was so narrow and the truck was so long, he couldn’t swing wide enough to make it without hitting something. So, he tried to back it in, and somehow, for some reason that worked. I’m still mystified how it is possible to back in some places when you can’t drive in forward.
Considering Leimebamba is even more remote than Chachapoyas, it was a fairly nice place – even if the floors weren’t level. We walked a short distance to the main square and found a simple restaurant where we had truchas (trout). They were a bit small, but there were lots of fried potatoes to fill us up. We met a German fellow who was also having dinner there. He spoke good English, and told us that German men are required to serve two years either in the military or in some humanitarian-type program. He had chosen the latter, helping a Catholic, church-based endeavor.
He encouraged us to see the new Leimebamba Museum that houses artifacts of the Chachapoya culture – many of which were found in mummy bundles initially discovered by looters plundering cliff, shelter caves of that region. Everyone we talked to says it is a must-see. The only problem is our schedule; we won’t be able to make it all the way to Cajamarca by tomorrow night. Someone thoughtfully asked the museum caretaker if he would open early for us - he will, so we decided to stay in the morning long enough to tour the new museum. Tomorrow night we will probably stay in Celendín.
