Dan Will Travel

KUELAP

Easily the second finest ruin in Peru after Machu Picchu, Kuelap is situated high on a bluff at about 9,900’ elevation. It dated from AD 500 and is extremely well preserved, having just been cleaned up and opened in the past 30 years. Part of it’s uniqueness and attraction is that so little is known and much is constantly being discovered as they research it more. The huge differentiation from the Incas is that everything is round, not rectangular or square. The most famous structure is known as the ink well, as it is a round inverted cone. Kuelap is totally walled in with only 3 entrances, each up a steep set of stairs that go from about 6’ wide at the entrance to less than 3’ at the top, insuring that only one could enter at a time, and they would be fully visible from above. Sitting on a bluff nearly 10,000′ high, with it’s 30′ high exterior walls, it was essentially impenetrable and even the mighty Inca’s could not conquer the Chachapoyas people there. As you probably know, I search out this sort of place and it was totally worth the long journey. Seeing something so world class so early in its development with essentially no other tourists was an unforgettable experience.

Nice view looking down the valley

The walled exterior of Kuelap

One of the entrances. Note how it narrows as you go up the steep steps.

Loved this shot of the clouds moving in.

The exterior of a structure. Unlike the Inca’s, the Chachapoyas used decorative elements. These are thought to be Puma eyes.

The interior of a house. Far right is a food prep area, the other two are graves! They buried family members inside the house in the fetal position to make it easier for them to come back in the next life.

The requisite llama shot.

One house restored as to how they think the roofs might have been.

The famous inverted cone structure of Kuelap.

A sense of how it is perched high above the valley and inside the walls.

Bromeliads

Orchids

Posted: June 9, 2015 by admin

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Road Trip!

Wednesday was my day to drive with Juan from Chiclayo on the coast over the Andes and into the interior Andean area of Chachapoyas. We planned 8.5 hours for the trip. Juan knew no English and me no Spanish, so he decided it was a good time to teach me. It was pretty funny trying to communicate, but, when totally stumped, he just called his son Carlos who could speak English, and he translated remotely for us. When he started “Mr. Daniel,” I knew to pay attention as that session was beginning.

We traveled through a relatively low Andean 8,000’ pass in the cloud forest, and it was totally in the clouds until we got over the pass. Beautiful when it did open up. After some time in a transition zone between the mountains and the Amazonian area, we were back in the mountains. The road hugged the canyon and it was raining and it had many washouts. (see below.) And many large trucks and buses. Finally we were stopped in a very long line due to a closure I guess. (I was mostly in the dark as even if they told me what was happening, I would not understand. So, I took photos to while away what became a 2 hour wait. Imagine a narrow two lane road with a long line of trucks in the correct lane waiting for passage. It seemed pretty clear to me that the left lane would be needed by the trucks and buses coming from the other direction, right? Well, all of the small cars and such pulled around the truck line and took over the left lane so that there were two full lanes going uphill, and no lane for the downhill traffic when it came through. No one seemed to think of this until that group arrived looking to get past all of us. So a mad scramble to try to get the cars off the road which was treacherously slide prone, and a sea of muck. With a raging river 100’ or so directly below us. So after two hours of this comedic crisis, we did get though only to hit another wash out literally less than a mile down the road. Same total story, same 2 hour wait. The only added excitement was that our stopping place in the line was on a dirt re-graded stretch where the main avalanche had happened yesterday I believe. So we sat there looking up to about 600’ of washed out cliff with lots more dirt to come if it wanted to. Even my driver was a bit freaked out at needing to park there. I, brave soul that I am, abandoned the car and walked back to a seemingly safer area to wait. So, again, all of the cars got into the left lane and again, it was not possible for the traffic to pass. This time there were cops and they were screaming and waving and carrying on trying to clear a lane. So, we moved off the road into the muck and that much closer to the raging river below. Even after we passed, it was very treacherous with all of the rocks in the road and areas where ½ the road had washed away. So, after 12 hours, well into darkness, we found the 4 mile dirt road up to the Gocta Lodge.

The cloud forest at the pass.

Ok, now just how is the downhill traffic going to get by?

Well, after we all moved into the muck, they inched by.

slide two, our parking place at the base of a previous slide. The pavement is gone, we are just on dirt here looking up to the slide or down to the raging river below.

Again, round two of blocking the road. We are not learning well it seems.

Help is arriving, if he can only get past all of us.

Clearly a better alternative.

Through the slides and dealing with this every 1/2 mile or so.

Posted: June 8, 2015 by admin

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Machu Picchu Final Thoughts

In a word, GO. It is one of the truly amazing experiences in the world. But, that said, here is some advice. Do not give it just one day, as the weather can be very unpredictable. If you do not want to do the adjacent Sanctuary lodge thing, and it is not necessary at all, just stay down at the base town, Aguas Calientes. The trains arrive there, all of the buses depart from there, and it looks to be a pretty nice town right on the river. And, if you are a train buff, some of the trains go right down the main street, which is barely wide enough for walking when the train is there. Today, while having lunch, there was a big parade, I think for the Corpus Christi celebration, Followed by a train. Busy street.

The key thing is to have Machu Picchu time either at the very beginning of the day or after 3 in the afternoon, and you cannot do either if you are not close by. (The train from Cusco is 3.5 hours each way.) Mid day it is a bit overwhelming due to the crowds, but they are mostly gone by 2:30.

Tonight a quick overnight back in Cuzco, but just at a standard sort of place. It is a weird hotel, fairly new, built on a bluff overlooking all of Cuzco. But in a city where it nearly always get into the 30’s at night, there is no central heat anywhere. So the rooms and the dining are have space heaters, and the fully enclosed lobby has a fire pit so they surely knew about the cold?

Tomorrow, two flights to get to Chiclayo on the coast in the north of Peru. That will be a change!

I liked the contrasts here

Through an ancient door

more shots of the official MP lawn mowers

An Orchid I think. Well positioned, huh?

My attempt at a classic Machu Picchu late afternoon shot. One more below.

The sun temple. The larger window left of center is for the summer solstice, The larger one to the right is for the winter one.

Orchids at the hotel.

Main street Aguas Calientes. Just after the big parade on the same route.

So how can a train take 3.5 hours to go 57 miles you ask? Well, for some good time, this little girl was running beside us and keeping up! Then, with a burst of speed we must have gotten up to 20 mph and left her in the dust.