Kuélap Fortress Ruins
This pre-Inca fortress is the largest stone structure in South America. Built by the Chachapoya culture, which constructed a series of fortresses on sheer mountain ridges, Kuélap was a fortified city designed in total harmony with the remarkable landscape of the region, creating a work of art amid cloud forest at 3,000m (9,800 ft) above sea level. Kuélap is best known for its massive defensive wall, 400 round stone houses, lovely tiled friezes, and stone tower (likely a temple or observatory) called the tintero for its resemblance to an upside-down inkwell. The vast ruins consist of a series of embankments, approximately 20m (66 ft.) wide, supporting huge inclined walls. These are marked by three narrow passageways in the shape of funnels (3m/9.8 ft wide on the exterior and just 70 cm/2.3 ft. on the interior), a defensive element that functioned to regulate entrance to and security for the citadel.

Catarata de Gocta (Gocta Falls)
Claimed to be the third-highest free-falling waterfall in the world, with a total drop of 771 meters (2,530 ft), stunning Gocta Falls features two levels of falls (the upper tier is 231m/758 ft., the second 540m/1,772 ft). Though long known to locals (and figuring into native legends and mythology), the falls were only made known to the world in 2002 and first measured in 2006, by the German engineer Stefan Ziemendorff. To get to Gocta, one must hike approximately two hours, a trek through cloud forest that affords a spectacular and unique AmazonBasin experience, with a feast of indigenous orchids, giant ferns and trees, and an impressive number of birds (including the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Peru’s national bird).

Karajía & Quiocta
Karajía is a unique cemetery formed by six sarcophagi, human figures carved in clay and adorning a sheer cliff face high above a ravine along the left bank of the River Utcubamba. The Chachapoya that went to great lengths to hide and protect the tombs; the extremely remote location speaks to the enormous respect they held for the dead. The six funerary statues are about 2m (6.5 ft) tall and represent both men and women, with decorative details such as necklaces, breast plates, feathered tunics, and facial features in tones of ochre and red; several have skulls perched atop the head. The torso of each figure contains the remains of the dead in a fetal position. Quiocta is a cavern consisting of six chambers formed by a subterranean river. The caverns, full of massive, mysterious stalactites and stalagmites, were utilized by the Chachapoya as a religious center. Even today, locals seek the permision of the spirits before entering.

Revash & LeymebambaMuseum
The Revash mausoleums, a funerary site from the Late Chachapoya period about 60 km (37 mi) south of the city of Chachapoyas, are reached by a hike of two to three hours. The colorful and intact, house-like structures form small villages and are spectacularly located on a rocky cliff ledge, the walls of which are decorated with geometric designs and animal figures. The colonial village of Leymebamba boasts an excellent modern museum, which contains more than 200 perfectly preserved mummies recovered from funerary homes and tombs on impossibly difficult cliff faces that ring the Laguna de los Cóndores. The museum, which also displays thousands of artifacts from the Chachapoya culture, is a fine introduction to that little-known civilization.

For additional information and suggestions for visiting the Chachapoyas region, please contact us at:  travel@casa-andina.com