Chachapoyas and La Jalca
Description
Pricing
Itinerary
Sub Trips
Hotels
This tour-expedition takes us to the Central Highland of Peru, a largely unvisited area of Peru: Chachapoyas and the impressive ruins of Kuelap, belonging to the pre-Inca civilization of the Chachapoyans. We will also observe the Mummies of the “Cloud Forest People” overlooking the Lake of the Condors, as featured in a documentary by the Discovery Channel. You will also visit the village of La Jalca Grande, the most traditional village of the area, and the ruins of Ollape.
Go Back To Chachapoyas Mummies and Cajamarca
Day 1
Chachapoyas
Flight from Lima to Chachapoyas. Airport pick-up. Lunch and visit Sonche Canon with spectacular waterfalls and Huancas, an Inca Mitima village, with their ceramics. Huancas, a mitima Inca village (the residents were transplants from Huanuco in the Inca heartland, to pacify the rebellious Cloud people). Huancas’ main business has been pottery-making since ancient times. A five-minute walk takes us to a gorge deeper than the Grand Canyon. Gigantic waterfalls cascade into a virgin river, which hasn’t yet been run by white-water rafters. Night in Chachapoyas.
Day 2
Levanto
Visit ruins of Yalape in Levanto (one hour from Chachapoyas). Levanto was the most significant city of the zone at the time of the Inca invasion and also in the Spanish colonial era. We will see a colonial church 5 years older than Lima with its high carved alter. This is one of Peru’s oldest cities. We will go to the fortified ruins of Yalape overlooking the city and also see the 22-kilometer Inca Canal, which brought water to Levanto. Nearby is Colla Cruz (“Colla” for the loyal Inca residents who transferred here from the Colca Canyon area, and “Cruz” for cross roads). This was a major crossroads of the empire’s roads with more than 2,000 miles of major roads going north to Ecuador and Colombia, south to Huanuco and Cuzco, and east to Cajamarca (where the Inca king Atahualpa was captured and executed) to the central Andes highway system and on to the coastal highway system. We will see where the Inca military garrison guarded this intersection. This is the zone’s first restoration, which revealed a major defeat of the Incas by the Cloud people in the revolution against the Spanish. Night in Chachapoyas.
Day 3
La Jalca
Today, we visit La Jalca Grande, the most traditional village of the zone and the ruins of Ollape. There is an ancient stone church built before 1540 AD with a Chachapoyan zigzag snake design along its walls. After dinner, soak in the Jacuzzi at the Choctamal Mountain Lodge.
Day 4
Fortress Kuelap
We will spend the day at Fortress Kuelap, known as the “Machu Picchu of the North.” Kuelap has more than 400 buildings inside five levels of walls and is the largest stone structure in all of South America. Orchids and bromeliads cover the walls and trees inside this fortress, which is estimated to have three times more volume of materials than Egypt’s largest pyramid. On the way to Chachapoyas, we will observe the burial Tower of Macro located on a cliff overlooking the Utcubamba River. Overnight at Colonial Mansion, a 3-star hostel.
Day 5
Transfer to the airport for flight to Lima.
5 days , from £1175
| Occupancy Type |
Standard Occupancy |
| Double | £1175 |
| Single | £1358 |
Prices shown above are per person, in Sterling (Ł).
Peru
Sarcophagi of The Chachapoyas
The Fortress of Kuelap
