Chachapoyas!

Cha-Cha! 

Of course I'm down with a town that nicknames itself Chacha.

Lonely Planet says something along the lines of, even if you have a few weeks to see Chachapoyas, that’s still not enough time.

They’re so right (despite being wrong about some of the bus times).

After an amazing waterfall hike on Monday (2.5 hours there, 2.5 hours back, amazing views, challenging inclines and declines), I was exhausted, and glad for a bed (especially as I had taken an uncomfortable overnight bus on the last ticket available (i.e., not comfy!)).The hike took us to one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, and provided constant glances of the various waterfalls from the lake. It was quite lovely.

Tuesday, again with Elizabeth and Florian (my new German friends I met in the Chacha bus station that I spent every day with in Chacha), we headed on a tour of the sarcophagi. Imagine – you hike 25 minutes down a steep path and then you finally look up – and you see, deep high up in the cliff crevices, sarcophagi. They are massive, made of clay and stone, weighing many, many kilos. They are filled with mummies and valued possessions – but they have been placed in these very precarious high-up, hard-to-get-to spots. Amazing, when you think about it.

And then we headed to a cave in the middle of nowhere. A cave where we wore rainboots b/c it was too mucky and wet to not, completely dark. We saw bones, amazing cave stuff like stalagmites and such, interesting and beautiful.

And then, tired again, sleep. Rewarding travels.

In the morning, I headed to Keulap. This is why I came to Chacha, partially. Keulap is similar to Macchu Pichu. Yes, you should go there. But beautiful – it’s not crowded. It’s an amazing civilization, built in layers, surrounded by a fortress. It was history. Better than a history class.

And with so many amazing things, like the incredible views we constantly experienced, being in spiritual vortexes – it was a lucky amazing time.