The Wonders of Chachapoyas and Gocta Waterfall - 6 Days

Our trek to Gocta Waterfall begins with your hotel pick-up.  The trek passes along the sides of a beautiful cloud-forested valley, passing through the forest where animals, birds, and butterflies are found in abundance. If you’re very lucky, you might even spot (or at least hear) a yellow-tailed woolly monkey, mountain sloth or magnificent cock-of-the-rock (the national bird of Peru).  

The trail to Gocta is well-maintained and very scenic. If you’re in good physical condition and enjoy walking and hiking, it’s a relatively easy trek. Some sections have steep inclines, however, and some visitors may struggle at times during the trek. One alternative to trekking is to hire a horse for part of the journey, or for the return leg if you’ve had enough walking.   

You’ll have glimpses of Gocta Waterfall from various points of the trek, and you’ll hear it growing louder as you get nearer, but only after about two hours will you come face-to-face with this towering waterfall, which measures around 771 meters tall -- one of the world’s tallest waterfalls. And although locals have known of Gocta for as long as they can remember, it was only in 2006 that its existence was announced to the wider world. It’s a magnificent sight up close, its raging waters tumbling down into a massive, churning pool below. If you’re feeling brave – and have a poncho or other waterproof jacket (or maybe just a bathing suit) – you can walk close to the plunge pool, where the feeling of tumbling water and rainbow-flecked spray is almost overwhelming.  

After spending time at the falls, you can make your way back along the trail and return along the way we came. The entire trek to Gocta and back normally takes about six hours. Make sure you bring good walking shoes and plenty of water! 

After breakfast, we’ll drive back down into the beautiful Utcubamba Canyon before crossing over into the neighboring province of Luya. From the village of Luya, we will head to the village of Cruz Pata, where we begin our reasonably short and very scenic walk to Karajia (the walk normally takes about 45 minutes).  

When we finally round a bend on the valley side, you’ll see the striking sarcophagi of Karajia standing on ledges on the cliff face above you. These human-shaped figures represent one form of burial used by the Chachapoya culture, which ruled this part of Peru from around 900 to 1470. The figures are unusually large, the seven main sarcophagi standing up to 2.5 meters tall and constructed of clay, sticks and grass. They stand looking out toward the rising sun. Their location on a largely inaccessible cliff has protected them from looters, something the ancient Chachapoya likely took into consideration when they put them there. Each sarcophagus contains a mummy, with various artifacts, some precious, accompanying them. They were likely elite members of the Chachapoya civilization.  Once we have marveled at these spectacular sarcophagi, we’ll head back along the trail to our transport. We will then drive to Chachapoyas where we will drop you off at your hotel.

In the morning we’ll drive to the village of Tingo where we’ll board the cable car for a fun ride across a canyon up to Kuelap Fortress. After a short walk, we’ll arrive at this hugely impressive archaeological site.  

While not nearly as famous as Machu Picchu, Kuelap is arguably just as impressive – that’s why it’s often called “The Machu Picchu of Northern Peru.” The comparison is perhaps a little unfair, as the two sites are very different in both their histories and their structure.  

Kuelap was built by the Chachapoyas culture in the 6th century AD, some 500 years before Machu Picchu. It sits at 3,000 meters (9,900 feet) above sea level on a ridge overlooking the Utcubamba Valley, a commanding presence watching over the surrounding area. As you approach the fortress, you’ll undoubtedly be impressed by the towering outer walls, which reach 20 meters tall in places. The entire oval-shaped complex is about 584 meters long and 110 meters wide at its widest part. It is believed that it took about 40 million cubic feet of stone to build the gargantuan fortress, making it possibly the largest known ancient stone structure in South America, and three times larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt.  

As we walk around the near-impenetrable outer walls, we’ll eventually reach one of the three extremely narrow entrances into Kuelap. These provided excellent defense against potential invaders. As you walk up the narrow stairway, you can imagine how tough, and how brutal, it would have been for any attackers trying to force entry through these tight stone passages.  

At the top of the entranceway, you’ll step up onto a tranquil plateau inside the fortress walls. As you do so, you’ll understand why the term “fortress” doesn’t quite do Kuelap justice. It was more like a walled city or citadel, capable of supporting thousands of people. Inside the fortress are the remnants of more than 400 circular dwellings, some of which have been restored to how archaeologists believe they would have looked hundreds of years ago. These dwellings are decorated with strange zigzag motifs and rhomboid friezes, the symbols possibly representative of the families who lived within. Passing through lightly wooded area inside the complex, where orchids grow and hummingbirds flitter about, we’ll explore the rest of the complex, including religious buildings, defensive towers and a strange construction that might have been used as a solar observatory.  

There’s plenty to see at Kuelap, so we’ll make sure you have plenty of time to explore with your guide and then on your own. When you’re ready, we’ll return to our private transport and head back to Chachapoyas. 

Day 5 begins with a scenic two-and-a-half-hour drive through the hills to a small village called Yerbabuena. From here, we walk for two hours uphill to the enchanting site of Revash, a cliff-side funerary complex (alternatively, we can drive you a further 10 km to the village of San Bartolo, from where it’s an easier 30-minute walk to Revash).  

Built by the Chachapoya culture around 1200 AD, Revash is different from other funerary sites in the region. Rather than sarcophagi or simple tombs, the mausoleums, or chullpas, at Revash were built to look like little houses, giving the impression of a tiny, colorful village built on the cliff.  

The tombs are built of rock and adobe, and painted pink and cream. The sloping roves are purely symbolic and serve no real practical purpose (the cliffs above protect the chullpas from the rain). The walls of the little “houses,” meanwhile, are decorated with painted figures, including felines, South American camelids, people, and geometrical designs.     

Through analysis of the bones found at Revash, it appears that each tomb was not used for a single person. Instead, each tomb served as a collective funerary residence for members of a prestigious or powerful family.  

After exploring Revash, we’ll continue on to Leymebamba (a 45-minute drive) where we’ll visit the modern and highly impressive Leymebamba Museum. The museum houses more than 2,500 artifacts from the Chachapoyas culture and teaches you all about this fascinating civilization. There are also the famous mummies, more than 200 of them! The museum was purpose-built to house the mummies found at the Laguna de los Cóndores archaeological site. Seeing them lined up in their climate-controlled room is quite an experience. They are so well preserved that you can see them as individuals, frozen in time, with expressions all of their own.  

The museum building was designed to reflect local architectural traditions, and the surrounding gardens are full of beautiful flowers and trees, including more than 100 native species or orchids. Inside the museum, all of the exhibits have detailed descriptions in several languages, making it very accessible to foreign visitors.  

After visiting Leymebamba Museum, we’ll head back to Chachapoyas where we’ll spend the night. 

After breakfast, bid farewell to Chachapoyas as you transfer back to Jaen Airport. Enjoy a boxed lunch along the way, reflecting on the incredible experiences and memories you've made during your journey through Chachapoyas on your Peru tour package.