Chachapoyas, Kuelap, Gocta, Karija

After a few days in the searing jungle, Ryan and I headed down to the far more temperate city of Chachapoyas via a six- (read nine-) hour bus ride. Chachapoyas, which is the capital of the Department of Amazonas, is a beautiful town tucked high into the cloud forests where the Chachapoyan people faced conquest first by the Incas and then by the Spanish. Although the town itself has a number of well-preserved colonial buildings as well as a slow-paced, friendly atmosphere, the real attractions here are the surrounding landscapes and ruins.

Písac and Inca Písac

The Incas built a surprising number of enormous stone structures into the mountains of the Sacred Valley, and we were able to quite a few of these today outside of Pisac. Here are a few pictures from our hike:

Impressive terracing

Ryan outside the Incan citadel that used to protect the southern entrance to the Sacred Valley