Chiclayo, Chachapoyas, Kuelap, Leymabamba, Celendín – Cajamarca – Lima 7 Days / 6 Nights

Departures: Daily

Itinerary

Day 1 Chiclayo to Chachapoyas: Across the Andes to the Amazon

• We drive northward from Chiclayo across Peru’s coastal plains, following the Pan-American Highway, then turn east onto the Trans-Andean route, ascending gently through regions of dry forest interspersed with irrigated farmland. Our road loops towards the lowest pass of the Peruvian Andes, at 2,135m/7,000 ft, where we cross the continental divide and enter the Upper Amazon basin. Following the valley of the Huancabamba/Chamaya river system we pass broad ribbons of bright green rice terracing, forming a striking contrast with the cactus and dense thorn-scrub vegetation of the mountainsides. Lower downstream we pass the massive dam and intake of the Olmos irrigation project, ultimately destined to divert much of this water through a 23Km/14.2 mile long tunnel to the Pacific slope of the Andes.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 2 Chachapoyas: Kuelap, the great walled city of Northern Peru

• We spend a full day visiting this huge and mysterious site, beginning with a drive through places whose names — Choctamal, Longuita, and Kuelap itself — evoke a lost language and a vanished ancient people who spoke it, the Chachapoyas. We don’t know what they called themselves, but the Incas who finally conquered these fierce warriors knew them by their Quechua soubriquet, Chachaphuyu — Cloud People — after the cloud-draped region where they lived.
• Kuelap’s existence was first reported in 1843. For years it was believed to have been a Chachapoyas fortress, and when we first catch sight of it from the fossil-encrusted limestone footpath that leads there it is hard to believe it was not. The massive walls soar to a height of 19m/62ft and its few entranceways are narrow and tapering, ideal for defense.
• Yet the archaeological evidence now suggests that this was principally a religious and ceremonial site.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 3 Chachapoyas: A visit to Makro towers, and a horseback journey to the cliff tombs of Revash

• After breakfast we enjoy an excursion to observe the arqueological complex of Makro, an outpost of the Chachapoyas culture built into cliffs overlooking the Utcubamba River. Its unique location allowed for contact via signal fires with Kuelap, high above in the mountains, and visible through a cleft in the valley hills.
• We then follow the Utcubamba valley upstream, spotting herons and perhaps an Andean torrent duck in the river as we slowly ascend the valley. At the village of Santo Tomás we turn off the main highway, crossing the river and ascending a side valley where vivid scarlet poinsettias the size of trees overhang the walls of typical Chachapoyan farms, with verandas surrounded by wooden columns, and topped with tile roofs. Soon we meet our wranglers and the calm, sure-footed horses that will carry us up the trail to Revash.
• Throughout this journey we gaze up at huge cliffs that loom ever closer. These limestone formations, laid down in even layers over geological aeons, tend to break away in neat collapses, often leaving extensive overhangs and protected ledges beneath them. In such places the ancient Chachapoya built the tombs where they buried their noble dead.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 4 Chachapoyas to Leimebamba: A scenic mountain horseback journey, and a traditional Andean town

• We follow the Utcubamba valley to Leymebamba, where we meet our wranglers and horses, then set off on a mountain trail among green fields and through small villages and hamlets. Our wranglers are, like most local people in Chachapoyas, friendly and obliging.
• Here and there we find ourselves riding upon remnants of the original stone road built by the ancient Chachapoyas to access the settlement of La Congona. After about two hours of steady climbing we reach the place where the Chachapoya built hundreds of structures along the ridge. Some are just foundations today, but many are standing, their walls rising from stands of trees and shrubs.
• Large archaeological sites as undisturbed and deserted as this one are becoming rare today. National authorities understandably like to clear, restore, improve access and prevent further deterioration of ancient ruins. But for adventurous visitors it is still a special treat to come up against ancient walls looming through the brush, as if we were discovering them for the first time. Buildings with bands of rhomboid and chevron designs over thresholds once crossed by Chachapoya chieftains stand silently among the vegetation.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 5 Leimebamba to Cajamarca A morning museum visit, and a road journey across the Marañon Canyon

• Leimebamba was established by the Incas during their conquest of the region, and continued as a colonial town under the Spanish. It retains much of this antique charm in its balconied houses with narrow streets where more horses than cars are parked. This morning we visit a delightful collection of extraordinary artifacts recovered from another group of cliff tombs discovered as recently as 1997 at the remote Laguna de los Condores, high in the mountains east of the town.
• Here at the Leimebamba museum, the exhibits, cheerfully displayed in well-lit rooms, offer a sample from the mass of artifacts recovered from this amazing discovery. In 1997 a group of undiscovered cliff tombs — similar in style to those of Revash — was spotted above the remote Laguna de los Condores by local farmhands. Although they looted and damaged the site, a mass of priceless objects and a trove of vital information was rescued. We see gourds carved with animal and geometrical symbols, an array of colorful textiles, ceramics, carved wooden beakers and portrait heads, and a selection of the dozens of quipus (Inca knotted-string recording devices) recovered from the site. A big picture window offers a view of the temperature- and humidity-controlled temporary «mausoleum» where more than two hundred salvaged mummies are kept.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 6 in Cajamarca: colonial Spain and the last days of the Inca empire

• Our hot springs hotel provides a wonderful and well-earned finale of luxuriant relaxation, with delicious dining, spa facilities, and a spacious private hot pool in every room. The springs themselves are famous, the site of a historic first encounter between the Inca emperor Atahualpa and the Spaniards who, unknown to him, had come to conquer his empire. The Inca was himself enjoying a hot soak at the very moment of his victory over rival armies in a long and bloody war of succession, when a small contingent of mounted Spaniards rode out from Cajamarca to visit him, and to arrange a fateful «unarmed» meeting in the city square next day. The rest, as they say, is history.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Day 7: Cajamarca to Lima

• In the morning we are transferred to our hotel for the flight to Lima.

Breackfast: Not Included Lunch: Not Included Dinner: Not Included Overnight: Hotel

Included in your trip

• Private overland transportation
• Guided tours
• Entrance fees
• Meals mention in the itinerary
• Hotel Accommodation

NOT included

• Airport taxes
• Domestic flights
• Excess baggage
• Tips