Day 10 - Kuélap
We set off at around 7:30am after a simple breakfast with spectacular views of Gocta Falls along the valley. As we were finishing, a local farmer led past the three alpacas that had been grazing on the lawn.
The road we are on is a winding one. We had to wait for a digger to clear some space so that we could turn onto it, and we've stopped a few times: the first time at Macro, a set of roundhouses built into the cliff; once at Tingo for baños, although the square was wonderful, filled with topiary animals; once to lighten the load for a particularly treacherous piece of road.
So yes, we've sort of seen Kuélap, perched on a ridge, but it's still a long drive to actually get there as we have to go all the way around the river valley.
Later:
Kuélap sits on the hilltop like a serpent lying on a ridge, its flanks striped horizontally green and brown. It's the only formation like it in the area. The drive to it is long, over potholed dirt roads that are fairly hair-raising. There is a section of road that has a low barrier, but the curvature of the road, combined with the handy potholes to dodge, mean that the barriers serve as a reminder of ones own mortality, rather than being reassuring. At one point the muddy ruts were so deep and sticky that we got out to make it easier for the driver.
We stopped in a nice little village called Tingo, formerly New Tingo, which was built when Old Tingo, formerly Tingo, was hit by a major landslide. It's a planned village, in the sense that it has a block structure, centred on a modern looking square full of topiary animals, and flagstone streets.
When we arrived in Kuélap, the car park was small and muddy. There was a set of modern buildings at the bottom, but they were cordoned off; we had to walk along and ascend a grass bank to get to the flower-flanked path. The first proper view of Kuélap the construction is from the top of the path, once it has wound its way up the mountain and through the bushes.
The nearest wall of Kuélap bulges smoothly apparently the result of the archaeological work destabilising the soil. Hopefully they will sort it out: it has been stable for a thousand years and would be a shame to lose bits of it due to poor work. Aesthetically, on the other hand, the bulge is pleasing and matches the bulging roundness of the bricks or blocks used in its construction. Kuélap is constructed solely out of brick and the the buildings are characterised by their roundness, the style of the Chachapoyas. The walls around the city do not have corners as such and the majority of internal buildings of which there are or were around 300 are circular. The walls are in a good condition, and undulate and curve with the landscape.
The views from the city were stunning, particularly the play of the sunlight through the clouds on the landscape.
One of the other nice things is the large number of trees and plants growing inside it. This serves a useful hydraulic function; they suck water out of the ground, which keeps the foundations stable.
We spent several hours walking around Kuélap, from the uncharacteristic D-shaped tower at one end to the temple complex at the otherm, which included buildings distinctively in the Inca style. There was the normal building that aligns with the summer solstice for ritual purposes. There was the really bad reconstruction of a house that has since become the template for really bad models of Chachapoyan structures elsewhere. There was the worrying slip and twist of the ankle that could have resulted in a much more serious sprain than it did: I bandaged it anyway, just in case.
I think the overall impression, though, was one of tranquility. Despite all of the labour that must have created Kuélap and filled it with granite accessories from great distances and depths, and the hard work needed to keep it running, particularly in terms of transportation, Kuélap is aloof, distant from the world and its disturbances.
All too quickly we had to leave and descend: first on foot, then by minibus, down through the dark and Old Tingo (which, surprisingly, is still inhabited in places) to the ho(s)tel near the river in which we were both eating and sleeping.
The road we are on is a winding one. We had to wait for a digger to clear some space so that we could turn onto it, and we've stopped a few times: the first time at Macro, a set of roundhouses built into the cliff; once at Tingo for baños, although the square was wonderful, filled with topiary animals; once to lighten the load for a particularly treacherous piece of road.
So yes, we've sort of seen Kuélap, perched on a ridge, but it's still a long drive to actually get there as we have to go all the way around the river valley.
Later:
Kuélap sits on the hilltop like a serpent lying on a ridge, its flanks striped horizontally green and brown. It's the only formation like it in the area. The drive to it is long, over potholed dirt roads that are fairly hair-raising. There is a section of road that has a low barrier, but the curvature of the road, combined with the handy potholes to dodge, mean that the barriers serve as a reminder of ones own mortality, rather than being reassuring. At one point the muddy ruts were so deep and sticky that we got out to make it easier for the driver.
We stopped in a nice little village called Tingo, formerly New Tingo, which was built when Old Tingo, formerly Tingo, was hit by a major landslide. It's a planned village, in the sense that it has a block structure, centred on a modern looking square full of topiary animals, and flagstone streets.
When we arrived in Kuélap, the car park was small and muddy. There was a set of modern buildings at the bottom, but they were cordoned off; we had to walk along and ascend a grass bank to get to the flower-flanked path. The first proper view of Kuélap the construction is from the top of the path, once it has wound its way up the mountain and through the bushes.
The nearest wall of Kuélap bulges smoothly apparently the result of the archaeological work destabilising the soil. Hopefully they will sort it out: it has been stable for a thousand years and would be a shame to lose bits of it due to poor work. Aesthetically, on the other hand, the bulge is pleasing and matches the bulging roundness of the bricks or blocks used in its construction. Kuélap is constructed solely out of brick and the the buildings are characterised by their roundness, the style of the Chachapoyas. The walls around the city do not have corners as such and the majority of internal buildings of which there are or were around 300 are circular. The walls are in a good condition, and undulate and curve with the landscape.
The views from the city were stunning, particularly the play of the sunlight through the clouds on the landscape.
One of the other nice things is the large number of trees and plants growing inside it. This serves a useful hydraulic function; they suck water out of the ground, which keeps the foundations stable.
We spent several hours walking around Kuélap, from the uncharacteristic D-shaped tower at one end to the temple complex at the otherm, which included buildings distinctively in the Inca style. There was the normal building that aligns with the summer solstice for ritual purposes. There was the really bad reconstruction of a house that has since become the template for really bad models of Chachapoyan structures elsewhere. There was the worrying slip and twist of the ankle that could have resulted in a much more serious sprain than it did: I bandaged it anyway, just in case.
I think the overall impression, though, was one of tranquility. Despite all of the labour that must have created Kuélap and filled it with granite accessories from great distances and depths, and the hard work needed to keep it running, particularly in terms of transportation, Kuélap is aloof, distant from the world and its disturbances.
All too quickly we had to leave and descend: first on foot, then by minibus, down through the dark and Old Tingo (which, surprisingly, is still inhabited in places) to the ho(s)tel near the river in which we were both eating and sleeping.