Kuelap - Fortress of the Chachapoya

Kuelap was a fortress and village of the Chachapoya culture, whose culture existed approximately from 900 to 1400 AD. The fortress sits high on a mountain, over 3000 meters above sea level, and the only entrance is through one of the three tall but extremely narrow gates, through which, for strategic reasons, only one person can pass at a time. However, since 2017, a cable car (the first and only one in Peru) has been operating, which takes you just a few minutes' walk away from this impregnable fortress, which felt like an invitation to us.

We decided to explore Kuelap on our own, without joining a tour group - sometimes we need an adventure. So after breakfast at the hotel, we got ready and went to the bus station of the collectivos, which the locals also use for travel, to get to Nuovo Tingo. Okay, honestly, it wasn't that much of an adventure. The drivers were already shouting their destinations from afar, in our case Kuelap, and you pay 7 Soles (2 francs) per person and off you go. Once again, we had a crazy driver, so we were glad to have solid ground beneath our feet again.

We all know how to ride a gondola in Switzerland. In Peru, it's slightly different. So you ride on a gravel road to the main headquarters of the cable car, queue up (okay, we know that), and buy a ticket. You have to say which bus you want to take (each bus has only 20 seats to regulate the number of visitors and to avoid stress at the cable car). Of course, we chose the next available bus in four minutes. Now with this bus, you take a short ride to the valley station, get off, and indicate in the waiting area how many people are in your group. Okay, there are still two seats available in the 8-seater gondola, step forward, go through the entrance control, and stand on the assigned number from 1 - 8. Then the gondola arrives, and only when the open door is exactly in front of your number, you can enter the gondola. That's how it works!

The gondola takes us to almost 3000 meters above sea level, and fittingly, it starts raining lightly, adding to the mystical atmosphere. We walk about 3 km on a stone path to the fortress and then stand in front of a massive stone wall - Kuelap. Since we seem to be the first ones here, we have the entire fortress to ourselves. The site is largely overrun by vegetation, but even now, we can see some stone walls among the trees. We walk through this former village of the Chachapoya on a wooden walkway. We discover well-preserved round houses, kitchens, watchtowers, places of worship, temples... and simply a lot of stones.

On the way back, we encounter all the Peruvian tourists heading up, and we are glad that we had Kuelap to ourselves for a while. Of course, the gondola routine repeats itself on the way down, you know: waiting, standing on your assigned number, waiting, and hop...