Fiestas Patrias
On July 28, 1821, Peru was liberated from the control of Spain. Fiestas overtake the country in order to celebrate this event.
Lucky for volunteers we are given 2 vacation days to hopefully take advantage of and get to know a new part of Peru. I was lucky enough to journey up to Chachapoyas, the regional capital of the Amazonas department in northern Peru. Chachapoyas is tranquilo town of 22,900 nestled into the surrounding mountains making it pretty isolated. Some history for ya- the original people of Chachapoyas were known as ‘the People of the Clouds,’ controlled most of the area until 1493, when it was conquered by the Incas, but never fully subdued due to the arrival of the Spaniards. With little influence from the Incas, Quechua was never spoken.
Amazonas is the goldish department next to Loreto (the big green department) and I live in Junin the pink department right of Lima. A usually bus from Lima to Chachapoyas is atleast 24 hours, but with the roads you never know what to expect.
Some of the most popular attractions in Chachapoyas are Kuelap and the Gocta waterfall. Kuelap is known only second to Machu Picchu, these ruins are the best preserved and most accessible out of the many archaeological sites in Amazonas. It was constructed between 500 AD and 1493, however was not rediscovered until 1843. The stonework differs from the work of the Incas and is distinguished by the use of oval fortresses. Sadly, I did not pick the best time to visit being Fiestas Patrias and all and also part of the ruins are not open at this time so I decided to slip it this trip. However, I was able to do the trek to Gocta:) Known in Peru as the third highest waterfall in the world, but we know how people tend to exaggerate. At 771 meters, Gocta finds itself falling at 15th place- still the tallest waterfall I’ve seen. What I found really interesting is that it was only discovered in 2005 when a group of locals decided to map the falls. There are two treks and we decided to take the lower one since Brandon already did the upper one when his friends visited. I thought the hike was beautiful even though by the end I was ready to lie straight for a while.
During our trip in Chachapoyas, I got to meet some new faces and reunite with some I haven’t seen in way to long. I often find it hard to keep in touch with my distant amigos, lets be for real everyone seems distant from me since I live in Junin. I often don’t get to know the volunteers from other groups, unless of course they are sent to Junin, so it was nice to get the opportunity for a few days.