Chachapoyas, Amazonas Region, Perú: Chachapoyas looks like I thought Huaraz would. It’s a cute little colonial city with whitewashed buildings and a picturesque Plaza de Armas complete with palm trees. Like Huaraz, it is surrounded by mountains.  

  
It is the regional capitol of the Amazonas Province and is one of the last Andean cities before getting to the jungle. It has a temperate climate but rains constantly. 

  
Chachapoyas means people from the clouds and refers to a pre-Incan people. Their language has been lost as has much of their culture. 
  
The Chachapoyas have a sad history: they were conquered by the Incans around 1453 and enslaved. In order to put down resistance Tupac Inca Yupanqui implemented a system to relocate the majority to other parts of the empire. 

When the Spanish arrived the Chachapoyas were instrumental in betraying the Incans because they believed the Spanish might free them. 

The Spanish were just as oppressive as the Incans had been and put them to work in fields. Most of the Chachapoyas were wiped out by sickness. 

  
The site of their defeat by the Incas is Kuelap: an enormous fort two hours outside of the city. 

Construction began around 900 AD and the second level was completed after 1100 AD. 

 
 The fort should have been impregnable but four days into the siege by the Incas the Chachapoyas ran out of water. 

 
Ironic given the amount it rained while I was there. 

In contrast to Incan architecture the Chachapoyas built round houses. This makes it easy to identify which houses were built before the Incan invasion at the fort. 

  
The next day I went to Karajia and Caverna de Quiocta. 

  
Caverna de Quiocta was a holy sight where the Chachapoyas performed rituals. 

There were several skulls lining the walls of the cave. 

To get to Karajia I hiked down to a narrow ledge beneath a waterfall. The sarcophagi were carved into the cliff side. 

  
The theory is the Chachapoya put the sarcophagi for their important chiefs up on the cliff to hide them from the Incan invaders, and to protect their dead from desecration.