DAY
1. Flight to Lima, met at
airport and escorted to facility.
2. Sightseeing tour of Lima,
which could include the older center with the palace, the cathedral and
also even more interesting San Francisco Church & catacombs, the inquisition
building, Miraflores, Museum of the Nation, The Gold Museum, Barranco,
Chorrillos, fabulous Indian Market with Peru’s best souvenirs (choice,
as time allows).
3. Flight to Tarapoto of
the northern margin of the Amazon Basin. Check out the town and proceed
by road along the jungle edge to Moyobamba, known for its thermal baths
and orchids. Stay night in a really neat hotel in a jungle setting.
4. On the way to Chachapoyas
we will see a waterfall higher than the Empire State Building. Then our
bus begins our serious 2 or 3-hour climb up the Andes through the spectacular
Utcabamba River Valley. Reception and check into Colonial Mansion,
3 Star Hostel and night in the regional capitol of Chachapoyas, (named
for the Cloud People).
5. Our bus takes
us to Levanto, the 7th and main “City of the Condors” as documented in
“The Chronicles of the Inca”. Levanto was the most significant city
of the Inca invasion, and later Spanish Colonial Era, as capitol circa
1530 AD. Time stands still at the church on the sleepy village plaza, which
is among Peru’s oldest with an ornate hand carved high alter. Abundant
white limestone blocks everywhere, suggests Levanto’s huge past, also a
couple of fortified walled cities overlook Levanto. We will see an ancient
canal providing water from many miles away. Next the Inca Military
Garrison, (the zone’s first restoration), still guards the crossroads hub
of over 2000 miles of Inca highways. Levanto is the city documented
by John Hemming’s “Conquest of the Incas”, as the strongest fortified zone
of the Andes, where Inca Manco tried to relocate here during the revolt
against the Spanish. We will stay the night at Los Tambos Chachapoyanos
brand new lodge, - built to resemble the ancient Cloud People’s style,
but modern conveniences. This is jointly owned and staffed to benefit the
local people.
6. In the morning we stretch
our legs with an energizing 4 hour walk downhill on perhaps Peru’s best
continuously maintained and used Inca road to Chachapoyas, (which goes
on to Columbia). Panoramic views are great and you can see how the Inca’s
surpassed even Rome’s best engineering feat of highway construction.
We take our bus to Lamud, night in a colonial hotel overlooking topiaries
in the plaza.
7. We go to Karajia and see
the now famous 8’ high funeral statues (sarcophagus), high up on a ledge
of a sheer cliff. We continue on to the end of the road and saddle
up (or walk) to Belen and camp above the nightly freeze line.
8. From Belen’s meandering
river on a huge silted in flat glacial tarn, we cross over the mighty Cordillera
Central and descend down the mile long Inca staircase. Vista Hermosa
(beautiful view) will be our base in a lost tropical valley, explored by
Gene Savoy 15 years ago. We will get to see some of these amazing sites
which are covered with moss, orchids & bromeliads, on about every likely
peak.
9. We will hike up to Carcahuasi
on a peak above Vista Hermosa, then return to our camp located in
a coffee, banana and sugar cane farm of recent isolated pioneers.
10. We leave this “Birthplace
of the Amazon”, where this mighty river a mile below, violently carves
its way out of the Andes to enter the Basin. We cross the Abra Yumal Pass
and descend into the cloud forest to our lodge at Choctamal. We soak our
bones and saddle sores in the hot tub that evening below the Southern Cross.
11. Today we explore Fortress
Kuelap with its 400 buildings and 5 gigantic levels of walls inside of
walls, the largest and perhaps most mysterious structure of South America,
then return to Chachapoyas for the night at Colonial Mansion, 3 Star Hostel.
12. The next morning our
bus makes the trip out, through Peru’s “rice bowl”, and to the desert Pacific
Coast. This completes the world’s most extreme geography when we
arrive at Chiclayo for the night.
13. In the “Valley of the
Pyramids” we will see Tucume where Thor Heyerdahl (Kon Tiki author) is
excavating to prove a “Pacific Migration Theory” to validate the legend
of the Moche king’s arrival from across the Pacific. All of this
ancient land parallels Egypt with its richest soil and even greater ancient
irrigation projects watering thousands of acres. We’ll see the Bruning
Museum with treasures from America’s richest gold tombs.
14. Today we see the richest
gold tomb of America. The Lord of Sipan is in another pyramid or giant
mound complex. This “Pharaoh’s” likeness was on pottery all up and
down the coast, and so strange that it was thought to be mythical, ----
until his royal tomb was recently discovered. Continuous excavations
in the pyramids keep unearthing even more royal tombs as I write.
Afternoon flight to Lima.
15. Flight to the USA.
Price:
US$ 1,775 p.p. (3
passengers minimum)
One time price includes horses,
guides, food, and about everything in Peru except souvenirs, alcohol,
internal flights and airport taxes. This zone is so unpopulated and unaccustomed
to tourists, that natives are honest, friendly and not used to tipping.
We will likely offer an additional
one-week tour to our zone this year for about half of this cost. Also,
if anyone wants to they can extend their trip to see other zones while
in Peru, (as Cuzco, Nazca, Paracas, Huaraz), this can be arranged as an
extension tour.
Now I ask you – where else
could you see all the world’s most extreme geography, best climate, with
the most fabulous undiscovered archaeology, with about everything included
in a one-price deal, at less than the daily cost of a hotel room only at
Disney World? You have the satisfaction of being one of the first
to see the start of the unfolding of what are perhaps America’s top 3 archaeological
zones before the hordes arrive. Besides this, your participation
benefits the people of the zone in helping to preserve this pristine area
from the impact of hordes of future tourists and wildcat exploitation.
Expedition
to Gran Vilaya and Kuelap
7
days / 6 nights
Expedition
to Gran Vilaya and Kuelap
5
days / 5nights
See
the photo presentation of the Gran Vilaya and Kuelap Expeditions - 20 pictures |
Tambos
Chachapoyanos
