| Kuelap – the
Machu Picchu of Northern Peru - is a mystic place and the Inca Trail through
Gran Vilaya is better than the “Camino del Inca” of Cusco and Southern
Peru in every way. It has more ruins and lost citadels, better panoramas,
Inca roads and ecology, no tourists crowds, and perfect temperatures.
At the end of this mystic trek is the largest edifice of the Americas,
calculated to have three times the materials of Egypt’s largest pyramid.
Kuelap is much older and more mysterious than the Incas and contains over
400 stone buildings inside multiple huge towering walls.
You start this Peruvian trip
in the dry Utcubamba River Valley in the Department of Amazonas, then pass
up through orchids & bromeliads in the cloud forest (Eyebrow of the
Amazon, or La Ceja de Selva), and cross the treeless nightly freeze line
and spine of the Central Andes Cordillera of South America. You then drop
into incredible ruins located all over peaks while descending into the
valley of the main trunk Amazon. This trek follows ancient Inca roads,
and a mile a long Inca staircase into Grand Vilaya, then back out over
the freeze line, and on to Fortress Kuelap.
During the Inca Revolution
against
the Spanish, Inca Manco knew his Andes and wanted to establish his capitol
in the Andes most defensible zone. He made a desperate march towards
Levanto to relocate in the Andes’ most fortified zone. The Chachapoyan
Cloud People were reputed to be tall fair skin warriors, and didn’t want
to be under Inca control. They forced the Inca to turn back to the
jungle below Machu Picchu.
Itineraries for Gran Vilaya
Open Departure Dates:
first week May - November
Challenging: Combination
of horseback and hikes, 4 & 8 hours daily, with steep climbs and descents
into the “Birthplace of the Amazon”. The trip is moderate on (self
steering) horses, but vigorous if you prefer to hike.
This is where the main trunk
Amazon River cuts a valley deeper than the Grand Canyon to enter the Amazon
Basin. Thousands of stone structures of the Chachapoya were claimed discovered
in the cloud forest by Gene Savoy’s expedition 16 years ago, and more are
still turning up today!
We offer these three trips:
Expedition
to Gran Vilaya and Kuelap
8
days / 7 nights
Expedition
to Gran Vilaya and Kuelap
5
days / 4 nights
Expedition
to Gran Vilaya and Kuelap with Northern Peru cross-section 2 weeks
See
the photo presentation of the Gran Vilaya and Kuelap Expedition - 20 pictures
Picture of stone wall in
pre-Incan city of "Cuelap"
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Tambos
Chachapoyanos
