June 14 - Karajia, San Antonio, and on to Choctamal Lodge

We left Gocta early and headed for Karajia on the newly paved road that runs along the Uctubamba River.

We turned off the paved road and climbed up a steep winding dirt road to Cruzpata. From there, we hiked down a steep trail to the ruins. Often we had to share the track with others, locals, not tourists.

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It was pretty spectacular to see the famous Chachapoyas sarcofagas in person. We climbed down a rough trail to a walkway from which we could see the grave sites above us. Originally the cliff had been filled with these types of graves sites with mummies in fetal positions covered with these bamboo and adobe figurines. Over the years, most have been looted but these 4 remain close to the walkway.  With binoculares, we could see high above us other grave sites in various states of ruin.  

The hike down to the cliff took about 45 minutes and the hike up, 60, and was quite exhausting since it was a steep climb up.

Cruzpata is a potato growing town.

From Cruzpata, we drove an hour dow to Lamud where we had lunch at the Paraiso Restaurant whose owner is featured here with a late blooming cheche scene.

After lunch, right outside of Lamud, our guide took us to a sheer rock face which had been an important grave site. The sarcofagi were not as elaborate as the 2 meter high Karajia figurines but smaller ones or remaines of smaller ones dotted the cliff face. With binoculars and David´s super duper camera we were able to count at least 20 grave sites carved high into the cliff.

From San Antonio, which by the way, is not mentioned in any guide  book and is rarely visited by tourists, we went on to the Choctamal Lodge near the Kuelap ruins, high up on a mountain side.
On the way there we stopped to view with binoculars other graves sites high up on the cliffs above Achamaqui and Canaveral.
We also saw many round houses of the Chachapoyas along the road at Macro