We are leaving the coast and heading east, to discover the Chachapoya culture.
Little by little, the valleys become covered in vegetation.
These ‘White Indians’, as they are also known, lived in bizarre places.
We can see the ancient walls of their settlements along the cliffs and crags, totally inaccessible.
Without a doubt, Kuelap is the most astonishing of all the Chachapoya cities.
Standing at a height of 3,000 metres, it was an impregnable fortress, the citadel in the clouds!
The city walls are 600 metres long, and between 10 and 20 metres high.
They are built of blocks of limestone weighing up to three tonnes. Kuelap is rectangular in shape,
and at one side looks down into a chasm almost 1,000 metres deep.
The city covers an area of 60,000 square metres.
The entrances are build on steep slopes, and are shaped like funnels,
becoming increasingly narrow, until only person can pass at a time.
The ‘Lords of the Abysm’ were conquered by the Incas in 1470.
But the invading army did not succeed in entering Kuelap by force of arms.
Tupac Yupanqui cut off supplies of food and water, and after a siege lasting months,
the Chachapoyas had no option but to surrender.
Within the walls lies a city much like any other, with 420 circular–shaped houses, with conical, pointed roofs of straw.
In the construction of Kuelap, 25 million cubic metres of stone blocks were used, three times as much as in the pyramid of Keops, in Egypt.
It is not known with certainty when it was built. Some specialists date it to 900 BC.
But, how were they able to carry out this colossal construction work, using the means we presume they had at that time?
For now, this is yet another secret, jealously guarded by Peru.
The archaeological excavations that are being carried out have so far not unravelled the mystery of this strange mountain civilisation.
But work continues.
The study of the bodies, and the pottery, will be vital in understanding the Chachapoyas.
One of the first descriptions we have of them comes from the chronicler of the Indies, Cieza de León,
who was impressed by the fact they were the whitest, and most beautiful of all the tribes he had seen.
Some investigators believe that these ‘White Indians’ were of European origin
basing their argument on supposed cultural influences from the old continent in the remains they have so far found in the jungle.
These risky theories call into question the official history, as they would mean that a group of Europeans reached America well before Columbus.
Crossing the pampas and regions of thick vegetation,
we come to the most hidden of the Chachapoya settlements,
such as the Laguna de los Cóndores (The Lake of the Condors),
ajía, or Petaca, in the Utcumbamba valley
the cliffs where the dead live!
On the sacred mountain of La Petaca,
there are over one hundred tombs in which they laid to rest their mummified dead.
It is not known how they were able to construct them high up on the sheer rock face.
It is presumed they had some type of scaffolding,
which they would destroy once the mummy had been deposited in the funeral chamber,
so that no one could disturb its eternal sleep.
But, up to now, no evidence has been found to prove that this was indeed the case.
Incredible though it may seem, the grave robber have managed to reach even here.
These tombs might have provided vital information which could help us understand this culture – but that information has been destroyed.
Nonetheless, on the Lake of the Condors better conserved burial sites are now being found.
Under the supervision of the archaeologist Sonia Guillén,
and with the valuable support of the Spanish priest Diego Isidoro,
dozens of funeral bundles have been unearthed and taken to the museum in the city of Leimebamba.
The Chachapoya mummies are the product of a relatively sophisticated process.
Their insides were removed, and seals then placed in the vagina and anus.
The mouth was filled with cotton, to prevent the face from collapsing.
They were then wrapped in various layers of cloth,
the outermost one of which was decorated with a schematic drawing of the facial features of the deceased.
Thanks to this process, and the cold, dry atmosphere of the mountain-side tombs in which they were placed,
they are extraordinarily well conserved.
Once complete, these funeral bundles were put into wooden containers, rather like coffins.
Little by little, the mummies of the Lake of the Condors are providing specialists with information.
Possibly, within a few years, many of the mysteries of the “White Indians” will be revealed.
Although the secrets they hide are many,
perhaps one day we will know the meanings behind the silently staring faces of the sarcophaguses of Karajía,
in which the Chachapoya mummies were laid to rest.
How and why were they placed here?.
We do not, for the time being, have the answer.
We must content ourselves with the emotion of simply seeing them,
and knowing that in this world, there are still many mysteries that remain to be discovered.
And finally, it was the time of the Incas! Their Empire, the Tahuantinsuyo,
extended from what is now Ecuador, to Argentina and Chile, absorbing all previous cultures.
They became the masters of the Andes.
They built astonishing cities, like the sacred Machupichu, abandoned since the arrival of the Spanish.
It is not known with certainty who lived there, but according to legend,
it was inhabited by holy virgins and supreme priests who were sorcerers from the other world,
and who, at Intiguatana, their astronomical observatory,
were capable of tying down the great Inti,
the supreme Sun God.