Spanish in Ruins

The tours to Kuelap all seemed to be leaving at 7am and two guys who had been on my bus, Nigel from New Zealand, and Daniel from Switzerland, had already booked up, so I decided to join them, which meant I would only need to stay one night, though the tour was 45 Soles, which was a bit more than I had expected. Maybe it was worth it to avoid the hassle and extra time involved in finding it on my own. After staying still for one week I needed to get moving again! I had first heard about Kuelap on a website called something like "Six Must-See Ruins in South America", though Chan Chan had been there as well, and I hadn't been all that impressed with it.

Llamas are de rigeur at Peruvian archaeological sites

The drive took a couple of hours and the driver was a maniac, hitting and killing a dog without stopping at one point. I had forgotten to ask whether food or any entrance fees were included in the S45 ticket, so of course they weren't. The ruins are definitely a bit more impressive than Chan Chan, though certainly no Machu Picchu. It's basically a fortress city at the top of a hill, built by the Pre-Incan Chachapoyas civilsation. It's quite large and it would certainly be easy to repel an attack, however when the Incas invaded the area, they simply carried out a seige, cutting the Chachapoyas off from their water supply and took the city in a few days; good builders but not very good tactitions apparently. Unfortunately the guide only spoke Spanish, so I didn't follow too much of what he said; maybe I understood about half, maybe a bit less, but both Daniel and Nigel spoke good Spanish, so they translated a bit for me when I was really stuck, though I felt too guilty to ask most of the time. I thought my Spanish would improve after Joanne left but, in fact, I had been speaking less because now I was spending more time with people who spoke much better Spanish than me (it was Zdenek before), and I was beginning to feel like I was getting out of practice.

Kuelap

A compass and sundial apparently

Snakeskin pattern on some walls

More snakeskin patterns

A reconstructed house

The main entrance to the fortress

Kuelap

Leaving by the main door

Mythological creatures carved in the stone

The outside wall

Kuelap from a distance

After the tour Nigel, Daniel, and I went out for a few drinks, and discussed the possibility of doing another tour the following day. They had both heard that the third highest waterfall in the world was nearby, though it wasn't in my useless guidebook at all; later I discovered that this is because it has only recently been surveyed and confirmed as such. After a good few drinks, a couple of local guys wanted to join us and tried to insist that we dance with them. They were both very drunk and extremely tactile, but when I told Daniel I suspected they might be "creepy homosexuals" he told me that this is just how people are in South America; he is married to an Ecuadoriana and living in Quito, so I suppose he knows what he's talking about. Nevertheless I made my excuses as soon as possible and left for my hotel!

Is he or isn't he?