On Chessi and I’s first full day in Chachapoyas Chessi wanted to go to the Kuelap Ruins, a fortress with three keyhole-type entrances (one apparently resembling a giant vulva) situated on a ridge about 3000m high overlooking the Utcubamba valley.    The drive follows the river on a decent dirt road at about 400m for 30kms or so and then branches off through the mountains passing through the town of Maria before continuing another 14km up to Kuelap, where parking and an entrance of $4 USD is required.  We spent about 3 hours there making sandwiches, torturing the llamas’s (I thought they were Alpacas but a local farmer said the llamas have longer ears) until they were ready to spit, and generally lolling about trying to catch our breath.

From the Kuelap Ruins, Peru

Kuelap Ruins - Outer Wall, Peru

Alpaca Training, Keulap Ruinas, Peru

We were planning to beat the scheduled road-closure at 10am by leaving Chachapoyas for the coast at 8am.  But the night clerk told us at 11pm that the road would be closed from 6am-12 noon, making our trip to the coast not possible or at least pleasant. So, being 1 hour from the closure point we had to get up at 4:30am groggily to get there.  The worst part was that the canyon just outside of Chachapoyas was really dramatic and we would be driving it in the dark.

Canyon Near Chachapoyas, Peru

We drove quickly and made it through the closure point with about 3 minutes to spare.   It became light but we had again missed getting photos and so kept going, driving through landslides, endless construction projects and stopped in a valley for $0.20 mangos.

Stop Before The Western Cordillera, Peru

The road then left the central Andes valley and rose over the lowest pass in Peru (at ~2,200m) and the dry rocky landscape suddenly was enveloped in cloud and as the surrounding mountains re-appeared they were verdant. The quick descent to the coastal plain revealed a third, less desirable, Peruvian landscape.   We discussed it afterward struggling to find the right description, so offered were:

• after a nuclear attack
• Planet of the Apes
• Mad Max

Aliens in Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero

Hot, dry, and dusty, the windblown dessert was sprinkled liberally with refuse, half-built walls painted with advertising (Coca-cola, political campaign ads, etc), and shanty-towns made of black plastic sheets and/or reeds.  The shanty-villages seem to be some of the poorest ‘housing’ settlements I’ve ever seen.   One garbage pile that stretches for hectares had two ‘houses’ built from garbage within it, one with a tattered Canadian flag stuck on top.  Eventually the unpleasant contaminated desert gave way to a more deserted area full of dunes and dramatic rocky mountains. I suggested going into the desert and Chessi seemed to agree (through a helmet and across the Pan-Americana highway), and quickly both of us were almost stuck in the deep sand.

Getting Out of Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Peru

We were both exhausted as we neared Trujillo and stopped before a police checkpoint to take a photo. When we started again we were (naturally) pulled over by the police. They demanded insurance papers – seemingly knowing that it’s not required to have them to get the temporary import papers at the border for the bike.   I produced my expired (by 3 months) Mexican insurance and assured the policeman it was valid worldwide. Chessi wasn’t so lucky and didn’t have any papers to show him, so after 20 minutes of arguing, him reading the traffic regulations to us, and threatening to take us to Huanchacho (our beachside destination near Trujillo) to the police station, he finally let us go with Chessi promising to buy insurance in the morning.  It seems that motorcycle insurance is required for driving in Peru even though they don’t sell it at the La Balsa border crossing or mention anything about it when bringing your motorbike in.   Stated official fine: 430 Soles (~$140 USD), although I think the policeman was just fishing for a bribe and when it wasn’t offered couldn’t be bothered writing the ticket.

Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero

Travel time: 14 hours (Chachapoyas to Huanchaco)

Chessi Rounding Curve to Kuelap, Peru	Chessi Rounding Curve to Kuelap, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Alpaca, Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Alpaca Training, Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Alpaca, Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Descending from Maria Near Kuelap, Peru	Roadside Bikes, Peru
Roasting Pigs, Peru	Interested Children, Peru	Mudslide, Peru	La Balsa, Ecuador Peru Border
Finally at Pavement after two days, Peru	Descending to the Amazon, Peru	Canyon Near Chachapoyas, Peru	Canyon Near Chachapoyas, Peru
Tingo to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Tingo to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Chessi Rounding Curve to Kuelap, Peru	Chessi Rounding Curve to Kuelap, Peru
Tingo to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Tingo to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Kuelap Ruins, Peru
Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Kuelap Ruins, Peru
Alpaca, Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Vermiliads, Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Vermiliads, Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Alpaca, Kuelap Ruins, Peru
Alpaca, Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Road to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Road to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Alpaca, Kuelap Ruins, Peru
Alpaca, Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Alpaca, Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Alpaca Training, Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Alpaca, Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru
Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Keulap Ruinas, Peru	Sunset on Road to Kuelap Ruins, Peru	Descending from Maria Near Kuelap, Peru
Stop Before The Western Cordillera, Peru	Waterfalls, Peru	Descending from the western Cordillera, Peru	Near Pimentel, Peru
Near Pimentel, Peru	Restaurant Absurd Poster, Peru	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero
Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero
Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero	Las Dunas, Panamerican South of Chiclayo, Pero

Chachapoyas, Kuelap, to Huanchaco Peru