Before leaving Leymebamba we went on a three day trip to the Laguna de los Condores. It was really an adventure. We went with Stephanie and Elena, so both our guides were women, something the men in town seemed concerned about. It was about 11 hours on horseback and hiking to get there. This included lots of treacherous rock slopes, swamps where the horses sank up to their bellies, drenching rain for hours and a 12,000 ft mountain pass. Kim got a little altitude sickness at the pass, and we arrived at the cabin drenched and tired. One of the nice things about arriving in all the rain is the surprising quantity of waterfalls all around the valley. I didn’t take any pictures of them though because it was raining too hard!
The cabin is pretty basic with no running water or electricity. The cooking is done over a wood fire as well as the drying of clothes. The land around the cabin is used for cattle. You can’t see the lagoon from the cabin, but it’s not far to where you can see it. It gets really cold at night so we slept with our small sleeping bags and a couple of blankets each.
The next day we woke up early and waited for the rain to subside a bit as it was pouring. Fortunately as we set off for the hike to the mausoleum’s on the cliffs above the lagoon, the sun actually poked out for a bit. The hike to the mausoleum’s actually makes you feel like you’re in the jungle, which I guess technically you are. To get to the cliffs there was a lot of ladders to climb and we walked through a few small waterfalls. There’s a few skulls left over in the houses built into the cliffs, but most of the remains have been moved to the museum in Leymebamba. I don’t know how anyone ever found these cliff tombs or why the Chachapoyas built them where they did.
Going back was a quicker trip (maybe 9 hours?) since it didn’t rain as much and Kim breezed over the pass thanks to chewing coca leaves, drinking some booze and eating chocolate. There were some exciting parts where the horses sank into the mud really deep, but they got out after a lot of shouting at them. We arrived back at our lodging in town dirty and tired, so thank goodness there was running water for a shower when we got back.
We met the new volunteer the next day and gave her the info she needed to continue the classes. We said all our goodbyes and left the next morning.