From Maya to Inca: Gran Vilaya

I was about to embark on a four-day hike, taking in some of the points of interest of this region, and the man organising it suddenly seemed a bit shifty. I was on my own again because the other girl had dropped out but I thought, in any case, the guide can't be worse (or older) than the last one. And then he turned up. A just-turned 28 year old with a hangover from hell and a limp. He had banged his knee somehow in an alcohol-induced quest but couldn't remember how. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Especially when, within the first fifteen minutes, he had already asked me if I had a boyfriend. Not that the answer made any difference to his intentions.

Things picked up a bit when we got to the first stop: Karajia. There is really something special about this place. It felt indescribably peaceful, which was not at all what I was expecting given that this site used to be full of sarcophaguses containing mummies standing here looking out over the valley. Only a handful are left as many have been destroyed by people looking for gold and trying to steal anything valuable that might have been placed inside the sarcophaguses with the mummies.

My guide stopped here to explain some of the history about the Chachapoya culture and I have to say he excelled at this. The Chachapoyas to me are a fascinating civilisation which was at its peak around 600-800 AD. According to the guide, they believed that the earth is like a human being, hence their respect for the Pachamama and all things natural. Water is equivalent to blood, air to lungs, and fire to the heart. Circular shapes and snake-like forms were sacred to them, the circle representing the sun and God of fire and the snake-like shape representing the God of water. Snakes were thus also a sacred animal to the Chachapoyas due to their natural form, as were condors. Men and women were equal in the Chachapoya culture and they are believed to have excelled at many things. Although they are thought to have been warriors, they were essentially a peaceful civilisation and only fought to protect their culture, particularly from the Incas. They didn´t resist easily to the Incas when they arrived and went as far as becoming allies of the Spanish against the Incas as they believed this was the way to regain their independence. Unfortunately, it wasn´t the case.

Most of the remaining sarcophaguses are tall which means they probably contain mummies of a higher order of society. We know that the mummies were men because of the simple but rather explicit drawing on the sarcophaguses. They face East towards the sun and their position on the side of the cliff felt very powerful to me as I stood there taking it all in. Other types of sarcophaguses have been found elsewhere all over this region, enabling researchers to discover more about this intriguing, slightly mysterious culture.

I left Karajia feeling uplifted. This hike was definitely looking up. We drove from there to a small village, Cohechán, where people in the square were preparing for their annual festival celebrating the founding of the town. These festivals can last at least a week and it is a tradition on the first day that the women sweep the square in preparation for the festivities.

After lunch, we continued up through the cloud forest to the Huallya Belén valley. This valley was sacred to the Chachapoyas because of the snake-like form of the river flowing through it, which is now even more prominent as a result of the effects of erosion over the years. And it was therefore in this place that they chose to perform their fertility ceremonies, which are apparently still carried out by the indigenous people of this area today. At these ceremonies, they made offerings to the Gods for the successful reproduction of all things, whether it be man, animals, or seeds sown in the ground for a good harvest. Many erotic ceramic objects have been found in this area that illustrate the importance attached to reproduction and fertility, and I leave the rest to your imagination!

Assuming it wasn't all a ploy by the guide. After arriving at the hut at the bottom of the valley, we went fishing for trout, whereupon, since his rather unsubtle fertility, erotic ceramics speech had obviously not had the effect he was looking for, and given the look on my face when I had to hold the poor wriggling fish in my hand, he announced that he was going to put a live trout in every one of the beds so that I would have no choice but to share his bed. I told him I would rather sleep with a wet fish but you have to give him ten out of ten for trying. And he was far from deterred.

We ate the trout for dinner as a typical Peruvian dish, "sudado de trucha". The trout is prepared with tomato and onion, and according to its name, should be steamed, but we boiled it for three minutes and it was delicious. The guide's last ditch attempt at wooing me (for that day) was to ply me with alcohol and stories of duendes and spirits whisking people away from the hut in the middle of the night. He made a drink called "avejado" by mixing honey with caña (aguardiente), which tasted great but still didn't blind me to the fact that the trout in the bed or the arrival of the duende was definitely the most preferable option.