Hiking in and Around Chachapoyas, 22-28/10 2025

22 October — Wednesday

Unsurprisingly, my bus from Trujillo is a couple of hours late. No worries though, I have plenty of time to visit the Gocta Waterfall — a 771 meter waterfall in just 2 drops.

After a couple of minutes of walking around in Chachapoyas I met Tom — one of the Australians I meet while hiking the Huayhuash Circuit. He decided to a stay in Peru while the others went to Colombia.

After a quick chat, I head towards the bus terminal where I immediately catch a collectivo heading for Cocachimba. I specifically asked the driver if the minivan goes all the way to Cocachimba or if it stops along the main road at Cocahuayco: “We drive all the way”. Of course, they did not. I’m dropped off at Cocahuayco, where there is a tuk-tuk waiting to take me and a local the rest of the way to Cocachimba. It was my first time in a tuk-tuk, and hopefully my last. The smell of exhaust fumes was awful.

During the ride I chat a bit with the local. He tells me that today is an excellent time to visit Gocta Waterfall. Due to all the rain the in the recent days the waterfall will be big today.

When we arrive to Cocachimba, I pay the 15 soles entry fee and get going. There are many people on the easily hiked rainforest trail. It is a very touristy destination. However, almost everyone is from Peru. There are very few foreigners.

Standing at the base of the second drop of the Gotca Waterfall was for me a new experience. It was like standing in the middle of a full Swedish alpine storm, you could feel the power originating from the waterfall. No pictures were taken from the base. It was to much water in the air, I left all my gear at a safe distance to not have it totally soaked.

After having experienced the power from Gotca’s second drop, I take another trail and climb upwards towards the first drop. The other trail is on the opposite side of the valley, and as you climb more and more waterfalls become visible.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the climb my phone stops working. It seems to be the screen that has broken. No more pictures.

I continue climbing and connect to the trail starting in San Pablo, and follow it to the base of the first drop. The first drop was also magnificent. I then take the trail back to San Pablo. The views along the trail are spectacular. There are so many waterfalls on the other side of the valley to behold. It’s among the most beautiful views I have ever witnessed. Talk about screensaver photographs. Stupid phone …

The San Pablo trail is a much better choice than the Cocachimba trail. The views are simply better, and despite that I did not meet a single person on this trail, whereas I meet hundreds on the other trail. Also, there was no ticket booth at San Pablo ;).

At San Pablo I continue walking to Cocahuayco and catch a collectivo heading for Chachapoyas. Originally, my plan was to go directly to Pedro Ruiz Gallo to watch the Yumbilla Waterfall — considered the world’s 5th highest waterfall with 895 meter total fall. However, I feel I have to get on top of fixing my phone. I do not need it for my stay in Chachapoyas, I have everything memorized. But at some point I will need it again, and I do not know how easy the problem is to fix. I assume it is just a simple change of the screen but you never know.

At Chachapoyas I quickly find a phone shop. They agree that it likely is the screen that must be changed. They tell me to come back in 2 hours, and sure enough when I return the phone is working again. I do not exactly know what kind of screen they put on, but it is no original IPhone screen. It behaves very differently, but it will have to do.

23 October — Thursday

Today I’m taking the collectivo to Nuevo Tingo, from where I will walk to Kuelap, a pre-Incan city often referred to as Machu Picchu of the north. I will visit Kuelap instead of Machu Picchu. My planned hike is about 20 km and 1400 meters of elevation plus all the distance of getting to the trailhead.

It takes 1.5 hour before any collectivo actually departs towards Nuevo Tingo, it will be another long day.

When we finally arrive at Nuevo Tingo, I hike for about 40 minutes to the trailhead located at the small town Tingo. The trail initially follows a meandering river before cutting straight upwards the mountain. While following the river all I can think about is packraft, packraft, packraft! Next summer I will buy one.

The trail is well maintained and easy to follow/hike. Still, yet again, I have the whole trail for myself. Everyone else is taking the lift.

After the long climb I finally make it to Kuelap. The city is situated on top of the mountain. I tried to imagine how spectacular the views must have been hundreds of years ago when there were no modern settlements or farmland.

I pay the 30 soles entrance fee and stroll around the city. The benefit of coming late in the day is that most people have already left or are heading back. I more or less have the entire city for myself.

The most impressive was the gigantic outside walls. They sure know how to build in the old days. Otherwise I do not think it was that spectacular. Machu Picchu of the north sounds like an overstatement (based on images I have seen of Machu Picchu).

I leave Kuelap and walk to the lift where my map says there will be another trail going to Tingo. The map was wrong. Instead I take the same trail back. It is now late in the day, and I’m hoping to catch a collectivo to Leymebamba today, so I decide to sprint down the mountain. Sprinting down 1400 meter of elevation with a heavy backpack, my quads and calfs will not be thanking me later.

In Tingo I only have to wait a couple of minutes until a collectivo arrives. They squeeze me into the last remaining seat and we are off. 2 hours later, I’m at the hotel.

I ask the hotel manager about the Laguna de los Condores trail that I’m here to hike. Turns out my research might not have been thorough enough, but to be fair it was a spur of the moment idea, as she tells me I need permission from the tourist office and a guide. The tourist office opens at 08:30 tomorrow so I guess I get to sleep in. I will ask the office what we can do about the guide. This might turn out to be a minor failure. I so love Allemansrätten.

24 October — Friday

So much for a sleepy morning. At 4:00 AM, all the roosters join in a chorus that never ends.

I’m at tourist office 8:30, at 8:40 the police calls the person responsible, she says she will be there in 10 minutes, which turns into 50 minutes. They sure do take it relaxed here, being 1 hour late for work. What follows is a long discussion about the guides, safety, food, horses, etc. — “No I do not need to ride a horse, no I can carry my own gear and food, yes I have all necessary gear, etc.” The discussion concludes with “yes there are guides available, but you will have to return at 17:00 and speak with the guides directly”.

In the meantime, I go for a run/hike — checkbox on the weekly interval session I try to uphold — around the vicinity. It truly is a spectacular place to live in. People here seem so laid back and relaxed.

After the run I purchase a 5 kg watermelon, thinking that it will be leftovers for tomorrow. I was wrong.

At 17:00 I’m back at the tourist office. Apparently now no guides are available for tomorrow and it is unclear whether anyone is available for the day after tomorrow. There is one last guide she has not gotten ahold off that might be available, I will have to wait and see.

At 20:00 I’m told that the guide is available and that we start 07:00 tomorrow. It will be a three day hike, 1 day to walk to the Laguna, 1 day to explore the Laguna, and 1 day to walk back. In total it costs 660 soles but then I bring my own food and carry my own stuff, which is very uncommon. Usually food and horses carrying the equipment, and also sometimes the hikers, are included, but seeing as I do not even want a guide the least I can do is to be self sufficient. However, the payment also includes a pair of rubber boots, because you cannot hike the trail without them ;). I did not have the energy to argue.

This might not turn into a failure after all :).

Laguna de los Condores is famous for the discovery of hundreds of Inca mummies in 1997. The mummies were preserved in a mausoleum built into the surrounding cliffs. According to a BBC article, only about 150 people hike to the lake each year, and it is believed that thousands more mummies remain in other nearby mausoleums hidden in the jungle. It is one of only two large Inca burial sites (found) that escaped destruction by the Spanish conquistadors. The mummies discovered can be viewed in the Leymebamba museum if interested.

25 October — Saturday

At 07:00 I’m at the guides home, he is still eating breakfast and asks if I want some. Sure I can try a little. I get a massive portion of potato and egg soap with some condiments I’m not familiar with. While we eat he tells me that it will be very muddy due a lot of recent rainfall.

And we are off to Laguna de los Condores! My guides names is Angeles.

The first half of the trail goes along agricultural land and honestly it is not very exciting. The other half is much better with a mix of alpine mountains and rainforests. It is indeed very muddy in the sense that you walk in mud most of the time, but it is not like you have to pull your feet’s loose, if you mind your steps.

I let Angeles set the pace and just follow in his footsteps. Around halfway he offers me some coca leaves to chew on. Sure why not try it. It did not taste particularly good.

Starting in Dos de Mayo, as we did, it is about 24 kilometers and 1700 meters to ascend, the way back is about 1000 meters to ascend. It takes us about 6.5 h to go to the cabin, and just as we arrive it starts raining. Perfect timing.

When we it stops raining I walk up the hill to take a sneak peak off the Laguna. We will visit the Laguna tomorrow and row across, and fish. Angeles told me that there are many big fish in the lake.

When I return it is almost nightfall and Angeles has decided that we should go night fishing in a small nearby stream. We catch 4 small fish. Well, I catch one and Angeles three, but hey it is a team effort. Angeles fries the fish for us, so delicious. He tried to give me all four, I really had to insist on that we should split them.

While we eat, Angeles tells me that the cabin was actually built 50 years ago, in other words long before the mummies were discovered in 1997. As far as I understood it was built for agriculture (milk production) and fishing, but since 20 years ago it is only used for visits to the Laguna. It was built by a guy called Julio something.

I must say the rubber boots were surprisingly comfortable to hike in. And to comment on the trail, sure it is muddy and sometimes a bit technical but it is extremely easy to follow. I still think it is a bit ridiculous that a guide is necessary. Not to complain on Angeles in any way, he is a great guy and an excellent guide.

26 October — Sunday

At 07:00 we start walking to the Laguna. It is only about a 15 minute hike to the boat. The views are incredible.

It is an inflatable rubber boat that is propelled by both off us paddling on each respective side. It is not fast. We paddle to the opposite side where we disembark and hike to the mausoleum. It is a steep and muddy climb, but so worth it to see the well preserved buildings.

After having visited the mausoleum we continue paddling to the waterfall at the north side of the lake. There we also stop for some fishing. We catch three, off what I believe to be, char. We then paddle back to the boat ramp, fish some more, and have a long photo session. Angeles wanted some nice photos of himself, he even tried on different outfits in between photos.

Angeles then propose that we should do some bushwhacking to see the remains of an old Inca village, consisting of 36 buildings. It is probably this village that used the mausoleum as burial site. We then continue onwards to Angeles favorite fishing spot — something tells me Angeles really likes fishing. The terrain is dense, and Angeles gets to put his machete to good use.

We hike and fish until nightfall, our efforts rewards us with seven chars in total. I thought this would be a relaxing day, hike to mausoleum and then relax in the afternoon, but no we made good use of the entire day.

When we return to the cabin, Angeles cooks up the fishes for us. Delicious! Then I go directly to sleep, I’m pretty tired now and we have to hike back tomorrow.

I’m glad I decided to do the guided tour after all. Experiencing the Laguna de los Condores was amazing, highly recommended. It was nice having the whole area to myself, well almost. I had, however hoped to see some more colorful birds. I saw a few colibris, which was nice, and many colorful butterflies.

Angeles is a great guy and guide, although I feel a bit babied at times, but that is just him doing his job and me who likes to be independent and do things myself. If any reader is interested in hiking to the Laguna de los Condores, I recommend hiring Angeles. You can reach him at: +51971315248.

27 October — Monday

It rained cats and dogs all night, it is going to be a wet trail today. We set off at 6:30 after waiting a bit for the rain to slow down. It took us 5.5 hour to walk back to Dos de Mayo. Otherwise not to much to say about the day. When we returned I feasted on food and cleaned all the mud from my clothes. Tomorrow I will take the 6 am collectivo back to Chachapoyas.

As a comment, it was surprisingly little mosquitoes or other irritating bugs in the jungle. Hope this continues as I venture further into the Amazon.

28 October — Tuesday

The collectivo driver sure likes to drive fast. He flies over every speed bump and aims for every pot hole — and spoiler, there are many potholes. After the ride I felt like I had just been in a fight against a much bigger and stronger opponent. Somehow the dude next to me sleep through the entire journey. Must be his unique talent.

Back in Chachapoyas I book a ticket for the night bus going to Tarapoto. Since I do not feel like doing much hiking today, I walk around Chachapoyas a bit to do some sightseeing. Sample some (or much) local cuisine such as the Tres de leches (sponge cake with 3 types of milk/cream) and various empanadas. Everything delicious! But I might have overdone it, I’m stuffed.

I then find a nice spot for an afternoon nap while waiting for the bus to depart. New adventures awaits in Tarapoto at 04:30 tomorrow as that is when bus will arrive (supposedly).