Day 388 – Chachapoyas

Sarcofagos de Karajia

Today we woke up later than we wanted to. We dropped off our laundry at the hostel, Chachapoyas Backpackers Hostel. It’s cheap at 5 PEN ($2.22 AUD) per kilo to wash, dry and fold the clothes. Then we had another self prepared breakfast.

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Getting to Sarcofagos Karajia from Chachapoyas

We walked to the Collectivo Terminal as per yesterday (Day 387). Here we had to go to the far end to find transport to the town of Luya. Unfortunately, there weren’t many people waiting so we had to wait for the van to fill up. Typically the price is 5 PEN ($2.22 AUD) per person (p/p) but due to a fiesta (party) in Luya, the price was increased 7 PEN ($3.12 AUD) p/p. The collectivo left 20 minutes later at 9.50am.

The 50 minute journey was uneventful. The road turned dusty and bumpy after a while. Our collectivo arrived in the small town at 10.40am. We were dropped off outside the collectivo terminal. From here, we needed to look for another collectivo to Cruzpata. 

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We were told to wait by a few drivers. They didn’t know when it would appear. As the minutes ticked away, we were getting nervous.

Just after 11am a man came to us and said the collectivo is outside the terminal. We went outside and got into the crammed collectivo, which was full of locals. The collectivo left Luya at 11.10am.

We were actually dropping off locals at various side towns along the way to Cruzpata. Therefore, we did a lot of backtracking. This did give us a taste of how the people live in the remote towns of Peru. One girl in the collectivo was holding a massive cake. Turns out she was taking it home to celebrate her birthday. The collectivo from Luya to Cruzpata cost us 6 PEN ($2.68 AUD) p/p for the hour journey.

Sarcofagos Karajia

We arrived at the plaza of Cruzpata and the driver pointed to a sign saying ‘Karajila’. As we were about to walk down the indicated path, a lady came and started talking in Spanish. She took us to a tiny room with a desk. Here we paid an entrance fee of 5 PEN ($2.22 AUD) p/p and registered our details (name, nationality and passport number).  

Then we followed the sign down a gravel pathway for 30 minutes. 

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The path led towards a valley. One side of the valley was full of lush greenery. The other side was a cliff face. In the cliff face are the sarcophagus. 

There isn’t any information at the site so we Googled some information. Apparently the Sarcofagos Karajia are mummies, like you would find in Egypt. The sarcophagus are around 2m tall and have been dated to the 15th century.

It’s really hard to imagine how the ancient Chachapoyas civilisation placed the sarcophagus into the cliff face. We sat down and had some snacks while we enjoyed the archaeological site. 

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The walk into Cruzpata took us 40 minutes since it was now uphill. We could see all the stalls were starting to open at 2pm. We figured that the tours must arrive later in the afternoon.

Getting from Sarcofagos Karajia to Chachapoyas

Once we arrived to the plaza of Cruzpata, we found a collectivo waiting to leave for Luya with three other local tourists. We were able to leave straight away. The mainly downhill journey to Cruzpata took 40 minutes. Once again, the collectivo cost 6 PEN ($2.68 AUD) p/p. We saw several tour buses going towards Cruzpata. 

In Luya, we had to find a collectivo back to Chachapoyas. Unfortunately, there was a whole bunch of people waiting with us. We couldn’t get onto the first 2 collectivos. The drivers were calling out ‘Cha Cha’ for Chachapoyas.

We managed to fit in the third collectivo just before 3pm. The collectivo was pretty full, so we had to sit separately. The return trip cost more at 10 PEN ($4.46 AUD) p/p.

The journey was bumpy, but since I was sitting next to the driver, I could see him dosing off. As a survival strategy, I started a broken conversation with him. From what I gather, there was a party during the day, which may explain the crowds and why he was so tired. We arrived in Cha Cha less than an hour later. 

Cha Cha

Back in Cha Cha, we relaxed at our hostel and freshen up before doing some grocery shopping. We cooked a nice meal before having an early night.

We enjoyed the sarcophagus, but the journey was the best part.