Kuelap

SO I tentatively rolled out just as the construction people were getting organized…

Unfortunately, further on down the way they already WERE organized, so I entertained myself by making friendly faces with this young boy in the mototaxi.

Here was an even shyer boy.

I was in the middle of construction / dirt / dusty roads for an hour and a half before I finally arrived at Pedru Ruiz. (Didn’t look like the “jungle” to me, even though everyone kept calling it that).

I got breakfast here (6 soles= ~$2.00). Here’s my sorry coffee…

I got gas (would YOU be confident in the gas bought from this service station?)

On the road to Cuela I passed this spot where it seemed lots of people gathered…I don’t know what it was about but I had the impression that they were laborers of some sort.

Translation: “Don’t use explosives while fishing”.

Note to self: Don’t eat any fish.

Translation” “Water is Life. Don’t contaminate it”.

Note to self: Don’t drink the water.

I ended up taking a wrong turn and going up the mountain to Chachapoyas.

I came back down the mountain, got back on the right road, and got on the right road towards Tingo.

I took a lovely, really well maintained dirt road along the river to Tingo. I was so happy after all the lumpy, bumpy dirt roads I’d been traveling on since Vilcabamba.

Here I took a desolate road up the mountain for two hours to the old fortress of Kuelap. (Not on the “plan”, but I seemed drawn to go there And on the map it didn’t look too far out of the way…)

Gosh, the road was r-e-m-o-t-e! I guess it was preparing me for days to come…

Yum! Diesel!

I finally came to a small town. Note the diamonds on the houses. This is a pattern I saw in the ruins, and they have carried it over to the leftover villages.