The bus ride to Chachapoyas was 11 hours and we were on a very uncomfortable bus! When we arrived in the morning we just checked into a hostal and went right to sleep for a few hours. The main thing we wanted to see in Chachapoyas are a set of pre Inca ruins from a different culture that inhabited parts of Northern Peru.

Once we were rested out we went to book the tour for the next day. The town itself was pretty small so we didn’t do much else other than explore the streets and enjoy some people watching in the main square. 

The next day we got up early for breakfast and then headed out to the ruins. It was a 2.5 hour drive further to teach them. We were told we would have an English speaking guide but we soon figured out that was not the case…it was all Spanish. Thankfully there were a few others in the group who translated most of it for us!

The ruins were quite spectacular, but difficult to get a sense of because there wasn’t any type of lookout spot to see it all at once and give you a full perspective. The architecture was all circular which is big contrast to the Inca who do everything with corners. Some of the walls were up to 20m high with large parts still in place.

After exploring the ruins we had lunch and went back to Chachapoyas.  Since there wasn’t too much to do in the town we booked a bus to leave at 7:30pm that night and begin our journey to Mancora.