Gocta

One of the cool things about Chachapoyas is how far off the map it still is. In 2004, Jose Ortecho was guiding a German tourist to see a remote archaeological site. As they rounded a corner, he casually mentioned, "Oh, and there's a big waterfall over there."



The German blinked. That wasn't just a big waterfall. It was a BIG waterfall.



For scale, there's me:



See?



Measurements later revealed it to be 2500 feet tall - the fifth tallest in the world (depending on who you ask).



Incidentally, Jose, who was the German's guide, and is listed as a co-discoverer of the waterfall, also discovered the Quiocta caverns (another tourist attraction near here) - and 25 other caves. He was also our guide to the falls.



12 years ago, no one outside the local area knew this waterfall existed.



9 years ago, there were no roads or trails here.



Now, it's one of the area's biggest attractions, but this is still a pretty unvisited part of the world.



The government is expanding the airport to bring in planes directly from Lima. They're developing the area infrastructure (including the construction of a gondola up to Kuelap, which I visited yesterday), hoping to turn the whole area into a bigger tourist draw.



I joked to Jose that in a few years Chachapoyas would be as big as Cusco.

"Bigger. They just have ruins. We have ruins AND caves AND waterfalls."



My drive back to Moyobamba was beautiful but uneventful, except that the ticket officer at the bus station asked me to translate a love letter into English, for a woman he met in Miami.