http://eqi.org, http://stevehein.com
Kuelap, Peru (Feb 2005)
Kuelap is a very interesting place. It is something like several thousand years old. It was a community in which all the houses were round and made of stone. It is built on the top of a mountain for protection. It is amazing how they built it so high, so long ago.
The trip started out in Chachapoyas. Here is a pic of the city I took a couple days ago to see if I could catch the rainbow with my cam.
Looking down at the parking lot where the driver is waiting for us. It took about three hours on a very bumpy gravel road to get from Chachapoyas to Kuelap. I went on a tour with a guide and 3 others, plus the driver. I usually avoid tour groups, but I had met someone named who had studied psychology in a unversity and called herself a psychologist the day before who was going and I decided to go along, mostly to talk to her some more. After talking with her for most of the day I felt even more sure that the typical university psychology program is pretty useless when it comes to really helping people. At the bottom of the page you can read why I don't like to go places with tour groups.
On the path to the ruins.
Reconstruction work
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Guides, workers and their families
A llama
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An entrance to the ancient village
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Our guide, Ronald, sitting under a tree while we waited for the rain to stop, plus the others who were in our group.
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We really look like stupid tourists, don't we!
It was hard for me to figure out this picture when I got back to the hotel. I thought it should be turned on it's side. But what is happening is that I am on the edge of the cliff looking at the wall on the left. We are so high we the clouds are right there. It is very easy to fall right off the edge and the girls kept getting scared when I walked up to the edge. Of course this just made me do it more. And once I sat on the edge with my feet hanging over just to shock them and prove I wasn't afraid. The grass you see is the edge where I am standing. lol So yeah, I guess I was pretty close to falling off! It looks more like a bush growing upwards, but it was just the grass. That wall is about four stories high.
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I got this off the web... It looks like the same view, but you can tell what is happening more clearly.
A reconstructed house. Rosa, the "psychologist", is in front.
Peter and I had the most in common. He and I were both always wandering off and getting yelled at. He is originally from Germany but lives in Australia. He said he is getting tired of Australia though because it is getting too much like the USA. After spending a lot of time in Austraila myself, I felt the same way.
You have to follow along with everyone else. They tell you things like "come on", and "hurry up", "you're making everyone wait", "you can't go there" and "come with us." You can't stay and look at something as long as you want. You have to go along with the crowd. You don't set your own pace. The tourguide does. The group does. They pressure you. Come on they say. They get tired of always waiting for you. Then they start to judge you and make fun of you and mock you. And say things like, Where is Steve? He is always the last one.
Here is another pic I got from the web. It shows one of the houses. There were about 40 of these. It was a really interesting place.
This pic is from http://www.kuelap.org/easy-tour-photos/org-easy-tour.htm
