Yálape

This is the eye of the puma that protected Yálape, until the Spanish showed up.

Yálape was built around 1100CE and was an important city until the Inca conquered the Chachapoya in the 1470s. It was still inhabited until the 1530s when the Spanish conquered the region and most people either died of European diseases or fled deeper into the cloud forest.

Yálape covers about 12 acres (5 hectares) and was mostly residential. It’s built on a ridge, with a view of Kuélap on one side and the modern city of Chachapoyas on the other.

This was one of three walls I found with the Chachapoyan eyes built into the wall.

Yálape is relatively unknown.

There is very little information about Yálape, and the site was completely overgrown when I was there. It had been a long time since anybody took a machete to the jungle, and the trails were barely passable. I was very thankful that at 9,500 feet above sea level (2,900 meters) there aren’t any poisonous snakes. It was so overgrown I hardly saw my feet for three hours.

I had Yálape to myself.

I walked around Yálape for almost three hours and only saw two other people. One was the taxi driver who brought me and the other was a farmer tending his potatoes. I told the taxi driver that he could wait in the car, but he was reluctant to let me wander around on my own. He was very friendly and if you want to go to Yálape on your own I recommend asking your hotel to call Frank Solsol Guablocho. He’s a registered taxi driver in Chachapoyas and lives in Tingo. (Apologies I can’t find his phone number).

This Yellow-bellied Elaenia was one of the cutest birds I saw at Yálape.

There were lots of birds.

I saw Yellow-bellied Elaenias, Golden-billed Saltators, Plain-colored Seedeaters and several hummingbirds, including a Rainbow Starfrontlet, plus the usual Rufous-collared Sparrows and such.

The Legend of Yálape, with my translation below.

The Legend of Yálape

On this hilltop lived a young man who was the son of Pachamama and on the other side of the Utcubamba River lived his older brother. The older brother wanted to extend his lands to both sides of the river, but the younger brother didn’t want to lose his. They fought constantly, sending their soldiers to battle and causing many deaths.

Since the brothers were sons of Pachamama, they could turn themselves into sacred animals.  The older brother became a condor and the younger brother a puma.

Their mother found out that the brothers were fighting and called the other gods to avoid a war. The god Illape appeared in the sky and when he saw the brothers fighting, he sent a lightning bolt. The brothers ran to their homes when they saw the lightning, but it turned them into the hilltops they lived on. The older brother became Kuélap, and the younger brother was Yálape.

To preserve his memory, the people of Yálape built the eye of the puma in one of the main buildings in the center of their city, facing Kuélap. They believe that the eye and the puma protect their people.

The highest hilltop is where Kuélap is built, clearly visible from Yálape.

Don’t hike uphill from this sign (like I did). Walk up the road behind me till you see the little wooden shelter with the Legend of Yálape, above.

How to get to Yálape?

Yálape is near the town of Levanto, south of the city of Chachapoyas. It is completely unguarded and there is no entry fee. The entrance isn’t actually by the sign in my selfie above. You have to walk downhill on the road, just around the corner to where you can see a gate that leads to the shelter with the Legend of Yálape painted on the wooden wall.

Inhabited archeological sites

If you walk up by the cement sign, rather than the Legend of Yálape, you’ll find yourself walking by people’s homes and through their gardens, which are also full of ruins.

Mirador de Yálape

At the far end of Yálape, where the archeological site bumps up against a village, the people have built a view point where you can see the city of Chachapoyas.