The Sarcophagi of Karijia: A Short DIY Guide

By Connected Horizons

Among the most beautiful archaeological sites to see while in Chachapoyas sits Karijia, a small but rewarding reminder of the long-gone indigenous people living in the area located in the village of Cruz pata. While the site itself can be visited in less than 30min, the entrance price is very small (5 soles/pp) and getting there is an adventure itself. If you plan on visiting a part of Peru that is sometimes left behind and contemporarily enjoy some great history of the past, this is the place to go!


Getting There

Similarly to the Fortress of Kuelap, many tour agencies in town offer the Karijia + Quiocta Cave as a full-day tour with prices ranging around the 80 soles/pp mark. Thankfully, if you don’t want to be on a guided tour or simply are not willing to spend the 25$, there’s a way to get there by yourself. Be ready to have an early rise!

CHACHAPOYAS TO LUYA
At the colectivo terminal of Chachapoyas, there are some companies that have minivans running back and forth from Luya pretty much every half-hour starting from 5am, just keep eye out for people shouting out “Luya”. Usually, the trip is supposed to take around 1h and cost 5 soles/pp (via Calcic) but at the time of writing, the short road has been closed down due to roadworks and the longer road (via Lonya Chico – also having roadworks) is being used. Currently, getting to Luya with the long road takes 1h30min and costs 7 soles/pp.

Chachapoyas Terminal

LUYA TO CRUZ PATA
The second leg of the journey involve getting to the tiny village of Cruz Pata. If the Chachapoyas-Luya is a fairly travelled route, it cannot be said the same for Cruz Pata. In fact, at the small “terminal” (which is barely more than just a parking lot) there are no colectivos to the village but the only way is to get “autos” (literally ANY car you share with other three people) that are heading in that direction. The trip is cheap, just 6 soles/pp, but finding a car can be hard later in the day so make sure to be at Luya no later than 8-9am!

Along the way, the car drive will surely make several stops to pick up people living in these tucked-away mountain communities and honestly, sitting by these people and having a chat with them was a great immersion into a cultural aspect of the country not always seen by tourists like us.

Somewhere in the Andes

The road is easy to follow as there are some signs to the site of Karijia and the only “big” turn is when you reach the village of Cohechan but even then, signs are there to tell the way. After around 45min, you should be at the small village of Cruz Pata (and possibly the only tourists today).

The site of Karijia

Once at the main plaza of Cruz Pata, you’ll see that both the tourist office (where you register and pay the entrance) and the start of the trail to the actual site, are just in front of you. To walk the trail it takes about 20min down and 30min up at a normal pace.

Welcome to Cruz Pata

Tourist Office

Start of the trail to Karijia

The trail is very easy to follow and whenever you reach the side of a cliff… magic! The sarcophagi appear our of nothing! What an amazing view! You can literally can walk 50m below them but for the best view is from where you first see them.

Nearly forgot, near the tourist office there’s also a small run-down museum exhibiting what they found at the site. This is included in the entrance ticket but you need to ask for it in order to visit it.

The way back

Finding a car back to Luya after your visit is pretty much impossible from Cruz Pata and to have some luck you need to walk back to Chocta (about 15-20min, not a long walk). Even then, you might have to wait up to 2h to make your way back. But there’s an easier way!

CRUZ PATA TO LUYA
Normally, cars drive to Cruz Pata just because tourists are visiting the site, therefore if you ask the same driver if he can wait for you to visit the site (max 1 hour) before heading back to Luya, he/she is most likely to say yes. In our case, the driver just wanted 6 soles (the price for another passenger) for the wait, plus the normal 6 soles/pp we would normally pay. Not bad uh!

LUYA TO CHACHAPOYAS
Once back at the terminal of Luya transport back to Chachapoyas is pretty frequent and runs up until 5pm. Here you can choose to get a colectivo back, same price of before, or if you fancy something more comfortable you can also opt for an auto (10 soles/pp).


PLANNING A TRIP TO PERU? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!


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