Gocta Falls

Full Phase is back!

On Tues. September 15th we hopped on a bus at 3pm from Trujillo and made our way to Chachapoyas. This began our Northern Peru Excursion...

We rode the bus all night and arrived at our destination at 5am the next morning (a total of 14 hours on the bus). We had to find a hostel to drop off all of our bags and equipment. Without even a moment of rest we found a driver to take us another hour and thirty minutes to the city below the falls (at a 9,000 foot elevation).



We got a guide and began our trek towards the falls (Gocta Falls is the 3rd largest waterfall in the world). Along the way we saw and learned a lot about how the mountain people live and work. These people live very simple lives with donkeys for transportation and run down structures to process sugar cane (sugar cane is a very lucrative crop for these people). We also learned about Incan civilization as there where many interesting ruins along the way.



Along the trail there where many breath taking views as well as many exotic creatures.







The base of the falls gave us a greater sense of their magnitude. William was brave enough to attempt to swim. However the guide restricted William from going any deeper than his knees for safety reasons.







As we rested at the falls the guide began to get nervous because it was getting late and the falls began to flow harder and faster. We could not stay long because the guide told us that nightfall would make our hike back treacherous.

We began the trek back and made it into the small town where we began just in time to see the sun set!