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Moderate to eXtreme Challenge.

Music Andes and Amazon August 2008 2-parts:

Cajamarca-Chachapoyas-Tarapoto 9-days 1480 USD per person.

Tarapoto-Iquitos-Pacaya Samiria Reserve 10-days 1560 USD per person.

Or, we can plan your own trip with a custom itinerary for you and your companions/family based on your travel dates.

International and domestic airfare not included.

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Musical ADVENTURE

Some men and women dream to Explore…
To challenge their bodies, to strengthen their minds. To find within themselves their Spirit in harmony with mankind's past and present. Perhaps for a brief moment touch the future in joy with our Earth.

And some use these dreams through music to bring a beat of hope to the hearts of abandoned and orphaned children.

The Andes Mountains: 4500+ miles of continuous deep rock gorges, seemingly endless valleys, and ice-capped mountain peaks rising from the Caribbean Sea stretching the length of South America to a descent into the Antarctic Regions.

The Amazon: The winding rivers and creek beds of the Andes carve the terrain, headwaters of fuel for the mighty Amazon River. The few and far-between roads and paths scar a landscape where ancient civilizations arose and fell. Remote and oasitic stone ruins hide beneath the rainforest bromeliads. Remote Andean and Amazon communities await the infrequent visitor who travels with a passion for perseverance and teamwork.

Our Purpose: To bring music and support to the abandoned, to the orphans. To bring assistance to those who have dedicated their lives with their commitment to care for and educate a generation that will inherit the incredible ancient ruins and pristine rainforests of Peru.

Our goal: A journey across the Andes Mountains marked deep with lost civilizations that cry for discovery and protection. A journey onward to the Chachapoyas Amazonas region and into the Amazon rainforest. Here the Indian villages of the Amazon await to share their music.

Contact us for more details on our Music Adventure

Snowcapped volcanoes and glacier mountain peaks barricade Chachapoyas to the south. Nearly impassable river gorges cut the Andes Mountains parallel to Chachapoyas on the west. Amazon jungle lands push to the east and north boundaries of the Chachapoyas region. Even in our modern-day, geographical boundaries isolate the Chachapoyas region.

Scores of archaeological ruin sites dot the 25,000 square miles of the Chachapoyas Region. Only a hand full is now accessible to the occasional tourist. Many discoveries are kept to the knowledge of archaeologists for fear that lack of funding will leave such sites vulnerable to vandals.

Recent archaeological discoveries in the remote high-jungles of the region have given evidence to an ancient pre-Inca civilization. A civilization passingly recorded by Spanish conquistadors as "Tall White-skinned fierce warriors" living in the mountain clouds and jungle mists.

Massive fortresses are perched on the tops of mountains, cliff-side tombs and richly painted sarcophagus lie amidst the jungle bromeliads. All slowly coming to light with a glimpse of what was perhaps an advanced civilization, an ancestral connection of Amazon Indians and Andean peoples.

Historical and archaeological monuments, the natural environment, and flora/fauna of the Chachapoyas region are currently in grave danger. This is due to the deforestation for cattle grazing, to the lack of funds to protect newly discovered ruin sites from vandals, and an almost non-existing international conservation initiative.

The Chachapoyas People excelled as an isolated agricultural society from 800 AD until their demise from European diseases and conquest by the Incas in the 1470's. The origin of the name Chachapoyas was possibly a variation of Sacha Poya, which means "Cloud People" in Quechua, the language of the Incas. In a possible effort to maximize the utilization of cultivatable lands, the Chachapoyas built their cities, monuments, and massive stone fortresses on the summits of mountains.

In concurrence with the conquest of the Chachapoyas by the Incas, European diseases ravaged the native population. By the end of the 1500's the Chachapoyas Peoples were gone. Their lands, culture, cities, and fortresses once one of South America's most populative and progress civilizations, disappeared into the mountain mists. Only in the last 20 years has the grandeur of the Chachapoyas People begun to come to light.

Chachapoyas, capital of the department of Amazonas, is one of Peru's oldest cities. It was founded in 1538, by Alonso de Alvarado and still maintains a majestic Spanish influence due in a large part because of its isolation from tourism. At an altitude of 2335 meters, Chachapoyas is a prosperous city with sugar cane and coffee, orchids and tile-roofed mansions.

Here one of the most spectacular pre-Inca ruin sites rests upon a mountain-top: Kuelap, rivaling any ruins in the New World complete with living quarters for thousands of residents and a most impressive stone wall fortification reaching 60 feet high in circumference to the city. It is the largest edifice of the Americas and estimated to be 3 times the volume of Egypt's largest pyramid. Surrounding Kuelap lies the mountainous and remote Vilaya Region.

Outside of the town of Chachapoyas is the Sarcofagos of Karajia (road and hiking, fairly strenuous):
Karajia is a spectacular funerary site. Here we will find 3-meter anthropomorphic wooden coffins located under a cliff. Mummies were placed inside each coffin. The Chachapopyas buried their dead in capsule-like tombs constructed of stone, wooden or cane poles and clay. Known locally as purunmachus (from the Quechua, purun wild and machu, old), the funerary statues lookout from cliffside perches overlooking the left bank of the Utcubamba River and several of its western tributaries.

During our visit to Chachapoyas we will have the opportunity to visit local communities and visit the Gocta Waterfall, one of the world's highest waterfalls.



Our trek includes parts of the 1560 Spanish Conquistadors' route made famous in Werner Herzog's film"The Wrath of God"

In this part of the Amazon important reserve areas are protected by the government:
Our destination: The Pacaya Samiria Reserve, home to a number of indigenous Indians.

This part of the Amazon rainforest is known to have the greatest diversity of flora and fauna found in the world.

Located within the Pacaya Samiria Reserve are the Indian villages of Santo Domingo, 20 de Enero, Buenos Aires, Arequipa, and Yarina. With some of the best wildlife areas in the Peruvian Amazon we will visit the remote "El Dorado" lagoon ("Cocha El Dorado").

Each village is built along the riverbank as rivers are the main routes of transportation in the region. Houses are raised on platforms as the rivers flood during the rainy season. Thatched roofs made of palm leaves woven tightly together are able to keep even the strongest downpours out. Open fires are used to cook food and folks sleep in hammocks under mosquito netting.

People bathe in the river and get drinking water in buckets. Very few homes have bathrooms.

Since the creation of the reserve, hunting has been heavily restricted. People now rely on subsistence farming and fishing. They use most of the food to feed their families and if they have any extra, they sell it in Iquitos for cash. They then use the money to buy salt, kerosene, soap, matches, and machetes. Most of the farms are not close to the villages so people travel by wooden dugout canoe every morning to tend to their fields.

Here with our community of Indian friends we share our music with a:Musical Adventure