Kuelap is situated on an escarpment at 3000m (9840ft). Massive walls form a giant platform on which the city is built. You don't so much as walk into Kuelap as walk on to it. The exterior walls rise up to 20m (65ft) tall, and extend along the ridge for 584m (639yds.).

To enter the site there are three narrow entrances and once inside there are many roundhouses typical of Chachapoya design. There are two obvious religious places namely the castillo which is a platform overlooking the second entrance and the unusual tintero, which appears like a chopped off inverted cone. The outer walls are impressive but what makes a visit to Kuelap so special is the feeling of mystery in a place that once was lost and is still not fully understood. Much of the site is covered by trees, laden with bromiliads orchids and mosses and home to many birds.

These are very interesting times for Kuelap as many new discoveries are being made. Teams of archaeologists, restorers and conservationists have been working on the site for over 2 years. Kuelap has been a place to ponder there has always been many questions about Kuelap - and from the information obtained during this latest dig, many questions have been now answered, but many more have cropped up too.

We now know:

- the construction of Kuelap started in the 6th Century (from carbon dating)
- Kuelap was under continuous development
- the principal entrance way had a greater importance than the other two
- human sacrifice may have been part of the Chachapoya culture at some stage