Peru Project – Day 12

Young Explorers Blog  – Day 12

Before sunrise, we started our walk to a massive waterfall. Walking through the jungle, we saw hummingbirds, toucans and heard the ‘flagship’ Peruvian bird, Gallito de las Roca’s singing in the distance. It was a breathtaking sight as we arrived at the third largest waterfall in the world. The beautiful site reenergized us to keep going. Under the 771m long falls, we were all soaking wet before we started to make our way back to the agricultural village again. Once back, a local woman treated us to a traditional meal. Later, we walked to a nearby town of 300 inhabitants, where we visited a sugar cane refinery and a family-run cane distillery, the two main local industries. Before bedtime, we had a bonfire with Telesforo, a 70- year old man who, together with the German explorer Stefan Ziemendorff, made the falls known to the world, and finished by telling us the nerve-racking legends which surround the Gocta waterfall.