It’s hard to admire the view while pretending your bus isn’t clinging to a mere ribbon of road floating above a thousand meter drop, but the road between Cajamarca and Chachapoyas is nothing if not admirable. The road is gashed across the mountainside, a single lane of hairpin curves that winds through an amazing cross section of Peruvian microclimates, from terraced farmland to arid desert, from semi-tropical fruit groves to fog-shrouded cloud forests. Our 2007 guidebook still says that the road is in poor condition and buses are infrequent, but within the past few years the road has been reworked to make it safer, and transportation options have improved.

When we hiked out to the Gocta Cataracts, our guide, Señora Teo, told us this story:
Not too long ago, there was a shaman named Gregorio. He and his wife lived by the river, and he would often go up to the base of the waterfall and speak with the mermaid that lived there. One day she said to him, ‘Gregorio, I would like to give you a gift. Ask me for anything, and it will be yours.’
Now, Gregorio and his wife were very poor, so he thought …

Señora Teo’s story was on the surface a cautionary tale about the caprices of mystical creatures, but stories like this one could help explain why a waterfall as tall as Gocta remained unknown to the outside world until 2006. It’s location in a blind ravine in the remote Peruvian province of Amazonas might help, too: Amazonas’ capital, Chachapoyas, was unreachable by paved road until a few years ago, and the airport has been in sporadic operation since 2003. At 771 meters (2,531 feet), however, Gocta Falls ranks among the world’s giants, and since its introduction to the world, a small tourism industry has sprung up.