Expedition to the Pyramids of Pantiacolla
Even today, in the 21st century, there are places on Earth that have not yet been explored.
In South America, much of the Amazon rainforest located on the border between Peru and Brazil is little known. Particularly the upper Purús, the Iaco River, the upper Tambopata and the Manu Park. These territories, which have always aroused my curiosity, perhaps hold the secret of an ancient people who dominated the continent in remote times.
One of these sites, shrouded in mystery and almost totally unknown, is the primary jungle area where the Pantiacolla pyramids are located.
On December 30, 1975, the American Landsat 2 satellite photographed an area of the Peruvian jungle in the department of Madre de Dios.
The image of the forest area showed twelve points, in groups of two, symmetrical and regular.
Initially, it was thought to have been a mistake, but after careful analysis by expert cartographers like AT Tizado, it was concluded that those strange objects in the forest had to be very high, at least 150-200 meters. If they were arranged symmetrically, they could not be natural formations, but rather products of man. Perhaps they were pyramids built in the distant past for ritual or ceremonial reasons.
The so-called pyramids of Pantiacolla (from Aymara: place where the Collas are lost) were in a distant and unexplored area of jungle, located in the jungle of Madre de Dios, an almost inaccessible place.
Quickly, he began to fantasize. The fact that many considered the Madre de Dios area to be the place where the Incas hid after the arrival of the Spanish to Cusco in 1533 and the supposed existence of a city hidden in the forest, called Paititi, did nothing more and feed the belief that these pyramids had to do with the legend of El Dorado. Furthermore, its relative proximity to the beautiful petroglyphs of Pusharo, a mysterious place located on the Shinkibeni River, inside the primary Manu jungle, prompted some explorers to go to the area with the intention of revealing its mysteries.
The first non-indigenous person to approach the pyramids was the Japanese Yoshiharu Sekino, in 1977. The young man, although he did not manage to reach the enigmatic place, had contact with numerous Matsiguenka natives and contributed to making their culture known, until then practically unknown.
When, in 1979, spouses Herbert and Nicole Cartagena discovered Inca ruins near the Nistron River, later called Mameria, it was proven that the Incas had entered the jungle located east of Cusco, seeking to escape from the conquerors. Interest in the jungle of Madre de Dios grew again.
The enigma of the pyramids of Pantiacolla (also called Paratoari, in the Arawak language of the Matsiguenkas), remained.
The first time the pyramid area was flown over was in 1980, in an expedition organized by the Italian archaeologist Giancarlo Ligabue. However, the first explorer to reach there was the American archaeologist Gregory Deyermejian, in 1996, accompanied by the guides Paulino and Ignacio Mamani, and by the son of Dr. Carlos Neuenschwander Landa, Fernando. After in-depth studies of the territory, they came to the conclusion that the so-called pyramids were nothing more than strange natural formations.
However, for other explorers, things are not that easy: after several trips to the area of the Río Negro, a tributary of the Palotoa, they maintained that these are natural, but that they were modified by man in pre-Inca times and that are related to the lost city of the Incas, Paititi. According to other researchers, the pyramids were used as ritual and religious places by the Incas who entered the jungle.
When in 2001, the Italian archaeologist Mario Polia found, in the Vatican archives, an original letter from the Jesuit Father López, dating from the early years of the 17th century and addressed to the fifth general of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva, the mystery of the lost city once again fascinated the world. The letter, considered original, described the kingdom of Paititi, prosperous in 1600, and very rich in gold and precious stones.
Therefore, the mysterious pyramids were once again spoken of as an ancestral place erected by man in the distant past and in the vicinity of which the Incas built Paititi to escape from the forces of evil, represented in the conquistadors. According to these beliefs, the key not only to Paititi, but also to the fantastic Amazonian culture that built them in ancient times, would be found in the pyramids.
Is it possible that the pyramids are a center of unknown energy that perhaps was channeled by very ancient people? According to some, these are just fantasies, but in my opinion, it is not possible to speak with knowledge of the facts until you travel directly to the territory in question, seeking to collect as much scientific data as possible, but also trying to "feel" what Science cannot reveal it, perhaps because time has already erased it. Indeed, sensations often lead us to the truth, as long as they are supported by serious and rigorous scientific work.
My trip to the Pantiacolla pyramids dates back to June 2009. Once I arrived in Cusco together with my Turin friend Stefano Grotto, I immediately met my guide, Fernando Rivera Huanca, a reliable and knowledgeable guy. The next day, we crossed the mountains and arrived, after a nine-hour trip by truck, to the town of Atalaya, on the shores of Madre de Dios.
The next day, early, we boarded a peque peque (shallow draft boat with a 16 HP engine) and headed, sailing on the Madre de Dios, to the port of Llactampampa Palotoa, a settler town located on the opposite shore to Santa Cruz. The village of Palotoa (approximately 420 meters above sea level), is located about a kilometer inside the river and is made up of small wooden houses without electricity. Shortly after, we met guide Saúl and began to prepare for departure. Stefano Grotto decided to stay in the town as support in case of emergency, and then the three of us left: Fernando Rivera Huanca, Saúl Robles Condori and me. We had enough supplies for six days and Fernando assured me that Saúl was an expert fisherman.
The first part, about three hours of walking, is a dense and humid jungle, but with a path. Many times we had to cross small lagoons (cochas) with a muddy and insidious bottom, whose waters reached our knees. Around noon we arrived at the Inchipato River, a tributary of the Madre de Dios that flows near the Palotoa. At the point where we crossed it, it is approximately fifteen meters wide and has muddy waters, which reached our waists. After eating something light, we began to explore the river walking along its banks. Several times we were forced to cross it because of the sandy and muddy bottom, looking for more consistent parts where we could walk without so much effort. Around four in the afternoon, after having walked seven hours, we decided to stop to sleep on a large beach surrounded by trees about fifty meters high.
That place was called camp 1.
At night, before we fell asleep, it started to rain and the level of the river rose rapidly. Everything would be much more complicated the next day, since the rain would bring fog, which would make it difficult to locate the pyramids.
Unfortunately, my assumptions turned out to be true: the next day we woke up at five in the morning, under a persistent rain. The temperature had dropped and an annoying wind was blowing: we did not seem to be in the Amazon jungle, but in a very different latitude.
While we advanced with difficulty in the rain, sinking in the mud sometimes up to our waists, and above all taking care not to step on the very dangerous freshwater rays and not to let our backpacks (where there were photographic and video cameras) fall into the water, we found a petroglyph right on a rock of the Inchipato River, a clear indication of archaic human presence on its banks. The incisions on the stone strangely reminded me of those of the Jinkiori petroglyph in the territory of the Wuachipaeris, near the town of Pilcopata, in the department of Cusco. After approximately an hour of travel we found another sign, in my opinion, a sign carved into the rock to guide the correct route to the pyramids. These sculpted signs raised our morale and gave us new courage to continue our adventure.
At noon it was no longer raining, but the sky was covered with threatening clouds and in the distance the Palotoa hill could be seen submerged in mist. With these conditions it was impossible to perceive the pyramids from a distance to realize which was the correct direction to follow. Saúl was looking for an elevated place, called a viewpoint or platform, from where one could, with good weather conditions, see the pyramids, but we did not find it. We stopped to eat and analyze the situation. Although the sky was cloudy, the humid heat soon set in and the mosquitoes, along with annoying mosquitoes that get under the skin, began to make our lives difficult.
We continued our course until, around three in the afternoon, the river divided into two branches. Saúl and Fernando hesitated about the correct path to follow and thus, we decided to leave our backpacks on a nearby beach and take the right section, only with our machetes and cameras, but this ravine turned out to be the wrong route and so we returned to where our backpacks were, determined to continue along the left arm.
We walked for about two hours, but we were forced many times to abandon the river because it was too deep and its banks were dense swamps where it was impossible not to sink. So we entered the intricate jungle, walking with machete blows to make our way without losing sight of the river.
Around four o'clock we decided to stop near the river and prepare camp 2, from which we would leave the next day with lighter luggage.
The next morning, we woke up again under a persistent drizzle, and the heavy and cold weather did not encourage us to start another walk. On the other hand, they didn't feel like being inside the tents, dripping with humidity. We continued along the ravine for approximately two hours, being careful not to dislocate our ankles because the floor was made up of slippery, sharp stones. At ten o'clock the rain finally stopped and the fog began to dissolve. We did not know where to go because, according to what we thought, the sources of Inchipato were located to the left of the pyramids and by traveling along it, we would deviate from the correct path.
At one point, we decided to enter the jungle, climbing a steep muddy ridge, using a rope. Once we were at the top, we continued moving forward but the vegetation was so thick and intricate that it took a lot of time and energy to hack our way through with the machetes. Saúl proposed returning alone to Inchipato in order to explore other ravines and find a high place where our objectives could be seen from afar. Fernando and I accepted: we would continue in the jungle traveling through what we believed was part of the mountains, while he would head back to the river.
Fernando, using his machete, opened the way, while behind me I filmed and observed the terrain. At a certain point, the slope of the ground changed: from a slight climb it turned into a steep wall (approximately 65% slope), forcing us to use our hands to continue. We soon realized that the layer of earth where we were was not deep, since our machetes touched a rock layer after passing through about 40-50 centimeters of humus. In fact, we were surrounded by thorny bushes whose roots could not be deep. However, the tall trees that sank their roots into deeper ground, which we had recently left behind, still blocked our view. We dug to find out what that rock was that was under the humus and we found, astonished, a stone similar to hard sand, very crumbly, brown in color with white and reddish stripes. The entire wall, almost completely smooth, was made of hard sand! It was then that we were sure we were on one of the pyramids of Pantiacolla.
Continuing very slowly, we covered the approximately two hundred meters that separated us from the summit. The climb was arduous because the branches of the bushes were full of aggressive ants and surrounded by sharp thorns. Our shoes sank into the intricate vegetation and we ran the risk of getting them into dark cavities that could be nests for poisonous snakes. Despite all that, we remained calm and after about half an hour, we reached the top of the pyramid.
After clearing the field with the help of machetes, a wonderful spectacle appeared to us: three more pyramids were erected in front of us, and to the right the Manu jungle stretched out of sight, the purest and most biodiverse on the planet. In the distance you could see, with the help of binoculars, the Shinkibeni pongo, where the Pusharo petroglyphs and the Pantiacolla mountain range are located, the last mountains before the low Amazon rainforest.
It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.
It had stopped raining for a while, the visibility was very good and although the sun had not risen, the light was enough to allow us to contemplate this spectacle of rare beauty.
Also the other pyramids, observed from a distance with binoculars, seemed to have the same characteristics of the one we had climbed: low bushes instead of large, tall trees. Everything suggests that the basic material of the pyramids is that peculiar hard but crumbly sand. The strange thing is that the sides are cut geometrically and there are no noticeable deformities.
Regarding the supposed symmetry of the pyramids, we verified that this is only partially true: from our location three pyramids could be clearly seen, but they were not symmetrical, although they were very close to each other and two of them were located next to the Palotoa hill, as if they were leaning on it. After having rested a little, we heard a whistle and initially we were alarmed since it was not a bird's whistle, but a human's, and since the area is home to the fearsome Kuga-Pacoris, for a moment we believed that one of them had followed us. However, Fernando responded to the whistle and shortly after realized that it was Saúl, our guide.
Saúl, not finding the correct path along the river, had returned and followed our steps, observing the marks left by our machetes in the bushes.
When Saúl reached the summit, we hugged each other happily and shortly after we started eating cans of beans and tuna. Suddenly, a huge Andean condor (vultur gryphus) glided closer, as if to greet us. We were barely able to make out the outline of the beak and neck. It was a wonderful moment, we were all amazed without being able to say a word. The condor is the largest flying bird in the world, it can weigh twelve kilos and its wingspan reaches three meters. We had the feeling that this bird was the soul of an Apu (Divinity of the Incas), who was watching us from afar.
When the condor left we decided to name the pyramid that we had climbed to the Condor Summit, located at the coordinates: 12 degrees 41' 10'' SOUTH - 71 degrees 27' 30'' WEST.
After taking more photographs and having explored the surroundings of the summit, we decided to return, since it was already three in the afternoon and we did not want to find ourselves trapped in the jungle when it got dark (at five it is already dark there, also because of the shadow of tall trees).
After about ten minutes of a steep descent, it started to rain. In a few moments it was pouring rain and even a cold and impetuous wind began to blow.
The storm was tremendous: loud thunder rumbled in the distance. The lightning was very bright and seemed to be surrounding us. In each glow he could distinguish the walls of the pyramids and the branches of the bushes, whose roots were piled up among stones and thorny branches. I was afraid that one of those rays would strike us down, and I walked quickly trying not to lose sight of my guides, who, much more agile than me, were ahead of me by about thirty meters. After approximately twenty tense minutes, we reached the river. The heavy downpour had ended, but the thunderstorm continued. I had never seen anything like it. The lightning lasted another half hour or so and the celestial vault, crossed by a strange roar and sparkling rays, took on a gloomy color that tended toward violet.
Then we went to camp 2, where we rested and fed. While Fernando and I cooked delicious rice with tomato sauce, Saúl fished. After about half an hour, he returned with several fish and some bamboo poles. The curious thing was that the bamboo was used precisely to cook the fish, which he put in the cavity of the trunk. I also wanted to taste a few pieces and found that it was very well cooked. Saúl explained to me that the Matsiguenka indigenous people taught him to fish and cook fish in bamboo that way, and also to recognize an innumerable number of plants useful for healing wounds and diseases that occur in the jungle due to insects and humidity.
In the evening, we analyzed the situation: as we had already partially fulfilled the objective of the expedition, that is, to personally realize what is under the humus that constitutes the plant layer of the pyramids, and furthermore, having had the fortune after climbing one to the top and having found important petroglyphs, we decided to return to the town of Llactampampa Palotoa the next day, also considering that the provisions would last exactly two more days.
The next morning, as we were organizing for the return trip, I walked about twenty meters away from the base camp to take the last photos. Suddenly, while I was looking at a scree to see if I could find remains of Inca axes or carved stones, I realized that I was not alone. I heard a rustling and a sound of breaking branches and trampling leaves. I had the impression of being close to a very light animal that could not be more than ten meters away from me. I held my breath and tried to sharpen my vision, looking between the branches of the trees and through the foliage. It was a brown bird with a long, dark tail that was kicking near me, emitting a strong, unpleasant smell. After a few moments, I managed to advance without making a sound and slowly moved a large leaf to see it better: it was very strange, it had a very small head compared to the body and the beak was black and shiny. From a distance it looked almost like a rooster, and had bright red eyes, surrounded by whitish hairs. Suddenly, perhaps because it sensed my presence, it jumped and climbed onto a branch, but the incredible thing was that it reached it with the help of its wing, meaning it had nails, albeit archaic ones. How was it possible? A bird with nails or claws on its wings? For a moment I thought I was dreaming and I almost didn't believe what I had seen. Shortly after, the strange bird disappeared into the thicket of branches and foliage. Then, I searched my naturalist vademecum and found the answer: that bird was real, if archaic, it was a hoazín (opisthocomus hoazin, called chancho in Peru), a galliformes between a reptile and a bird reminiscent of the extinct archeopteryx, the most primitive bird that is known, which lived millions of years ago. I was too happy, few people have managed to see a living fossil like the hoazín, so I considered this fact as a good premonitory sign, as a sign that the expedition had been completed in a positive light and also as a good omen for the future.
The return trip was relatively easier than the outward trip, mainly because we had already cleared some difficult passages in some curves of the river during the first trip. On the first day we managed to get beyond camp 1 and slept on a beach near an intricate forest of towering bamboos. It didn't rain and so we took the opportunity to dry wet clothes.
The next morning, we started walking around seven. In a few hours we reached the place where five days before we had begun the march along the river, and we plunged back into the virgin jungle. After about an hour of travel, we found the footprint of a spectacled bear (tremarctos ornatus), widespread in the high Amazon rainforest. I thought it was endemic to higher areas, but later I read that it can live at altitudes from 250 to 4500 meters above sea level. It is an omnivore weighing about 150 kilos and two meters long. A chill ran down my spine at the thought that he might have attacked us during our exploration.
Around two in the afternoon we arrived at Llactampampa Paolotoa, where Stefano welcomed us with an exquisite curry rice.
After having rested, we took stock of the expedition: in addition to having found two petroglyphs, signs of remote human presence in the Inchipato River, we verified that the pyramid we climbed is a rare natural formation whose vegetation layer is no more than 40-50 centimeters deep and whose main material is a kind of hard, but crumbly sand. Unfortunately, we were not able to verify the true nature of the other pyramids, since it would require an expedition of at least twenty days.
The mystery of the Pantiacolla pyramids continues. Furthermore, the doubt remains as to whether some human groups lived in its surroundings in the past, considering them ritual or ceremonial places. For now we do not have enough information to make a definitive judgment.
YURI LEVERATTO
