After a week in the jungle I was glad to be in more familiar countryside. The area around Chachapoyas reminds me of the East side of the North Cascades. From a distance the hills look the same and the vegetation looks the same. There are patches of different greens where different crops are grown. Here they mostly grow corn and coffee. (I picked a coffee bean off of a tree and ate it, well sucked on it and then I spit it out!) Looking closer, however, the coffee plants and occasional palm tree remind me that I am actually in an exotic locale. Many of the other plants and flowers are similar to the plants near home. One of the most exciting moments of our 3 day trek was finding lupine! Then I looked closer and realized it was growing on a vine-y shrub. Oh well, it was definitely lupine flowers and leaves.