Yup. From the sound of things, you'd be hard pressed to find much in the books today too.
Kuelap was re-discovered in the 1840s by a judge from the nearby town of Chachapoyas. I don't know where the "35 years ago" comes from, although it has remained relatively unkown.
I went to Kuelap (fairly accessible) and several other remote sites (accessible only by several days' journey on horseback and then straight up the mountains on foot) in Chachapoyas in 1997.
From what I understand, the "blonde hair, blue eyes" is a bit of an exaggeration. They had already been conquered and dispersed by the Inca at the time of the European invasion. Spanish accounts say the Chachapoyas were the "whitest" of the native inhabitants, but this doesn't mean much without closer archaeological or DNA studies.
I will say this - people living in the area in small towns and remote villages in Chachapoyas today do seem to exhibit Caucasian features, much more so than people living in other parts of Peru. They could pass for Spanish peasants, whereas in most of the rest of Peru, they are unmistakably Andean Amerind. They don't speak Quechua, either. The region used to be heavily populated, as evidenced by the extensive terracing in places where is absolutely no one.
The remnants of the Chachapoyan culture is certainly distinct from other cultures nearby, but is not particularly unique, with elements of both Amazon and Andean culture. The Chachapoyan mummies are typical Amerind remains, as far as I know. I haven't heard of any DNA studies, although I have inquired with local experts about this.
Gene Savoy claims to have found some interesting stuff at some of the ruins. I got to have a look at some of it, and still don't know what to think. I tend to be very skeptical of claims by the esoterica crowd.