Chiclayo - Fabulous Gold Of Sipan - WOW
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2004
1
101
133
Trip End
Nov 01, 2005
Chiclayo,
Peru
Friday, July 22, 2005
Yuk - 5.45am taxi to the airport. We flew with TANS who unlike the press they get were fine. We arrived in Lima and headed to the Hostal Espaņa again to dump our bags - Lima is still grey. Hostal Espaņa was where we first stayed in Lima and they`d be good if they could teach the reception staff how to smile and appear friendly and welcoming. After buying tickets for the night bus tonight we headed out to the Museum Of The Nation. It was alright but didn`t reach the standard of the Cusco museums. It was well laid out and went through all the different Pre-Inca cultures before arriving at the Incas themselves. We had a 3 course lunch for 10 soles just off Plaza de Armas before heading back to the hotel to chill in the cafe with a little internet surfing thrown in. As we were waiting for a taxi to the bus station we found out by text that Keith just got engaged to Gillian Dundon - which put a huge smile on our faces
01 Lambayeque Museum - Stone Carving
. It`s Friday night and the bus station is heaving....we`ve never seen a bus station this busy. We had front row seats upstairs having forgot to ask for safer seats....and Gillian doesn`t have a buckle on her seat beat....and there are screaming kids near us. Joy. The films are in Spanish (not the usual English) so we read and listen to our MP3 players before grabbing what sleep we can.Day 266 Saturday 23/07/05 Chiclayo
We arrive at 5.30am and get a taxi to our hotel, check in and promptly sleep for a while. It`s nice to be in a hotel with a lift and fresh towels again. We try to get a tour of the local sights but they want 45 - 55 US dollars per person - far too much for us so we do it ourselves and spend...oooh, about 1/3 of that. We get a collectivo (shared taxi) out to Lambayeque for the 2 museums there. The older Bruning Museum is actually very good and has a really good ceramic disply with some metal, material & mummies too. The eye opener here was the first pottery moulds we have seen in Peru - so mass production was common in those times too. Next was the dazzling Museo Tumbas Reales De Sipan. This museum opened in 2002 and houses the contents of the tomb of the Lord Of Sipan and a number of other tombs that were buried in the same sand pyramid shrine
02 Lambayeque Museum - Stone Carving
. The graverobbers didn`t find this so the tombs when discovered contained a fabulous undisturbed array of gold, material, ceramics, weapons, etc, etc. It is unlike anything we have ever seen and some people reckon it rivals the more famous Egyptian burials - it`s brilliant, extraordinary, vast, breathtaking... get the picture? From the guest book we can see that it is mainly Peruvians who visit here which shows just how much the North is ignored by the multitudes heading for Machu Picchu even though the riches in here are phenomenal. After chatting to a nice Peruvian man for a while (who kept thanking us for visiting Peru) we headed out onto the street to catch a bus to Tucume. We asked a nice guy if we were in the right spot and he said yes, chatted to us and waited with us for a bus. The first few went past full (and we mean Peruvian full) and we eventually persuaded him to take the only free seat on a minibus going by even though he wanted to wait to make sure we were alright! A larger bus stopped for us and we got the spaces right at the front of the bus (Stewart stood while Gillian was offered the fold down seat by the conductor!). They let us off at the stop for the ruins after about 40 minutes. Much to the bemusement of the locals we walked the 15 minutes out of town to the museum complex in the blazing sunshine and didn`t take the 2 soles moto. The museum itself was small and ordinary so we headed quickly out onto the site itself. Tucume is a major site here with about 26 pyramids & platforms which have been famously championed by Thor Heyerdahl. There was no guide available (apart from one speaking French) as the guidebook promised so we headed out by ourselves. All that remains to eye of the normal public are great piles of sand. We climbed the hill at the side to get a couple of viewpoints - hard work in the heat with the most uneven irregular steps we have ever climbed. We went back down and headed for the refreshment area. Stewart bought some odd tasting homemade corn beer (750ml for 1.5soles..60 cents) and Gillian had some pineapple juice
03 Lambayeque Museum - Pottery
. We saw our first ever hairless dog here - they have high body temperatures and people with joint problems sleep with them like hot water bottles. We took a moto back into town and caught a minibus all the way back to Chiclayo. Peruvian full again - 15 seats and 23 people - and these minibuses aren`t built for western leg length either! We arrived in Chiclayo and started walking into the town and had another near miss. We probably shouldnīt have walked but people had been so friendly to us all day. Gillian was outstaring a local youth who was eying her up....he followed us and shortly afterwards he made a bid for her glasses (thinking they were posh sunglasses). The combination of her being aware and Stewart turning quickly sent him away. A few loud shouts of b*stard from Stewart followed him down the street and we hopped straight into a taxi and got out of there. We rested in our hotel before having a nice meal in Las Americas - American diner look with good staple Peruvian food. The locals liked looking at us too.Day 267 Sunday 24/07/05 Chiclayo - Trujillo
After breakfast we caught a taxi and he offered us a good deal to get to Sipan...however, he meant the museum and we meant the actual archaelogical site itself which is a good deal further away.
04 Lambayeque Museum - Pottery
He pulled in for fuel a couple of minutes after leaving the hotel and Gillian checked if he had understood the destination correctly.... which he hadn`t...so he dropped us at the bus station instead. There was a bus sitting there and we managed to get seats. About 1 hour later we arrived at the site. Sadly the sand pile where they found the wonderful grave contents is not as organised as the museum. The graves are left open and you get a feel for how the different burials were organised but it didn`t really add anything to our understanding....and again, there were no guides available here which is contrary to what is says in the guidebook. We took about an hour wandering around the site (which was far smaller in size than we imagined) and just missed the bus. An hour in the sun later we caught another local bus back to town - we know it was local because the guy in front of us had a chicken under his arm. We got back to the hotel, collected our bags and headed for the bus station for our 4hr bus to Trujillo. The coast is mainly desert again and you get some amazing views of how people eke out an existence on some small irrigated green patches amongst the huge areas of stony sand. We got a taxi to our hostel (www.xanga.com/casadeclara) which turned out to be very friendly and full of gringos to talk to...and the locals were having a party! The hostel is excellent and is run by Michael and his wife Clara. Michael came from Birmingham 16 yrs ago and stayed - he organises great tours and knows so much about this area. This Northern section (Chiclayo, Trujillo & Huarez) are often not visited on the gringo circuit and missing this is missing some of the best things that Peru has to offer. Anyway, after a couple of hours chatting to various guests in the hostel we headed into town for a meal. The Chelsea pub & restaurant was sadly closed so we headed to a nice Italian where the desserts and coffee come very highly recommended. Stewart tried goat which was not that great and Gillian had some nice fish. After the meal we headed back to the hostel and chatted to more people before heading to bed. 
