Sep 4 - Oct 9, 2016: Peru

Sep. 8, 2016.  

• Left Cajamarca at 9:30, arrived 8 hours later in Chiclayo.  Kept sleeping on the bus (which was at the bus station) until around 7, then hoofed it to Hostal Victoria, got a room, took a shower, American breakfast at Mi Tia (coffee served as a cup of warm milk with a smaller cup of concentrated liquid coffee to pour into it - like what I make at home with Trader Joe's liquid coffee), walked around the nearby Plaza de Armes until Moche Tours opened, and booked their tour #1: Tour Sipán, beginning at 10 AM, and returning at 6.

• First stop was the Pirámides de Túcume, more than 200 hectares and 26 pyramids, the final capital off the Sican culture.  The pyramids are composite structures made by several civilizations, the lower levels by the Sican, with the next two levels around surrounding walls by the Chimu.  Great view on Cerro Purgatoria - called this because the Spaniards dressed as demons atop the hill and threw non believers to their deaths.

• Next stop: Museo tumbas regales de Sipan, where you walk down from level to level, in the same order the archaeologists found them.  Fine turquoise and gold ear ornaments showing ducks, deer, and the Lord of Sipan, gold pectoral plates representing sea creatures such as octopus and crab.  Even the sandals of the Lord of Sipan were made of precious metals, as he was carried everywhere and never had to walk.  He wore a nariguera (nose shield) to conceal his teeth - and the fact that they were no different from everyone else.  But photos permitted!  I would love to know how these treasures compare with those discovered at other sites in South and Central America.

• Lunch was at an all you can eat buffet, with more choices than I could handle.  Best was rice pudding with blackberry (?) sauce.

• Finally, the Sipan-Huaca Rajada.  Discovered by huaqueros from Sipan, they were stopped before all tombs were looted, and the looters were trained to become excavators, researchers, and guards at the site, which now provides steady employment for many.    The Lord of Sipan was a major leader of the Moche people, and was buried surrounded by hundreds of gold, ceramic, and semiprecious mineral objects, as well as his wife, two girls, a boy, a military chief, a flag-bearer, two guards, two dogs and a llama.  In another tomb a priest was buried with a few children, a guardian whose feet were cut off, and a headless llama.  There are replicas in situ, while the originals are in the Museo described above.  

• Dinner at Restaurant Romana, where of course I ordered ceviche (Chiclayo is one of the best places for this on the coast), and my ceviche had no seafood, but some sort of dried and shredded meat cooked in lime juice - delicious.