Sept 29, Thursday
Got up at 9 am to have breakfast, then went to pick up my laundry. YEAH ! Clean clothes !
Also realized that I can get hot water in the morning, but not at night.The tour bus picked me up at my hotel at 10:30, as planned. There was a newlywed Peruvian couple, a young German guy and me. The driver then went to pick up the guide and we were almost off when he got a call to go pick up another passenger. We started driving north, which was strange since my map indicated we should be going south, and then east. The young couple questioned the guide because they were on the same tour I was, and so was the German guy. Turns out we were all on the right bus, but the driver was doing the wrong tour, and the guide just went along with the direction the driver was going as far as the content of his tour was concerned. The driver had to pull over and have a long discussion with the guide. We all pulled out our tickets to confirm that today was supposed to be the tour to Huaca Rajada – Sipán Archaeological site and museum, then travelling to Lambayeque to visit the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan, and the Bruning Museum. Only the last lady we picked up was scheduled to be on the other tour, and it turns out the only thing she really wanted to see was the Bosque de Pomac. So we turned around and headed back towards Chiclayo, to meet up with a car that would take the lady to the park, and the rest of us would stay on the bus and backtrack to Sipan. Talk about disorganized ! Half an hour later, we were back on track and heading to Huaca Rajada along a very bumpy paved road with sugar cane fields on both sides of the road. We only had 32 km to cover to get to the archaeological site, but the bus kept having to weave to avoid pot holes, and sugar canes that had dropped from the trucks, so it took a bit longer to get there. My girls really got tossed around! Very difficult to take any pictures on route, but I did manage to film a short portion just so I could remember the feel of that bus ride.
The archaeological site is really quite impressive. It has the feel of a real dig. Since my very first trip to Greece in 1974, I’ve dreamed of working on a dig. Maybe it can come true at some point. The site of Sipan was found in the 1920s, but they only found a raided tomb and gave up. In 1987, it was reopened for further investigation and they found a treasure trove ! El senor de Sipan. The richest tomb ever found in all of the Americas. A very rich governor was entered in a pyramid cemetery. As they continued to investigate they found more untouched tombs: one for the shaman of el senor de Sipán, one of a young soldier and the deepest one was the Ancient Senor de Sipán (Forensics confirm this was the Grand-father to El Senor). They figure that the tomb that had been raided earlier was probably the Father of El Senor. The dig of the cemetery is now partially protected by a covering structure, but the two main ceremonial pyramids are still being excavated. Unfortunately, La Nina is having devastating effects on the adobe structures. It just looks like an eroded hill.
Parts of it have been excavated to see what the foundations look like. The museum beside the site contains mostly reproductions of what was found. All the good stuff has been moved into a beautiful new museum (2002) in the town of Lambayeque, north of Chiclayo. So after we finished with the Huaca Rajada Sipan site, we drove back to Chiclayo and on to Lambayeque. It was really funny because we had been told that it was 15 km between the two cities, but both towns have grown into each other so it seemed like no time at all and we were there. 2 pm, time for lunch. We went to a local restaurant where we were encouraged to have their specialty dish: Duck and rice. It was quite good and moist for duck! Had some fruit juice to go with it. Forgot to write down the name ! Looked like mango but tasted quite different.
By three we were at the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan. No cameras allowed. No purses allowed. So I have no pictures to show you, but the artefacts were simply gorgeous. At least I have my pictures from the Gold Museum in Bogota. These were similar, but imagine seeing the reproduction of the tomb with all of the original artefacts in them. Mind blowing. Rich guy gets to take everything with him when he dies. Poor guy owns nothing, so is buried with nothing. They had pictures of every layer as they uncovered it, showing the condition they were found in. Then they displayed the re-assembled artefacts: gold nose decorations, earrings, head dresses, etc. Then the beaded necklaces, at least one foot wide and 30 or 40 strings of them woven together. The clothing they were wearing, the goods included in the tomb, as well as their servants, wife, concubines, animals, food, decorations, and on and on.
Ditto for the Sacerdote, the young soldier, and the Ancient Senor de Sipan. Pottery was included as well; either made of ceramic or moulded from wax (a lost art).
Truck carrying sugar canes for processing at local factory to make sugar.We were all dead on our feet, but there was still another museum to go, barely two blocks away El Museo de Heinrich Brunning; a German gentleman who acquired A LOT of artefacts but was also a famous photographer. It was past 5 o’clock by now and I had a major head ache from trying to understand all the technical explanations in Spanish. I was probably understanding less than half of what our guide was saying by then. The battery in my camera died and since we had not been allowed to bring in any purses, I did not have the other battery with me. The Peruvian couple just wanted to call it a day. The German had a bus to catch at 6:30. You get the picture ? Thank God the drive back to Chiclayo was short.
Had a cold shower to freshen up and I’m lying in bed with my feet up, trying to get a draft done of my blog for the day. I don’t think I’ll publish it tonight though. I need to review and revise.
Tomorrow will be another long day.
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