Sept 30, Friday

Sept 30, Friday

Tour bus arrived at 10:30 and this time not too many problems.   Full bus today:   Older couple from Lima, middle aged couple from somewhere in the middle of Peru, lady in her 40s also Peruvian, young couple who speak Spanish but kept to themselves.   We were going in the right direction to visit El Museo de Sicán, and the Túcume archaeological site, but it turns out they were not going to take us to El Bosque de Pomac, but were doing the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán! ! ?      Yes !   the one I saw yesterday ! ! ?   I guess it doesn’t matter what ticket they sell you at the Information Kiosk,  they seem to just go where they want.    Still, they were hitting the two areas I really wanted to see and I figured I could do something else while they were touring the museum I had already seen.

Forgot to mention that this morning, I woke up with a lot of pain in my rib area, and I figured it was from all the bouncing around on the bus yesterday.  Well, I was partially right.  It was my underwire bra that had rubbed against my rib bones and as soon as the jolting started again today, I realized I should have worn one of my sports bras.  OOOOUUUUCH !   

The Museo de Sicán, which is located in the town of Ferreñafe, was extraordinary.  Similar in some ways to the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, but at least in this one we could take pictures.   One of the skulls had some strange red colouring.  The guide explained that the Mochis used sulphur of mercury based cream to paint part of their face red.  Turns out this stuff not only got into their skin, but all the way into their bones !   A lot of the skeletons found on the site had most of their teeth intact = sign of richness since they did not eat coarse grains.  

Found out that “Huaca” means pre-Inca.   They may refer to the “lord” of Sipán, however they were most likely governors within a specific region.   As of 1975 Peru instituted a law to stop the plundering of archaeological sites.   They started studying the Sicán site in 1978 but most of the great finds started in 1995, and were located between 5 to 12 meters deep.   The use of radar facilitated finding objects underground and then digging down to find them.   A lot better than the “hit and miss” approach. 
Some of the artefacts they found were oxidized gold leaf, and they had to leave the objects as is since attempting to clean them would have destroyed the metal.   There was a lot of ceramic as well, both terra cotta coloured and black.  The black ceramic required a hotter firing and therefore only the rich owned these.   

They took the skull of “El Senor de Sicán” and did a scientific build of what he would have looked like, just like they do in forensic studies to identify remains. Quite spooky to think that a skull from 1050 AD could now have a real face linked to it.

Some of the tomb treasures (above)  were even identified as coming from what is now Ecuador.  Isn’t science amazing.    Also realized today that the Sipán site were Mochica,  the Sicán site were Lambayeque, the Chan Chan site I will be visiting in Trujillo is Chimu, just as the Cusco site were Inca.

We had lunch in Ferreñafe, this time I ate cabrito (goat , or young goat) and drank some non-fermented “Chicha de jora” (juice made from corn).  Next time I have to try the fermented one !    By 2 pm we were back on the road, driving north again to the town of Pitipo, and then cut across to the west along what appeared to be a new gravel road along a new drainage canal.   They will use this new canal to irrigate their fields.   Again, mostly sugar cane, some corn, and rice.   RICE ?   That requires a lot of water !   Well it turns out that’s the plan.  West of this location is a lake (not sure if it is natural or manmade) called Represa Tinajones, and they will use the canals to bring water from the lake to the fields.  
We drove by the entrance to the Bosque de Pomac, and reached Túcume. The site is HUGE and contains a number of pyramids. I use the term pyramid lightly because although they originally had the shape of Mexican pyramids, the outside walls were built of adobe and the inside filled with debris. The bricks were then covered with a rubbed on adobe finish to give it a stucco type smooth finish. Well adobe, as you know, is not stone, so the pyramids eroded fairly quickly once they were abandoned. 

They look like strange hills now, popping up on the flat plains that are between the Pacific Ocean and the beginning of the Andes.   The site is still being explored, and many areas are covered over to protect the digs.  We could not enter these areas, but I did manage to stick my camera in between the woven reed screens and take a few pictures.

We climbed up to the Mirador of what`s left of the biggest pyramid and were able to take some great photos.   Could not stay long, since the rest of the group wanted to see the last Museum. 

It was only a short drive to Lambayeque and I decided to rest in the bus while the group visited the museum.   Back in Chiclayo at 6:30, in all the traffic.   Most drivers I’ve seen in cars and taxis are men and it seems that their brains are automatically connected to the horn on their car because they honk away at anything and everything.  

Had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant:  some type of thick white fish (the waitress had no idea what type of fish it was !) with a baked on crust of pico-de-galo, served with avocado, hearts of palm and shredded carrots, cucumber and something else I could not identify.  It was all delicious.   Skipped dessert and I’m back in my room relaxing for the evening.