Wednesday

Today was the highlight of the northern portion of the trip for me. We started fairly early in the morning for the drive to the actual site of Sipan where the richest tomb of the Americas was discovered in 1987. The original discovery started with tomb looters finding incredible gold and silver items from a small location of Huaca Rajada, also known as Sipan. Dr. Walter Alva, of the nearby Bruning museum in Lambayeque, was called for assistance and once he saw a small portion of the looted goods he was able to stop the looting, start an excavation and enlist the people of the area in uncovering and saving their ancestry.

I saw the exhibit of items from the Lord of Sipan when it traveled to UCLA in 1994 before I took my first trip to South America. The items are comparable to the items from the Tutankamon tomb and are just incredible. The items came from three additional (other than the looted tomb) discovered at the site. To date there have been 15 tombs of various ages discovered. Gold nose rings, incredible earrings with miniature warriors with removable weapons 1.5 inches high, silver and gold back flaps and bells, an incredible owl headress of the priest, stuff very hard to describe in words. It was very interesting to see the actual site and notice how few people were there. We are a group of 12 and there might have been 12 others there. The 15th tomb is about 40 feet below the level of the first tomb.

We then went to lunch in Chiclayo late, around 2:30, and finally arrived at the new museum, opened in 2007, that houses the items from the tombs. The museum is a pyramid shaped building and you enter the exhibits from the top, traveling down through the layers of the 3 tombs. Just fantastic items and great displays. Again there were few people. Not at all crowded like the Tut exhibits in the states. There were several manniquins that had replicas of the items and it was great to see how they would have looked originally. The biggest disappointment was the gift shop. We were guessing that since most of the people that visit this museum were school children, the demand for high quality replicas was not supported by the visitors. Several of us were very disappointed. But to overcome that we actually saw Dr. Alva on the grounds, and since Pepe, our guide, had worked for 4 months in the Museum of the Nation in Lima on the Sipan exhibit and had met Dr. Alva before, we were introduced and got to speak to him briefly, thanking him for his work. His words were to tell people to come to Peru and see the exhibit. Dr. Alva was at the museum to coordinate the visit of the Peruvian president tomorrow.

Tomorrow we get up very early, 4 am, to go to the airport, fly to Lima and then on to Cusco. The northern portion of the journey is at an end. Now we get to face the traditional tourist traps and make us yearn for the quiet of the north.

Tuesday

For all of you wondering where the pictures are, they will be posted once I get back to the states. I did not bring my laptop to process the pictures (make them a good size for web viewing) because I did not want to lug it around, especially since the last time I took it to a foreign country and went to high altitude the hard drive crashed. I have been taking lots of pictures and will certainly revise the posts once I get home.

Today we went to two incredible sites, Huaca de la Luna and Chan Chan. Huaca de la Luna is part of the Moche civilization and is being excavated by one of the local Peruvian beer brewerys. It is a very big temple and you wander around until you get to the back side where there is this incredible wall with six or seven steps, each with repeating images. Each step, about 6 feet high, was of one image such as bird, snake, feline, warrior, and lords holding hands. They were made of mud plastered over adobe bricks and then molded into the shapes and painted with up to 8 colors. We saw some of the restorers working and it appeared they were trying to remove the grime from the painted surfaces. It was spectacular.

We went to lunch in Huanchaco on the beach where the locals fish from the reed boats about the size of surf boards they call caballitos or little horses. We had lunch in a great restaurant overlooking the waves and the surfers. The ocean temperature is about what it is off the coast in Ventura, so the surfers had wet suits. The temperature was just beautiful and I felt so comfortable, just as in Ventura. Walking the beach we encountered a man making tiny replicas of the boats there on the beach for 3 soles, about $1. I bought one (it was about 8 inches long) and we also received a souvenier one from the restaurant only 3 inches long.

After lunch we went to Chan Chan, the largest adobe complex in the Americas. The complex included 9 palaces and numerous residential areas. We saw one of the smallest palaces and it probably covers a 2 block by 3 block area. The complex was many square miles. There were not a lot of artifacts found on the site because the Spanish had already looted the graves. Just amazing how big and complicated these places were. This is a Chimu civilization site.

Tomorrow is the grandaddy of all sites - Sipan, the only unlooted royal tomb discovered in Peru. I saw the exhibit when it was at UCLA in 1994 and I am anxious to see the new museum that has been built for this discovery. After tomorrow we leave the north coast of Peru and head to Cusco and Inca country. But tomorrow, Moche and Sipan. I am excited.

Monday

Today was the long bus ride. We started the day with a 5:30 am wake up call, mandatory, breakfast at 6 and leave at 6:30. We had to go back to Barranca on the coast instead of going directly to Casma because they were working on the road from 6 am to 6 pm. There was one more "acceptable" route but it had 26 one lane tunnels. Ron wanted to take that one because we have two drivers as required by Peruvian law and the second one could help us back up when there was another car coming. But we went the long way, about 150 miles and maybe 4 to 5 hours longer than the one we originally planned to use. We only made one stop to Sechin today to see a reconstruction by archeologists of an old temple, 1600 BC, with carved rocks on the face, the first one I have seen in Peru. There were two types of people depicted, the winners and the losers. The winners generally had weapons and big hats and open eyes and the losers had just body parts and/or closed eyes. There was also many stones with depictions of body parts such as eyes, ears, intestines, arms, legs, heads and spines.

We arrived in the hotel in Trujillo just before 7 pm. Had we gotten here after 7 pm Pepe, our guide, would have bought us all a pisco sour. But the hotel gave us coupons for free pisco sours. After dinner it is time to sleep.

Sunday

Today we went to Llanganuco Lake, only 100 km but 3 hours away. We stopped in the town of Yunguy I believe to use the bathrooms, and while we were wandering the people were making pictures on the streets of the central plaza with flower petals for Corpus Christi. We stayed an extra 10 minutes until the procession came out of the church and walked over the images.

The lake was a glacier runoff lake and very beautiful. There was a guy with a llama with colorful tassels on, and most of us took pictures with the llama and then gave the man 1 sole each, about 35 cents. We then sat down and had lunch. On the way back we stopped in old Yunguy to see the damage caused by the mudslide after the earthquake in 1970. 30,000 people were buried in the slide. The town is mostly rebuilt, but there are still places you can see where the slide ran. I'm now ready to go into Huaraz for a massage and dinner. Tomorrow we get up very early as we have a 10 hour bus ride to Trujillo.

Saturday

We went to Chavin today, thought to be the oldest remains in Peru until Caral was discovered recently. The hardest part of the trip was the bus ride to there. Only 150 km but 4 hours each way. We went through the valley that Huaraz lies in and then turned east to go over the continental divide. We first stopped just outside Huaraz to take pictures of some kilns along the side of the road. They were making bricks for construction. Local mud and wood chips, dried in the sun for 2 to 3 days, and then stacked in the kiln and fired for 4 days and 4 nights. 1000 bricks cost 540 soles, around $200. Not sure how many bricks you need for one of the small houses they have here.

We then stopped at the top of the pass close to 14,000 feet high, really a tunnel 500 meters long. On the other side of the tunnel was a statue of Jesus Christ and further down the road we stopped at the entrance to Huascaran National Park to see a lake and use the bathrooms. Then it was back on the bus to the town just outside the ruins of Chavin for lunch. We spent about 2 hours at the ruins and got back to the hotel at 8pm. A couple of folks walked into town but most of us had dinner in the hotel. Tomorrow we start at 8am and we are told the bus ride won't be quite so long, hopefully getting back by 5pm, maybe even 4pm so we can go to the thermal baths just up the street. A very tiring day riding on the bus, but it was interesting as well.

Friday

No computer access yesterday. We left Lima and went to Caral, a relatively recent discovery that is 5,000 years old. They are still excavating it and there was hardly anyone at the site. That was the best part. Pictures will be posted once I get back, or if I can figure out how to make the pictures sized correctly on the computers here. We then drove to the town of Barranca and stayed at a basic hotel. Towels were like kitchen towels and the traffic noise was extreme.


Today, Friday, we left Barranca for the highlands and the town of Huaraz, mostly a trekkers haven. We are staying just a bit outside the town limits at a really pleasant and quiet hotel. Some of us went to the hot springs just up the street, but I can definetly feel the altitude, here about 9,600'. We stopped along the road for a bano break and the wind was blowing and I got knocked over after I squatted. I bruised my elbow and pride but otherwise I'm fine. We stopped at another small ruin before turning up the river valley to the mountains but there was no official entry point and I don't remember the name. We have been getting along great and it is a group of 10 women, 2 men and 1 guide (male). More tomorrow as people are waiting to check their email accounts.

Wednesday

The tour officially started today and we started off with a general meeting of everyone at 10:30. Two of the folks did not receive the word about the meeting and I only got lucky by seeing a note near the elevator. But Pepe sounds like a great tour guide and the group appears very interesting. We then all walked down to have lunch at a Cafe on the park a couple of blocks away and got to know each other.

2:30 was the first scheduled outing - a trip to the Archeological museum. I think I am just about museumed out for a few days, this is the 4th one to walk through. Then I made a quick trip to the supermarket for crackers and water and 4 of us went to Tiendacita Blanca for dinner. It was great fun and great food. I heard also the hot water ran out this morning around 8am and was so glad I had decided to take my shower in the evening. We leave tomorrow for Barranca and Caral, a site that is 5,000 years old. Bus ride should not be too long tomorrow.