Chiclayo, Peru 🇵🇪
The bus was challenging, I had the front seat on the top deck for extra leg room but this also meant I could see all the roads and near misses! Between the curves in the road, the speed bumps and unsealed sections, I would compare it to spending 10hours on a plane in severe turbulence. When I arrive at my hotel, I am annoyed that they charge me for early check in but pay it to grab a couple of hours sleep.
From what I have read Chiclayo is a big city but not attractive or entertaining as others. I have booked on to a day tour to see Moche tombs discovered near the city, ultimately that of the ‘Lord of Sipán. Our first stop is Huaca Rajada in the village of Sipán, where they discovered the tombs of this lord, an older one and a priest among 13 tombs excavated so far in this one pyramid.
The discovery was made in the late 1980s when looters were caught at the site and stopped. The archaeologists then started excavating and found the Lord of Sipán first. From the Moche period around 600AD, he was buried with all his glistening ceremonial clothes and belongings. He died of natural causes but sacrificed to travel with him to the afterlife were his main wife, two concubines, a military leader, a guardian (with his feet cut off so he could not leave), a banner carrier (so everyone makes way for the lord), a dog (to lead the way), a 8yr old child (to open the door), a watchman and two llamas to transport all these belongings to the afterlife. The tomb itself is a perfect 5m cube shape with the lord presented in a central Carab coffin.
The other tombs have similar structures and sacrifices. That of the priest has the gruesome story of a woman positioned face down try to get up as evidence that she woke from the poison to find she was buried alive.
We stop for lunch before heading to see another site in the area where they have found 26 pyramids surrounding a mountain, all waiting to be investigated but showing that different lords would have ruled each region.
Our final stop is the museum, here we see all the artefacts that have been discovered in the tombs. There is a huge amount of jewelry and ornaments, which included headdresses, face mask, a pectoral, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings (massive circular discs inlayed with turquoise). Most of the ornaments were made of gold, silver, copper and semi-precious stones. There is lots of pieces but the detail is incredible, from the banners that had characters that would move to the thousands of seashells used to bead the necklaces. There are also thousands of pots, carrying food for the journey to the afterlife. The bodies of the 2 lords and priest are also here, fabulous museum and unbelievable insight into a period thousands of years ago.
