Tuesday, June 10th, 2003 – Day 112
Sixty people including foreigners were kidnapped in Eastern Peru last night. News about here from here and here. According to one report there is a resurgence of the Shining Path in eastern Peru.
Tucume Mochica – Chimu archaeological center
I got at 9.30am and asked the hotel to my mind my bags until my bus departs at 8.30pm tonight. Lonely planet has information on Tucume. Colectivos leave from Av. Angamos between Naturaleza and Pardo in Chiclayo (a 45-min. ride), though they the town is at least 1.5 miles from the site. The cost was 2.50 Soles. Signs point to the site, but you can look for a taxi or mototaxi if you want. The town itself was uninteresting.
“Tucume Mochica – Chimu archaeological center, is located 33 km. (200 miles) north of Chiclayo, very near to the town of Tucume. This pre-Inca city, flourished among the XII and XIII centuries; outstanding 26 pyramidal huacas made of adobe, the walled enclosures and big cementeries. One of their pyramids measure 400 m. lenght, 100 m. width and 35 m. height, with a similar volume to the big pyramids of Egypt. It was constructed by the Sic?n civilization around A.D. 1000 and developed over a period of nearly 500 years. The site was settled and enlarged by the Chim? culture in the 14th century and, finally, occupied by the Incas. T?cume was the most important elite urban center of the region and is considered the last great capital of the Lambayeque culture
It was the center of an essentially marine culture, this is deduced for the friezes founded in their walls with marine decorations and shells that only come from Ecuador and Panama. Their investigators have found remains of plants, feathers of tropical birds and semiprecious stones that are nonexistent in the region, which demonstrates that they had a great commercial net and that they were big navigators.The navigator and investigator Thor Heyerdhal carried out up to 1,992 investigations in Tucume”.
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Tucume – Peru – The Taken on the road between tucume and the site museum. Donkey business. (10-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Tucume – Peru – The Taken on the road between tucume and the site museum. Doing the straw. (10-06-2003)
You can wander freely around the maze of courtyards and pyramids and even scale several of them, which are still being excavated and together present an enigmatic desert ensemble. The T?cume complex’s stunning size, more than a mile long in each direction (a total of 81 acres), is more impressive than any individual structure. I walked on Route A to a mirador site.
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Tucume – Peru. it took about 20 minutes to walk up to this viewing point. Doesn’t make much sense until you look at the aerial picture below. (10-06-2003)
There were some good views but because of erosion it diminishes the view. I found the following aerial picture to show you the scale of the complex.
There is also a museum here (entrance 7 Soles) called “Museo de Sitio Tucume” which exhibits photographs of the excavations and discusses the involvement of a Norwegian explorer, the late Dr. Thor Heyerdahl, who sought to connect ancient Peruvian culture to that of Polynesia. (He sailed a balsa-wood craft called the Kon Tiki from Peru to the Polynesian islands.) Heyerdahl was the director of the 1989 to 1994 T?cume Project, which carried out excavations at the site. Also on-site are a handicrafts-and-ceramics workshop and a snack shop. Spend about two hours here and took a mini-van (2 soles) to get to Lambayeque
It is a small city located at 12 km. (7.45 miles) north of Chiclayo, colonial constructions, old capital of the department of Lambayeque. The main reason I came here is to visit the Bruning Museum or “Museo Arquelogico National Bruning de Lambayque”.
It has a great collection of ceramic and metallic pieces, fabrics and jewels, of the pre-Incas regional cultures. Up to last year the modern Museo Arqueol?gico Brüning was the undisputed highlight of this small and dusty town that was once considerably more important than Chiclayo but has long since been overtaken by it. I walked around the town for 20 minutes and saw the plaza and church. I asked for directions to the museum. The entrance was 7 Soles with an option of paying an additional 15 to get an English speaking guide. I spent about an hour in the museum (which was empty apart from myself). They didn’t mind my taking photographs.
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Bruning Museum (10-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Bruning Museum (10-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Bruning Museum (10-06-2003)
I had heard about the Lord of Sipan exhibition but see any indication it was here. I asked and they told me all the Sipan material had been moved to a new museum about 5 blocks away. This museum has been build to hold “El Se?or de Sip?n (The Lord of Sipan)”.
Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan
He was a very important Mochican warrior priest, which remains were founded in Huaca Rajada by Dr. Walter Alva in 1987. In his tomb were discovered a great quantity of gold and silver objects, jewels, ceramics and carved wood of incredible value. This investigation had given archaeologists the chance to know many more aspects of the Mochican Culture.In the main tomb was found a guard, skeleton of a young man with a golden shield and sectioned feet.
“El Se?or de Sip?n” (The Lord of Sipan), was founded in a sarcophagus made of wood (this is the first event founded in America), next to his head were the skeleton of two young women, and at his sides a skeleton of a dog and two lamas. He was all covered with gold, silver and copper, chest protector with jewels and gold necklaces. His skull rested on a big golden plate. Very close to this tomb, in 1989, some investigators of the Brüning Museum discovered the tombs of “El Sacerdote” (The Priest), and the tomb of “El Viejo Se?or de Sip?n” (The Old Lord of Sipan).
The tomb of the “Viejo Se?or de Sip?n” (Old Lord of Sipan) is chronologically older, and with difference among the others, was found a sarcophagus without company and wrapped in vegetal fiber. It had signs of royal importance, dressed with gold scepter, fine gold and silver jewels, chest protectors made with pearl shells, peculiar and unique pictures.
This fabulous and extraordinary collection had been exhibited in the principal museums of the world and in the capital of Peru, Lima. The investigators that found these tombs are in continuous discoveries. The site where the Lord of Sip?n was discovered in 1987, this Moche burial ground 35km (22 miles) from Chiclayo was overlooked by archaeologists for decades. Grave robbers, who’d beaten scientists to countless other valuable sites in Peru, had just begun to loot the ones here, tipping off Peruvian archaeologist Dr. Walter Alva to the presence of the tomb in time to save it. The Sip?n sarcophagus held greater riches than any other found to date in Peru and, today, is recognized as one of the most outstanding of the Americas. The twin adobe pyramids, connected by a platform, held five royal tombs. The most elaborate was that of El Se?or de Sip?n; deeper still was the tomb of an older spiritual leader, now referred to as El Viejo Se?or”.
This museum only opened in November 2002 and has still to make it to most (even the most recent) guidebooks. It was 7 Soles in and it looks great from the outside. You can not bring bags orcameras in and must deposit them in a room outside the main building. i was asked twice whether I had a camera. I told a white lie and said I didnt. No need as there is security in all rooms and its impossible to take any shots. Some pictures taken from the web follow. This will be a MUST see in all future visits to Peru and I believe will be highligted as such in guidebooks, websites over the coming year. Its a fantastic museum both in structure and content. While text is in Spanish the visuals (computer anmation, drawings, pictorials) are so good, you wont be disapponted. The best museum in Peru if not South America. More information here .
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Viejo Se?or de Sipan (10-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Viejo Se?or de Sip?n (10-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Lambayeque – Peru – Viejo Se?or de Sip?n (10-06-2003)
I got back to town around 5.0pm. I went on the net for an hour and then had dinner. Half a chicken and chips with side salad and bottle of Pepsi was 13.50 Soles. I really like this town. Bright, happy place where people seem pretty happy with their lot. No begging or touts. Nice buzz around with great market. I never saw so many photographic (Kodak) shops in one town. there must have 20 to 30 on San Jose street alone. I could easily stay here an extra day or two. People here were also interested here to make conversation and I no body body objected to me making their photo. They were delighted to see the results on the digital cameras viewfinder screen.
Anyway, I got to the bus station around 8.00pm and it left pretty much on time at 8.30pm. A good view stops and I drifted in and out of sleep during the journey. I would have slept alot more if a kid (around 8 years) didn’t keep jabbing me with his foot and arm every 20 minutes as he tried to get some sleep. It was hot and stuffy and easily drank the 2 litre bottle of coke during the journey.
Wednesday, June 11th, 2003 – Day 113
Damn, I was awoken at 4.20 AM by people getting off. We had arrived early. I blame the perfection that is the Pan-American highway. It was still dark and the boarder two minutes away would not open until 8.00am. I could have asked the driver permission to stay and sleep on the bus (which is standard practice in South America) but there station was not enclosed but on a dark side street. There were some touts trying to take advantage of the weary although I was the only gringo tourist on board. I had expected more. He had perfect English and was trying to get me to the boarder etc. saying it was a dangerous area. Spent 5 minutes trying to get my head together and ignored him. Asked a moto driver (1 Sole) to take me to the Plaza de Armas and a hote. No restaurants etc were open and I was not to wait in the deserted streets for a few hours. The first hotel was 40 Soles. I must be coming a cheap skate backpacker as I refused and I asked him was there any place cheaper. He directed me to a hostel. I woke the attendant and asked the price. He said 20 Soles which I thought too expensive for three or four hours. I asked him to recommend some place cheaper and he directed me to a dreary doss house across the road called Hostal Sud America. I woke the owner and asked the price, which was only 10 Soles. He showed me the VERY basic room which was concrete floor and hard bed which was clean. I said fine and paid. I drifted in and out of sleep until 8.40am. I could bare the heat and the toilets were no respite so I went to a NET cafe for 30 minutes figuring out how to cross this notorious border without getting ripped off my taxi drivers and the police.
See one such account from here: I have truncated it below. More from the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree.
“I took an overnight bus to Tumbes, a city near the border with Ecuador. I arrived in a flooded Tumbes at 4:30 am. I was immediately mobbed by taxi drivers wanting to bring me to the border some 40 km away. I couldn’t see the wisdom in crossing the border in the dark and was pissed off by the huge sums the infamous Tumbes taxi mafia demanded. With my pathetic Spanish, I convinced the bus driver in allowing me to stay on the bus till daylight lest I get robbed in this notoriously unsafe border town.
The next few hours were a most miserable episode for me. It was impossible to sleep as I was afraid of muggers coming up the bus or people stealing my luggage. The rain got heavier and I suddenly woke up realising that the bus had a leaking roof which formed a huge puddle of water round my backpack. My backpack was completely wet! What’s worse, the rain didn’t get lighter and by 7:30am, the bus driver made it clear that his hospitality was about to end. So I left the bus in heavy rain for the place where collectivos ( a kind of mini bus) were supposed to gather. Unfortunately, I waited for a while and none appeared. I decided to flag for a cab, and when it did stop, a teenager appeared from nowhere to open the door and said something quick to the driver. For a silly moment, I thought he was trying to be helpful but found the driver surprisingly unreceptive to any bargaining for the price. Desparate by then and totally drenched, I accepted the ridiculous US$10 demanded, and as I stepped into the cab, watched with amazement the driver throwing a few coins into the teenager’s open palms. The latter had been paid a commission for doing nothing except for rushing to speak to the driver before I did, and I was the one who paid for his commission in the form of higher taxi fares. And guess what, a collectivo followed shortly but too late now!
After thirty minutes, we reached the Peruvian border checkpoint where I got my passport examined by an official. Again I was surrounded by the usual crowd of money changers and self-appointed “nice guys” who gave you unsolicited advice which you wouldn’t need in the first place, for the sake of an equally unsolicited commission. Totally paranoid and equally frustrated with the rain, I shouted at all of them to f–k off. When I returned to my taxi with my stamped passport, one of these idiots actually invited himself onto the front seat to volunteer to “help me” to cross over to the Ecuadorian side. I had to force him out by threatening to call the police. How mad I was!
The actual border river was supposedly 5 km away and after a few minutes of driving towards there, we encountered a traffic jam. The taxi driver now claimed that beyond that wall one hundred meters away was the border itself and I should walk there since it could take ages to clear this jam. I was conned again. I got off the taxi with my luggage in the rain and soon found that the border was nowhere near. What was beyond that wall were two hundred meters of muddy track which ended at a bridge which was in the process of being washed away by a flooded river. As I approached the bridge, I was mobbed by people either volunteering to help me carry my backpack for a fee or row me across on a canoe. Fired with pure anger and frustrations, I simply brushed everybody aside and shouted at these sticky touts. Another three hundred meters through the streets of Agua Verde, the Peruvian border town, I was finally on the actual border with Ecuador. By the time I walked into the Ecuadorian border town of Huaquillas on the other side of the border river, I looked dirtier, wetter and more miserable than any point of my journey, or indeed of all my past journeys. When people from a bus company told the obvious lie that their bus to Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city) was air conditioned and won’t stop along the way, I paid for the ticket anyway, as I no longer had the energy to contest the sales gimmick I just wanted to get out of there!”
I walked back to the doss house around 9.00am and grabbed my bags. As it says in the Lonely Planet you can get a collective from the corner of Bolivar and Piura. I though maybe a min’van but just cars presestn. I waited and listened as three respectable lads and a couple got into the car. I followed and overheard the price ws 2 Soles. Fine, it was a bargain for the 20 km journey to Aguas Verdes. He left me off at Peru Immigration (3 km before town) to get stamped out. as he was not a taxi, he left. Took about 20 minutes to get my tourist car and passport stamped. Too different parts of the office so make sure to get both stamped. Went outside ignoring all the touts as I picked a Moto driver to take me to ¨Friendship Bridge¨and the border (2 Soles). He can only bring you within 100m and you mst walk through a crowded market to cross the bridge. Beware of pickpockets. Once past the bridge the town is now Huaquillas (they use Dollars here). You have a few choices to get to Ecuador immigration 4 km outside town. You can (1) Walk the 4km straight out the main road (2) Get a taxi for 1.25 US or (3) Find a bus to Machala (on the way to Quito) and ask them to drop you off and wait for you while you get your passport stamped. I tried three but waved down a bus. They must have though I only wanted a lift to the post so they told me to F&//( off and get a taxi. Make sure to tell them you will continue with them to Machala. Anyway I took a taxi, spent only 5 minutes gettng my Passport stamped and getting my T3 tourist card. Got stamped in for 90 days. Walked outside and waved down a post to Machala for 2.50 US. Took 1.5 hours and we were stopped by Police and Military checking bags and documents. Got to Machala about 3.00pm and walked to the Pan America bus company. It takes about 10 hours to get to Quito so I bought a ticket to leave at 9.30pm tonight. I have taken 3 night buses over the past 4 days (only 1 bed to speak off during my night in Chiclayo). I do not count this mornings bed.
Spend the rest of the day walking around this town. A big commercial city but not pretty. Net access is about 1 US an hour.
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Tumbes – Peru – Post Modern Inca Plaza Mural 🙂 (11-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Machala – Peru (11-06-2003)