Marian Johns' Journal of the Desert
Explorers trip to Peru in 2002
Images by John Page unless otherwise noted
Day 22, September
25, Wednesday
Chiclayo See Map
Sept. 25, Wednesday – Up early and out to breakfast at 7:00, but we couldn’t find any place open. Bought some pastries instead, and then on the way back, found that the restaurant right next door to the hotel had opened in the meantime. I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich and got baloney and cheese. Guess here in Chiclayo they call baloney, ham.
On the drive out to the site of Sipán, we missed a turn. Stopped a couple of times to ask for directions and eventually found our way back to the correct turn. That little detour cost us an extra hour.
Sipán, a site where Moche warrior-priests were buried, has replicas of the funerary goodies in situ – just like they were when excavated.
My UCLA thesis advisor, Christopher Donnan, was one of the archaeologists who excavated Sipán. I doubt that he would remember me, since he was only my advisor for a few weeks after my original advisor, Ralph Altman died. There is a little museum there also. I bought a $3 “Sipan – Peru” T-shirt there.
Next, we drove to Lambayeque to see the Brüning Museum where the actual, real treasures from the Royal Tombs of Sipán are (were) on display.
That was a disappointing turn of events. Seems the Sipán artifacts are being moved to their own Museum of the Tombs, which is scheduled to open October 3rd, a day after we return home. Luckily, I was able to see the Royal Tombs of Sipán show when it on tour at UCLA. I was overwhelmed by the richness and beauty of the gold, silver, inlaid, and beaded funerary apparel in which the Moche warrior-priests were buried. The Sipán treasures are, in my opinion, on a par with Egypt’s King Tut. Even though we missed the Sipán exhibit, the Brüning Museum was a worthwhile stop. There, we hired a pleasant, enthusiastic, English-speaking, local man to be our guide. He was pretty good even though he had a heavy accent.
When we asked our guide if he would take us to Tucumé (for an extra charge), he agreed.
It is an immense site with many huacas (adobe pyramids) that are slowly eroding away. We hiked up a nearby cerro (hill) to a view point overlooking the site.
He also took us to the new Sicán museum in Ferrañape which just opened last year.
The Sicán people were from a later culture than the Moche of Sipán. Their original capital was centered at Batan Grande, but when that site burned, they moved to Tucumé. The Batan Grande site, which is being excavated by a Japanese archaeological team, is not yet open to ordinary tourists. But the new museum is outstanding. The artifacts found at Batan Grande rival those of the Sipán tombs.
Back in Chiclayo, we had dinner right next door to the hotel – where we had breakfast. I had tallerin con pollo – noodles with chicken and veggies. It was good and plentiful; however, I was awake most of the night with the trots.
