Chiclayo
PERU
Ancient Tombs & Wasted Empañadas
By LYNDI
Saturday, February 14, 2008
Northern Peru has been called the “Egypt of the Americas” for good reason. For two weeks I traveled from city to town to city to see all the ruins of the ancient pre-Incan civilizations and still only scratched the surface. So after my fun in the sun in Mancora, I began my ruins exploring in Chiclayo – a city that doesn’t make it on too many backpackers’ itineraries, even though it’s the best base for exploring what is considered the “most important archaeological discovery of the past 30 years”.
I normally arrive into big cities expecting the usual – too much traffic, crowded sidewalks, rundown neighborhoods, and littered parks. Chiclayo, however, managed to evade all of these common disturbances. It was actually a really nice city – a beautiful Plaza de Armas, a well organized and clean market area, lots of restaurants for all budgets, and traffic signs that are obeyed rather than completely ignored. Having said that – it was still just a big city. Not being a really touristy destination has it’s ups and downs. The ups including no tour touts knocking on your hostel door begging you to come see the ruins with them, no touts following you from the bus station to make sure you stay at their hostel, etc. The downside meant that unless you were out seeing the ruins – there was absolutely nothing to do in town. No pizzerias, no pubs, no bars, not even any hostels. Meaning that I had to find a moderately priced hotel room that was cheap enough for me to afford – no easy undertaking. Luckily I was walking down a main street in town with my big blue backpack and a fellow American traveler spotted me (not hard to do) and led me to the hotel he had found. 25 soles per night for a private room with private shower and cable TV. Not a bad deal, but at the same time I was not convinced there weren’t roaches rearing their ugly heads when I turned out the lights. Oh well – I never saw them.
I didn’t do much on the Saturday that I arrived – I found an internet cafe and tried to get ahold of Aaron in Rio, but I found that my Portugese can be classified as “sucks really bad”, and the hotel reception ended up hanging up on me. So it was a quiet night, which was okay because I wanted an early start the next day to see the Museum of the Royal Tombs in nearby Lambayeque on Sunday.
I woke up around 6:30am the following day, took a cold shower, and headed out to find a collectivo bus to Lambayeque. I was carrying my small backpack with a guidebook and any valuables I had with me (since the hotel didn’t seem like the reputable type that would be above going through my things while I was away). I stopped by a little bakery, bought a few empañadas, and was walking along a quiet little road to the bus stop when I felt just the very slightest of tugs on my backpack. I whirled around to find a guy – maybe 21 years old – trying to unzip my backpack – walking no more than 5 inches behind me. Not only was I totally creeped out that this jerk was shadowing me – but I was furious! Not knowing nearly enough Spanish curse words, I yelled at him in the best Spanish I could as he ran off like a little schoolboy, something along the lines of “You thief! What do you think you’re doing! I hope you die! I hope your mother dies!” (Okay – fine – I get flustered when I find a guy trying to steal my stuff literally off my back). I also remember throwing my empañada at him – just so he would know he was messing with the wrong gringa.
So after that, the backpack was transferred to the front, and I remained completely paranoid for the next couple days. But! I arrived at the museum that I’d come all this way to see, and the creepy Peruvian was momentarily forgotten. An archaeologist, Walter Alva, discovered the complete tombs of the Lord of Sipán in 1987 – an extremely important find because it hadn’t been discovered by grave robbers first (very common) so all the gold, jewelry, and remains were completely intact, and because it was discovered so recently, they used the most recent technology and chemical sprays to ensure that the important discoveries didn’t deteriorate rapidly when exposed to air (like in Indiana Jones).
Completed in 2002, the museum itself is built to resemble an ancient Moche tomb and was laid out really well. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to go through the entire museum (Aaron would have killed me if he’d had to wait on me to finish reading every single information board), where they have the ancient jewelry on display as well as an exact replication of the tomb as it was found. This includes the actual Lord of Sipán, his wife and concubines, a child, a dog, some llamas, and some warriors (everyone except the Lord would have been basically buried alive – although put into a deep sleep before being sealed in).
At some point during my tour through the museum, I got to talking to an older couple from Piura in northern Peru. They were really interested in how I’d heard of the museum, how I’d gotten here, etc. After a bit of discussion, the lady gave me her earrings. As in – from her ears. Not from a little baggy or a pocket or anything. This was a first. I wasn’t really sure how to react, so I took the earrings out of my ears and gave them to her. She was quite pleased with my $2.99 Target special, so I’ll call it a fair – although odd – trade.
Since all museums and ruins are closed on Mondays – I was really bored the following day. I went to the market – again, totally paranoid, and staring down anybody that accidentally brushed me just so they’d know I was on to them – and found a book exchange and took about two hours to eat lunch just to kill time. Finally time was up and I gathered my things from my shady hotel and headed to the bus stop to continue my tour of Peruvian ruins in the highland town of Chachapoyas.
