Chachapoyas - Kuelap

Tuesday 26/6 - CHACHAPOYAS (day1)
Visit to the Kuelap ruins.

Arrived quite fit in Chachapoyas, the VIP class night bus was comfortable. Quickly found a good hostel on the Plaza de Armas, took a (cold) shower, and could book the tour for the famous Kuelap ruins. The tour was leaving few minutes later.

It is a long road to Kuelap and most of it is on dust road. A first stop was in Maria where we had to make our choices for the lunch, and then we continued for the parking at the end of the road. After paying the entrance fee, 20 minutes walk uphill brought us to top of the mountain, where the ruins are.

The restaurant for lunch in Maria.

End of the road, start of the 20 minutes slippery trail to the Kuelap ruins.

There ruins are massive! Two walls encircle the old town. These walls are about 12 meters high and as thick as high. The lime stones come from the valley, 10 days walking away. There stone volume is three times more than the largest Egyptian pyramids (Cheops). There are three narrow gates with a steep gangway to access the town.

One of the gates in the outer wall.

The outer wall.

The steep stairs in the gate.

The circular houses, there are 600 of those.

The dream team (but me)

In the town there are 600 family houses, all are round and have in the center a cellar where they kept two mommies (probably the ancestral family father and mother). This people enjoyed war-games, they continuously fight with other communities or to a common enemy. After having fight the common enemy they started fighting between each other again.

Finally the Incas took the town, after having modified the water-flow of the river in the valley.

Of course, these ruins are not as nice and romantic as Machu Picchu, but they are overwhelming by the size.

We arrived at 3:30PM back in Maria for the lunch, local kitchen, 3€ including drink.

Back in Chachapoyas I took another shower (hot this time) mandatory because of the dust and the rain. Used clothes went directly to the laundry service.

Back in Chachapoyas, Plaza de Armas.

For diner I went to a recommended chicken restaurant (Peruvians are fond of chicken meat), but they were sold out. I'Il not revisit them a second time.

 

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Chiclayo II

Monday 25/6 - CHICLAYO II

- the archeological site of Sipán (Huaca Rayada)
- the Bruning museum
- the Shaman market

The treasures found in the Mochica burial tumulus of Sipán are those presented in the world-class museum 'Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán ", visited yesterday.
The archeological site of Sipán is located 35km south of Chiclayo, whereas the corresponding museum is located in Lambayeque, some 10km north Chiclayo.  Strange!
As the musuem closes on Monday I had to do these visits in an odd order...
 
The king of Sipán was buried in a piramide. Over time, the mud bricks build piramides deteriorated into hills, not the obvious to recognize in the desert landscape.

The driver prefers the (abandoned) railway bridge.

 The tumulus.

Owl living in the ruins.

In some places one can distinguish the original mud bricks

(those in the center are from the excavation period).

The disappointing on-site museum.  The two museums of Lambayeque

(that of yesterday and 'Bruning') are much more interesting.

Souvenir stalls selling phantasmatic items.

I didn't see similar objects in the museums!

In front of the Bruning Museum (Lambayeque).

Some of the potery.

An original design for trafic lights.

The Shaman market of Chiclayo.

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Chiclayo I

CHICLAYO I

- Lambayeque: Tumbas Reales de Sipan' museum
- Pimentel: beach

This time Cruz del Sur was OK. The bus from Lima reached the terminal of Chiclayo as foreseen at 8:30 AM (Sunday 24/06/2012)

Chiclayo, 500 000 inhabitants, the most dynamic Peruvian town I've seen until now. It looks as if they are rebuilding and reworking everything. The nearby 'Moche' ruins becoming a kind of second Machu Picchu attraction?

Chiclayo, Plaza de Armas

A helpful taxi driver demonstrated that my three prefered hotels were converted in shopping centers, and finally brought me to another place where I reached a firm discount and he his commission. Internet works fine here, the room is clean.

I took the collectivo to Lambayeque to visit the extraordinary 'Tumbas Reales de Sipan' museum, hosting the treasures found 25 years ago in one of their pyramids.
'Le guide du routard' travel guide book considers this as the nicest museum of Peru. And I agree.

Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan (Lambayeque)

  

The outside of the building is a free fantasy on the architecture of the original pyramids. A soft outside slope brings the visitor to the entrance door on the top floor: Moche culture (they lived around 1000 years ago), models of their pyramids, their gods, nice ceramics, a theater. The floor below illustrates the archaeological work, the treasures found in the tombs. The ground floor shows realistic real size reconstructions of the tombs in the pyramid, and the original skelets.

The kings were buried with their family and servants, all must die when the king died. The organization inside the tombs (big cavities) respects the hierarchy and the role. Also a lama or alpaca was present in each of the tumbs..

Even if all is exclusively documented in Spanish language, the exhibition is that nice and well presented, such that most of it is self explaining.  Pictures are unfortunately stricly forbidden, cameras and phones are confiscated at the entrance.

Back with collectivo to Chiclayo and then another collectivo for Pimentel.

In Pimentel they still practice a fishing method with little bamboo boats. They just returned from the ocean and the fishermen and fisherwomen sold part of the catched fish. Nearly no tourists over there.

A nice basic restaurant on the beach (Restaurant El Langostino) in front of the pier drew my attention and I enjoyed a fishsoup and fish dish plus two Cusco beers.

Tomorrow I'll visit the pyramide from the museum (these are not from hard stone but from clay bricks) and I'll probably take the local night bus for Chachapoyas.

It will be more difficult to find internet there.




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Lima

LIMA

Today in Lima, as Annelies must return to Marseille.

For us quick sampling visit of Lima, including the Inquisition Museum, lunch with the nuns at "l'Eau Vive", and a ride to the airport.
After Annelies' checkin procedures, I rushed to the Bus Terminal to catch my bus to the North of Peru.

Loby of our backpacker hostal... not bad (for 10US$/p/n).

Cathedral on the Plaza Major.

Official Buildings on the Plaza Major.

Archbishopical Palace on the Plaza Mayor.

Confusion:

the policeman get's the instruction to announce to the public a further delay of 20 minutes for the parade in front of the Presidential Palace

(immediately after, while he makes that announcement, the parade starts...).

Discipline:

This policeman, supposed to control the public, insteasd watched the parade

almost all the time.  Sure he must suffer from pain in the neck now.

Inquisition museum.

"l'Eau Vive", French nun's restaurant in Lima (also found in Noumea).

Very tasty chicken and rabbit, prepared by the nuns.

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Nazca Lines revisited

Friday 22/6 - Nazca lines revisited

Before taking the bus Nazca-Lima, we found time to revisit the lines from the mirador.

The tree.

The hands (4 and 5 fingers).

Hollanders... die vind je inderdaad overal.

(difficult to translate from Dutch into English).

Awaiting collectivo or bus along the Panamericana.

Ten minutes later still waiting in the desert,

but finally we arrived well in time at the terminal for the bus to Lima.

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Nazca Lines and the Indian Cemetery

Thursday 21/6
Arequipa to Nazca, Nazca Lines and Desert Zombies.

First experience with the luxury bus operator 'Cruz del Sur'. They have no intermediate stops (it is really a direct bus from A to B), security agents inspect passengers as at the airport, luggage is registered, seats are are dentist style, underway you get meals and drinks, DVDs on HD TVs, some internet access in the terminal and even on the bus. Sounds nice isn't it?

Bus food.

Well, this became the worst bus experience of all. Our bus got various mechanical problems underway and finally stranded on the Panamericana between a moon like inland and the ocean, where we had to wait for a replacement bus. We accumulated 5 hours of delay: Instead of arriving at 7 AM we arrived at lunch time.

Changing bus after having cumulated 5 hours of delay.

So, we decided to stay for the night in Nazca. The hotel owner was extremely kind and organized the remaining of our day. Could be he got some commission, but he brought us to the little airport where we were considered as VIPs (we got priority and we got a plane just for us).

The famous Nazca lines, geometrical shapes and drawings are impressive, there are so many of them! We clearly distinguished the main drawings: the wale, the astronaut, the monkey, the spider, the pelican, the tree, the hands (4+5 fingers)... The flight took 30 minutes. After landing we got a briefing by the pilots and also a diploma.

From the sky you can easily see how dry that area is. They have only 7 hours of precipitation a year! The only green areas are where (sometimes) the rivers are (apart from 20 days, the rivers are dry the rest of the year).

Next we went to visit the cemetery of Chauchilla, deep in the desert, reached through a dust road. You can call this place 'Rasta Zombies in the Desert'. Grave robbers found these tombs and dumped the mommies after having stolen the jewels, presents and potery. In that area the desert is full of white bones and textile. Some of the graves are opened and they display the inside. The mommies sit there in fetal position and look to the east, waiting for a new sunrise.

Better to be there during day than during night.

We took dinner in a local restaurant even if it was called 'Los Angeles', very friendly people.

Next morning we had time before our bus departure for Lima, so we made a quick visit to the observation tower, to admire the hands and the spider once more.

Two VIP passengers in a privatethe plane.

The Whale.

Huge geometrical shapes.

The Astronaut.

The Pelican (Alcatraz).

The Pelican.

The Condor.

The Baby Dinosaur.

Nazca in the Desert (7 hours of rain per year).

The dream team with the diplomas.

Road sign to the cemetery.

Human bones and tissues everywhere in the desert, dispatched by grave robbers.

Mommies in opened tombs.

Rasta zombie.  Game over.

One more rasta zombie, probably a Shaman.

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