Happy museum day...

Sitting contentedly in my little town of Chachapoyas I contemplate the last week, and while I enjoyed my little sojourn it is not likely to be repeated.  I sincerely hope my travels to big cities are now few and far between. 

Guess I really am a small town girl now. 

So where was I in my travel recollections?  I believe it was on the coast yet…

There are three fabulous museums in the Chiclayo region, which lies about 3.5 hours north of Trujillo on the coast.  There are two that are each dedicated to spectacular tombs found in the area, The Lord of Sican and The Lord of Sipan, and the Bruning Museum which has a chronological display of ceramics dating back more than 5000 years. 

Getting to Chiclayo involved a rendezvous with our English speaking gude and a 6:00 am pickup for the express sleeper-bus trip along the Pan American Highway.  The early pickup and plush reclining seats ensured I slept most of the journey.  Upon arrival I was unsurprised to find out that the intra-museum transport was wonky.  As is usual here (no doubt as a cost cutting measure) there were 4 different tour groups amalgamated on to one bus, and each had a differing itinerary. 

After much arguing about who should go where first the English speaking tour (that’s me) basically got dumped at the side of the road to wait as other arrangements could be made.  Whatever.  When our alternate transport arrived we headed out to see the Lord of Sican museum located a good distance away in a small town named Ferrenafy.  Rather than give you my convoluted description of the culture and artefacts of this Pre-Incan Sican culture, I offer this link which does a more than adequate job…  http://www.inkanatura.com/coastchiclayotrujillo_sican_national_museum.asp

 

Our driver decided to take a shortcut back to town (P.l.e.a.s.e… no more Peruvian “shortcuts”) and along a rutted dirt “road” we gyrated, following a culvert through sugarcane fields.  I did see several adorable wee owls sitting atop the mounds of decaying foilage lining our route, which is one lonely strike on the plus side of this back jarring experience. 

Lunch was an avocado salad, accompanied by a scrumptious carob liquor welcome drink at a restaurant.

Next up was The Lord of Sipan museum, and the huge display of wealth and culture unearthed when archaeologists stumbled upon this tomb.  Incredible.  And not just the items on display (and there were hundreds) but the information on the processes used for the retrieval and restoration were outlined fabulously too.  Again, more complete (and no doubt more accurate) information is found by heading to this sight:  http://www.inkanatura.com/coastchiclayotrujillosipanhuaca.asp

Last up was the Bruning Museum, which as I said earlier houses a collection of pre-colonial artifacts, largely from the Private Collection of Hans Heinrich Brüning Brookstedt, a Peruvian archeologist of German descent.  While this is the oldest of the three museums I saw, its’ collection was impressive.  There are 6 pages of info here:  http://goperu.about.com/od/sightsandattractions/ss/The-Bruning-Museum-In-Lambayeque-Peru.htm

Had to take my shoes off halfway through though because I simply could not keep walking… by this time my feet were on fire.  Thankfully the floors were ceramic which felt heavenly.  Kept me from having to crawl out.  Seriously.

Back to the bus station for a two hour wait for our very non express bus back to Trujillo.  We stopped at so many little towns that I lost count. 

Dinner was peanut butter sandwiches, packed the previous night. 

The ride from the bus station back to the hostal was made in a seriously urinated upon van, driven by what I suspect was a driver that was one too many into his cups. 

Didn’t take me too long to find my ZZZZ’s after returning to the hostal.  Another day of discovery down.  Many to go.  I’ll tell you about them later.  It’s past my bedtime.

J