10-15 May
Unfortunately I have no written notes, they recorded only that I had written much to floppy disc at the time, so I will rely on photos to prod the memories. We checked in at the Inca Hotel after bargaining down to 100s from initially requested 140s.
I am using a lockable stainless steel net for the first time and although so far we have not seen another I am pleased with the added security of feeling confident to leave passports at least on money belt behind in hotel rooms.
Thereafter we had a good relationship with the reception desk. I remember in particular an early visit to the market.
Checking my pockets before entering an eating area I noticed that my right pocket had been cut open by a razor to reveal only that the attracting bulge in my pocket was caused by my small Spanish dictionary, so they got nothing though luckily some USD in my inner pocket had not been revealed. The desk referred me back to the very same market and a stall which offered invisible mending who gladly undertook to repair the trousers.
They also put me in touch with Jose Jimenez (51-074-271403) the English speaking guide recommended by the couple from Edinburgh. He was excellent for 50$ a day including transport and we went with him on near daily excursions including Sipan via the Bruning Museum in Lambayeque, and Tucume. Sipan was full of excavated detail whereas Tucume was but a barren scene of extensive ruins.
I write of knee hip and back problems in truth was worried how I would deal with the altitude after all around 3000m was the highest so far. Joan had a fever with severe eye/head ache following a severe head cold but a day later we went to the Sipan site. In fertile areas like these, flat and fertile the countryside is reminiscent of Thailand
The burials were opened just twenty years before, about 1983, and are featured in two editions of our National Geographic Magazine. Every part of the body was covered in funeral masks.
I do have a few records of explanation regarding the civilisation of Sipan. The duality of good and evil pervades the ancient beliefs, gold equates to Sun and silver to moon masculine to day and female to night.
The peanut case has a form somewhat similar to the Chinese Yin and Yang, and many objects are half silver and half gold.
The jaguar is a symbol of good and bad (teeth).
Al Apaec is the god of good and bad
The large serpent is symbolic of the sky, the ??? is of the earth, the fish (a ray) is symbolic of the sea.
Feline faces on man is a recurrent theme
The owl appears a great deal but not as a symbol of wisdom in our culture but as one of darkness.
The servant buried with Lord Sipan was in fact his guardian. The one above one corner was the look out. Those buried with him had their feet cut off to ensure they could not leave. A boy of 10+ was also buried as were two llamas and a dog.
The Sipan discovery led to the inauguration of a world class museum, the Tumbas Realas de Sipan to house the treasures and photographic records of the archaeology. Gold, silver, copper and gold electroplated onto copper in the days before electricity. Coral, shells, precious stone and textiles. It ranks with the Bruning museum near Tucume also by Walter Alva, providing excellent records of Lambeyeque civilisation.
I record progress with Spanish recording finding daily TV an aid for programs in English with subtitles in Spanish. There are over 100 channels including the Discovery, CNN, Film Europe and Spanish TV. Additional vocabulary is coming from from here and by translating written text in museums and from menus.
Today revealed that Chupe, Sopa and Crema were references to soup. Chupe de Langestinos was a delicious creamy soup with some pasta, rice, sweet potato and above all tasty shrimps. Joan had Misto Maricos with fried rice. We had eaten two 3 course lunches in the hotel for 10s, limonada made from lime and lemon was sold in litre jugs for 5s.
I have a 147 telephone card, pick up a phone, state the code number when asked and the telephone number required and you will be connected, though reception will dial local numbers.
Tucume which was the the final set of 25 ruined pyramids (man made brick mountains) in an area in the foot hills of the Andes which once had 250. The earlier ones had been destroyed one by one over the centuries as they were overwhelmed by floods and droughts resulting from the now well understood climatic extremities resulting from the El Nino effect, a severe temperature variation in a current running from the Southern Ocean up the Pacific coast of South America.
Only last night (29 March 2015) there was an hour long program on BBC 4
detailing the history of the Lambayeque civilisation. It explained that
Tucume was deserted by the Incas for fear by the Lambayeque people of
the invasion of the Conquistadors from Spain, in spite of the fact they never actually reached Tucume. In time honoured manner they had
assumed the disaster of this threatened invasion resulted from the wroth of the gods was and failing to find remedy to placate them were prepared to destroy by
burning the pyramids and deserting them. In the case of Tucume the sacrifices
involved cutting the throats and then beheading over 100 of their
victims including children, based on recent evidence of the state of
skeletons of pairs of bodies and dismembered heads.
16 May
I hardly slept last night for a running cold, perhaps a reaction for climbing the mountain at Tucume without sign of hip trouble. It looks as though practicing Joan's Alexander Technique twice daily, night and morning is paying dividends. After getting cash from an ATM, paying the bill and packing we alone took a collectivo (car) to Pimentel on the coast for 5s. We walked along the long pier built for the export of sugar with a railway track which was once used for loading ships from railway trucks. Now it was used for line fishing, we saw both sea bass and eels being caught, I took a photo of a wizened old man who had just caught an eel and he was delighted when I offered him 50cents.
The sugar export industry failed partly as a result of Peru's 1974 land reforms by a Marxist Government, which broke up large farms to hand small parcels of land to the unskilled farming of peasants, this story was repeated all over the country. Also because European countries reacted with huge subsidies for sugar beet which initially cost 4 to 6 times as much to grow and process.
There was the exhilarating launching of caballitos (little horses) down steep steps into the sea beyond the surf.
We took another collectivo to the fishing port of Santa Rosa with many boats from decaying hulks to modern trawlers and some cabillitos which unlike Pimentel were not fishing. We saw the same Peruvian family presumably on holiday in the area. Crabs were running on the sand, Dunlins on the edge of the sea and Egrets wading in the shadows. A virtually full collectivo stopped and took us back to Chicklayo for a last meal at the hotel
Chupe de Cangregos (crabs), Pescado Sudado a lightly spiced sauce, Helado de Vanille and Chicha n Morado de Maiz to drink.
As we left the hotel receptionist Via presented us with a colourful doll in Latin American costume so responded with a generous tip for the four people who manned the desk. Then issued with a warning about the unsafe route to the station and the need for vigilance so we took a taxi to Movil bus station though it would have been much quicker to walk.
The rucksacks were checked in and the numbered tag clipped both to them and our tickets. On board the hostess welcomed us aboard, told us to not drink alcohol and to be responsible for protecting our own hand luggage, wished us a pleasant trip and gave us a box with a simple 3-decker sandwich (marmite) a packet of choc chips, biscuits a couple of boiled sweets and a plastic cup of coke.
Three hours later at 10.30 the bus stopped, the drivers changed over and most of the men got out to pee in the roadside. I didn't feel like ready for it and couldn't go. There was a full moon so Joan had the window seat and kept a look out as we climbed over the Andes and descended the eastern slopes. As I was still full of head cold it was difficult to clear my ears with the changes in altitude. At times the road went through high narrow cuttings in the mountains on a continuous switch back always turning this way or that.
The journey took 9 hours in all as the ticket desk had said, though if wet it would have taken 12 hours because after Bagura the road was no longer tarmac-ed, shades of remote Canada
Unfortunately I have no written notes, they recorded only that I had written much to floppy disc at the time, so I will rely on photos to prod the memories. We checked in at the Inca Hotel after bargaining down to 100s from initially requested 140s.
I am using a lockable stainless steel net for the first time and although so far we have not seen another I am pleased with the added security of feeling confident to leave passports at least on money belt behind in hotel rooms.
 |
| CHICKLAYO Hotel INCA |
 |
| If You Will Visit Markets Beware! |
 |
| RAZOR Thieves leave my dictionary |
They also put me in touch with Jose Jimenez (51-074-271403) the English speaking guide recommended by the couple from Edinburgh. He was excellent for 50$ a day including transport and we went with him on near daily excursions including Sipan via the Bruning Museum in Lambayeque, and Tucume. Sipan was full of excavated detail whereas Tucume was but a barren scene of extensive ruins.
 |
| JOAN and JOSE JIMINEZ at SIPAN |
 |
| LORD SIPAN'S BELONGINGS |
 |
| LORD SIPAN'S TOMB |
The burials were opened just twenty years before, about 1983, and are featured in two editions of our National Geographic Magazine. Every part of the body was covered in funeral masks.
I do have a few records of explanation regarding the civilisation of Sipan. The duality of good and evil pervades the ancient beliefs, gold equates to Sun and silver to moon masculine to day and female to night.
The peanut case has a form somewhat similar to the Chinese Yin and Yang, and many objects are half silver and half gold.
The jaguar is a symbol of good and bad (teeth).
Al Apaec is the god of good and bad
The large serpent is symbolic of the sky, the ??? is of the earth, the fish (a ray) is symbolic of the sea.
Feline faces on man is a recurrent theme
The owl appears a great deal but not as a symbol of wisdom in our culture but as one of darkness.
The servant buried with Lord Sipan was in fact his guardian. The one above one corner was the look out. Those buried with him had their feet cut off to ensure they could not leave. A boy of 10+ was also buried as were two llamas and a dog.
The Sipan discovery led to the inauguration of a world class museum, the Tumbas Realas de Sipan to house the treasures and photographic records of the archaeology. Gold, silver, copper and gold electroplated onto copper in the days before electricity. Coral, shells, precious stone and textiles. It ranks with the Bruning museum near Tucume also by Walter Alva, providing excellent records of Lambeyeque civilisation.
I record progress with Spanish recording finding daily TV an aid for programs in English with subtitles in Spanish. There are over 100 channels including the Discovery, CNN, Film Europe and Spanish TV. Additional vocabulary is coming from from here and by translating written text in museums and from menus.
Today revealed that Chupe, Sopa and Crema were references to soup. Chupe de Langestinos was a delicious creamy soup with some pasta, rice, sweet potato and above all tasty shrimps. Joan had Misto Maricos with fried rice. We had eaten two 3 course lunches in the hotel for 10s, limonada made from lime and lemon was sold in litre jugs for 5s.
I have a 147 telephone card, pick up a phone, state the code number when asked and the telephone number required and you will be connected, though reception will dial local numbers.
Tucume which was the the final set of 25 ruined pyramids (man made brick mountains) in an area in the foot hills of the Andes which once had 250. The earlier ones had been destroyed one by one over the centuries as they were overwhelmed by floods and droughts resulting from the now well understood climatic extremities resulting from the El Nino effect, a severe temperature variation in a current running from the Southern Ocean up the Pacific coast of South America.
 |
| Joan surveys the countless ruins of TUCUME |
16 May
I hardly slept last night for a running cold, perhaps a reaction for climbing the mountain at Tucume without sign of hip trouble. It looks as though practicing Joan's Alexander Technique twice daily, night and morning is paying dividends. After getting cash from an ATM, paying the bill and packing we alone took a collectivo (car) to Pimentel on the coast for 5s. We walked along the long pier built for the export of sugar with a railway track which was once used for loading ships from railway trucks. Now it was used for line fishing, we saw both sea bass and eels being caught, I took a photo of a wizened old man who had just caught an eel and he was delighted when I offered him 50cents.
The sugar export industry failed partly as a result of Peru's 1974 land reforms by a Marxist Government, which broke up large farms to hand small parcels of land to the unskilled farming of peasants, this story was repeated all over the country. Also because European countries reacted with huge subsidies for sugar beet which initially cost 4 to 6 times as much to grow and process.
There was the exhilarating launching of caballitos (little horses) down steep steps into the sea beyond the surf.
 |
| PIER at PIMENTEL |
 |
| FISHING BOATS at SANTA ROSA |
Chupe de Cangregos (crabs), Pescado Sudado a lightly spiced sauce, Helado de Vanille and Chicha n Morado de Maiz to drink.
As we left the hotel receptionist Via presented us with a colourful doll in Latin American costume so responded with a generous tip for the four people who manned the desk. Then issued with a warning about the unsafe route to the station and the need for vigilance so we took a taxi to Movil bus station though it would have been much quicker to walk.
The rucksacks were checked in and the numbered tag clipped both to them and our tickets. On board the hostess welcomed us aboard, told us to not drink alcohol and to be responsible for protecting our own hand luggage, wished us a pleasant trip and gave us a box with a simple 3-decker sandwich (marmite) a packet of choc chips, biscuits a couple of boiled sweets and a plastic cup of coke.
Three hours later at 10.30 the bus stopped, the drivers changed over and most of the men got out to pee in the roadside. I didn't feel like ready for it and couldn't go. There was a full moon so Joan had the window seat and kept a look out as we climbed over the Andes and descended the eastern slopes. As I was still full of head cold it was difficult to clear my ears with the changes in altitude. At times the road went through high narrow cuttings in the mountains on a continuous switch back always turning this way or that.
The journey took 9 hours in all as the ticket desk had said, though if wet it would have taken 12 hours because after Bagura the road was no longer tarmac-ed, shades of remote Canada
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