| Duration 3 Days and
2 Night
Departures Daily departures
Activities According the below itinerary
Airfares Not included, available upon request
DAY 1 LIMA TO CHICLAYO: THE "CRACKED PYRAMID",
TÚCUME, AND THE ROYAL TOMBS OF SIPÁN.
We take an early morning flight from Lima to the northern city
of Chiclayo (Airfare Not Included), Upon arrival transfer to the
hotel and after some rest time we set off for the mud-brick pyramid
that made world headlines in 1987 with one of the most sensational
finds of recent archaeology. Known as the Huaca Rajada -- the
"Cracked Pyramid", because of the deep gulleys weathered
into its flanks -- this eroded adobe platform yielded fabulous
ancient treasures from a series of deeply buried tombs of the
pre-Inca Moche culture, who lived in the valleys of Peru's north
coast 1,500 years ago. To get there we drive east up the broad,
flat Reque valley past fields of sugarcane studded with varicolored
pastel foothills of the great Andean chain, then arriving at the
modern village of Sipán. Here we see the tombs themselves,
with superb reconstructions of the burials of priests and chieftains,
together with their sacrificed guards and companions.
A highly informative site museum tells the story of this extraordinary
civilization, who created some of the finest pottery, jewelry
and goldworking of the Americas -- while also staging macabre
costumed rituals of combat, sacrifice and propitiation as they
sought to mediate a never-ending struggle between the forces of
Order and Chaos.
We return to Chiclayo for a delicious lunch of Peru's northern-style
cuisine, and then continue on to Lambayeque, where we visit the
Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum. This modern building, representing
the style of a Moche pyramid, was built to house the stunning
and priceless objects unearthed at Sipán. (A single looted
object from the tombs was intercepted at an auction in the U.S.
-- carrying a reserve price of $1.6 million!)
Here we see the incredible array of precious symbols and images,
stones and shell necklaces, ear-plugs and headdresses that were
worn and displayed at Moche ceremonies, and also learn what is
known of their meaning. This astonishing visit ends at an "animated
waxworks" exhibit of the lords and retinue of the Moche court,
allowing us to glimpse and imagine the world of an unfamiliar
but dazzling civilization that thrived here at a time when Europe
was sliding into the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire.
After these sensational experiences we drive to an oasis of calm
at Tucumé, today's final destination. Here we see the chronological
sequence that followed the fall of the Moche, at a site where
their descendants, the Sicán culture, continued to amass
millions of adobe bricks for the building of mighty pyramids --
including the longest of its kind in the world, at more than 700m/2,300ft
-- but were now influenced by highland tribes, and began to abandon
their old ways. The history of this scenic site -- extensively
investigated by the famed Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl --
leads us all the way to the Incas, who conquered the region not
long before they, in turn, were conquered by the Spanish. We can
climb to a viewing platform with superb views of the surrounding
pyramids and the dry woodland habitat of the Leche valley. We
can also visit the small, intimate and low-tech site museum, to
enjoy the excellent collection of excavated objects, dioramas
of daily life, and models of the pyramids.
We return to Chiclayo for an overnight stay. (L)
DAY 2 CHICLAYO TO TRUJILLO: ACROSS THE NORTH PERUVIAN
DESERT TO TRUJILLO AND THE MOCHE PYRAMIDS OF THE SUN AND MOON.
In the morning, we'll travel with our guide by private car or
bus to Trujillo. This half-day journey south down the Pan-American
highway offers a shifting panorama of scenes from coastal Peru,
alternating irrigated river valleys such as the Jequetepeque and
Chicama, with stretches of arid dune and rocky desert. We make
a stop at pacasmayo to enjoy a delicious lunch.
Upon request optional visit the archaeological site of El Brujo:
This site featured in National Geographic magazine after the sensational
discovery here of the mummy of a tattooed priestess, buried with
a variety of ceremonial and military accoutrements. An extraordinary
array of multicolored murals dating from seven or more phases
of construction depicts both scenes from the daily lives of the
Moche, and gory rituals of sacrifice.
Additional: $76 per person based on single and $46 based on double
We arrive in Trujillo in the early afternoon. This city, founded
in 1534 on the orders of Francisco Pizarro, maintains a colonial
atmosphere, with its spacious main square, and marvellous colonial-period
adobe buildings in the coastal colonial style, featuring huge
barred windows and massive wooden doorways. We continue onwards,
driving a short way from Trujillo, to visit the Huaca de la Luna,
and the Huaca del Sol, two huge flat-topped pyramids built by
the Moche culture between 0 and 600A.D. The Huaca de la Luna is
an extraordinary demonstration of what patient long-term archaeology
can achieve. Here, at a site that has been well known and frequently
looted for centuries, excavations have revealed layer upon layer
of ancient construction, uncovering wall after wall of colorful
friezes that were intentionally buried by the Moche, and had not
seen the light of day for one-and-a-half thousand years. Bloodthirsty
fanged deities and exotic gods in the form of spiders, snakes
felines, octopi and other marine creatures rub shoulders with
lines of dancers, warriors and naked prisoners, and scenes of
ritual combat. One wall is covered with such a multitude of mystifying
symbols that it has been labeled simply "The Complicated
Theme" -- until some future archaeologist can offer a plausible
explanation of them. A site museum to display material unearthed
here is under construction, and when opened it will be part of
this visit.
We return to Trujillo to spend the night. Overnight. (B, L)
DAY 3 TRUJILLO TO LIMA: COLONIAL TRUJILLO, THE PICTURESQUE
BEACH RESORT OF HUANCHACO, AND THE PRE-INCA CITY OF CHAN CHAN.
In the morning we tour the historic center of Trujillo, a city
whose heart still pulses with colonial splendor. We visit the
immense main square and the spacious mansions built by Spanish
and Creole gentry during the 17th and 18th centuries. Then we
make our way through Trujillo towards the coast, arriving at the
great Chimú center of Chan Chan, the largest adobe city
ever built. It was in fact an elite settlement, a series of nine
enormous palaces belonging to successive rulers of the Chimú
realm. At its height the population here may have reached 50,000
people. Many of them were artists and craftspeople, who made the
sumptuous goldwork, textiles and pottery for which the Chimú
were famous. At the Tschudi palace enclosure we enter a labyrinthine
series of courtyards lined with clay friezes of fish and ocean
birds, and walled in places with an open meshwork adobe building
style believed to represent fishing nets. We visit inner patios,
residences, administrative buildings, temples, platforms and storehouses,
and a huge reservoir where "sunken gardens" may have
produced specialized crops for the Chimu nobility.
We continue on to the nearby beach resort of Huanchaco, where
we have a chance to try the superb seafood of Trujillo at a restaurant
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here fishermen still paddle out
to sea, kneeling on caballitos de totora -- little one-man reed
rafts which have been used for millennia to collect the abundant
bounty of the Pacific ocean.
In the afternoon we drive to the airport in time for our flight
to Lima. (B, L)
END OF THE SERVICES
*IMPORTANT:
1-Please note that on Mondays the Museum of Royal Tombs of Sipan
and the Museum of Sican are closed.
Instead we may offer the Bruning Museum.
2-The city tour in Trujillo suggested program Monday through
Friday between 9 am and 2 pm.
Outside these hours that may be widescreen or alternative views.
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Click to enlarge
Funeral apparel of the Lord of Sipán, Lambayeque |
