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Published: October 17th 2008
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temples at tucume
how they didnt notice them!! after a 16 hour bus ride from guayaquil to chiclayo in peru i cant say that i was overly impressed! it was supposed to be 12 hours but problems with the road (this will become a common theme by the way) delayed us 4 hours including the border crossing. i arrived in chiclayo at 3 am! and was immediately aware of the difference in the countries. peru seems to be taking advantage of its tourists from the word go. everywhere i went, every taxi, hostal, everyone seemed to be trying to rip you off. it is no longer the cheap and easy place it was, ecuador is cheaper and you have to be very forceful and direct to be taken where you want or pay what was aggreed, which is a shame. chiclayo isnt the kind of place you hang around in longer than necessary either! there are pyramids near chiclayo at a place called tucume and i went there but they just looked like piles of mud, big ones admitidley and how they could have remained un discovered until 15 years ago i dont know. the landscape there is completely flat, like norfolk, with these huge piles dotted on it,
fools!!!
then i went to some museums at lambayeque which were the best in latin america supposedly and they were very good. full of gold and copper and shiny things and these amazing pots, some of them had incredible detail on and they are from the pyramids in the area of the time of pre inca groups who had massive civilisations here, much more enduring than the incas. the museums also explained how the chief was buried. they had really good archeological findings and represented them really well in these museums. he was buried in a tomb with his senior wife and 2 others, his chief of military guy, his priest, a child, 2 llamas and 2 dogs! there was an explanation that when the chief died there was much mourning, not surprising if you are one of the above!!
for all the delays the buses in peru are excellent. high security and like flying, get food and a big comfy seat. everyone is finger printed before getting on and the driver is breathalised!
then another bus (delayed by 2 hours) to cajamarca, where i was met by my couchsurfing host beto, we promptly all went out on the lash
and not realising that we were actually quite high altitude i suffered quite badly, not before trying coc leaf alchohol and pisco soursf for the first time!
we all went to some ventinillas near by in a combi bus, these are well funny about the size of a bedford van with seats in the back. they go anywhere for a few pennies if you can get in them. the record so far is 23 people in the back!! these include big bundles of alfaalfa (guineapig food) and some massive extraordinary hats! all the indigenous women wear a hat of their tribe all the time.
the ventinillas are holes cut in to the side of the cliff where people were folded up and buried in so they could be nearer the sky. again pre inca and a little bit creepy.
the next day i went to cumbe mayo, (means fine river) it is americas biggest megalithic structure 25,000 m2 and is up high in the mountains where water from the hills falls both to the amazon and to the pacific. they built 1km long aqueducts cut in to the rock. the angle changes and direction to control speed and erosion. now
ventinillas
funery niches in rock, cajamarca the indigenous groups still live round there in the same way in their houses built from brick and mud (earthquake proof).
the whole site was beautiful and the weather was perfect, the family was ploughing fields with oxen and wearing their traditional clothing.
back in cajamarca i went to el cuarto de rescate where the inca king atuahualpa was captured tortured and killed by the conquistador pizzaro it was built using the incas famous perfect stone work.
from there and not wanting to leave my new friends in cajamarca i went to trujillo back on the coast again and yes bus was hour late (this would never happen in ecuador!!). not overly impressed with trujillo town but only really want ed to see the huacas de moche. these are pyramid temples again and are beautifully preserved. they used to fill one temple with gold and one chief then build the next one on top and out side like layers of an onion. here there are 7 on to of on another and archeologists come form all over the world to study them. the colors and carvings are original and have only been preserved, not restored. they have uncovered 5 of
ploughing with oxen
indigenous people at cumbe mayo sections of temple walls but obviously cant do them all with out some collapsing. the walls here were built in vertial sections and are there fore earthquake proof.
here the priests were women (!) and when ever their gods needed praising or placating a duel was done between two men, gladiator style, then the winner took the loser to the priestess and she slits his throat and collects his blood in a cup. this is then ceremoniously tipped on the ground infront of the crowd as an offering to the god
at all ancient sites in peru there is a rule that an ancient breed of dog that was here since the year 0 should be here. they are represented in all the pictures and ceramics and were very important for healing. they have no hair!! i thought one had mange until someone told me now i want one. their body temperature is 40 degrees and people who have chest complaints or illnesses used to take the relavent size one to bed with them and they would recover quicker!
then i went to chan chan also of the same age, but this has been restored and is a massive city,
you can walk around it and it was very well explained. from there i went with two new ausie friends to huanchaco, where i got my first glimpse of the pacific ocean ever i think! was a lovely place and wish i had stayed there instead of trujillo. they still fish using totora reed canoes in the sea which arequite beautiful although i wuldnt want to try and drive one!! the 2nd oldest church in peru is here too and was quite nice as churches go.
from there i went to huaraz on another night bus that was, guess what 2 hours late, arriving to cold damp and drizzly , very english weather! up high altitude again and surrounded by mountains. took it easy the first day and then went to a place called willkahuan which means house of the grandchild in quechua. these again are tombs built up high using mud and massive granite slabs for interior support. they were temples aswell and the doors were tiny forcing you to crouch to enter as sign of respect. the stucture of these was earthquake proof again and composed of different size stone that can move. i never though i would
be interested in building but it is really interesting that all these groups thousands of years ago used different methods to solve the same problem very effectively. there was also a little museum here which had stuff including a pot of a man flying while chewing coco leaves!
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