Today, two and a half months after paddling in the seas of the Atlantic ocean in Salvador, Brazil... I paddled in the Pacific ocean on the coast of Peru!! What an amazing thought, I have crossed South America all by myself!
So I left Chachapoyas the day after my last entry. The trip I had planned to Leimebamba was cancelled because of the weather, and it suddenly felt like time to move on. I had made friends with a guy called Luis who ran a local pizza joint, and he held a special "farewell banquet" for me on my last evening, meaning that he would not hear of me paying for my meal and also presented me with some chocolates and a knitted woolly hat as a leaving gift. This is a local custom for Peruvians when saying goodbye to friends apparently, so I was very touched. That night, I had an 11 hour journey by bus to my next destination...
I woke up at 5:30am in Chiclayo. After a slightly stressful time of driving around the city in a taxi looking for a hotel room, I finally found one, albeit a dirty and smelly one... and I didn´t even want to know where the "clean" towel had been. I pulled out my trusty silk sleeping bag which folds up tiny but means I don´t have to touch dirty bedclothes while I sleep, and got my head down for 4 hours. Then I checked out sharpish and went to find a clean place to stay in that night.
Next stop was the tour company that Luis had recommended. As luck would have it, there was a tour already in progress that had just stopped for lunch, so I was hustled into a taxi to meet the group just as they were about to head for the famous museum here in Chiclayo. Its a really striking looking place from the outside, check it out here: http://www.go2peru.com/sipan_museum.htm and it houses the findings from the Moche civilisation that have been excavated all around Chiclayo, particularly the Lord of Sipan who ruled about 1700-1800 years ago. Unfortunately we weren´t allowed to take a camera inside, I so wish I could have as it was the most interesting museum I have ever been in. It is designed really well, so you go along looking at the artifacts in the order they were painstakingly uncovered by the archaelogists. The Moches were very skilled in ceramics and metalwork, and there are incredibly detailed pictures of the people and the life they lived. For example, some pots and paintings depicted the Lord of Sipan himself, showing the jewellery he wore and his part in their many ceremonies including human sacrifice. So when they found the remains of his jewellery, his crown and armour, and the other items he was buried with, they already had a clear picture of exactly how it all looked. There are just no words to describe some of the things in that museum. Huge necklaces made up of terrifying masks, each one carved in gold and copper with turquoise eyes and teeth of shell. Intricate representations in gold of the Lord Sipan himself sacrificing a man, in an inch square size, showing even the detail of his fingernails gripping his sceptre, and the adams´ apple of the victim. There are some pictures on the website, also apparently National Geographic and I think Discovery Channel did pieces on it when the tomb was opened a few years ago, which I would love to see. Finally as we went down to the bottom level of the museum, there was the skeleton of the last Lord Sipan himself, still facing south as he had been in his tomb, and with the contents of the tomb represented around him - his wife at his feet, two dead llamas either side of him (for travel in the afterlife), several guards who were buried with their feet removed so they would forever watch him, and creepily, the body of a young boy who was buried alive (to cleanse the tomb) and a dog who would lead the Lord to his next life... along with something like 2000 ceramic pots filled with food and drink, and an incredible amount of jewellery and weapons and ceremonial cups made of copper, gold, silver, precious stones and shells. Really amazing to see this so close, in so much detail and still preserving the layout and content that they had so carefully planned so many years ago. Wow.
Afterwards, the tour guide was telling us that since the tombs started to be excavated in the late 80s, the local Peruvians have been invited to get involved in the archaelogical work, and he had helped to restore some pots. Its a nice touch so that the people get to keep their treasures and really feel they are still a part of their civilisation. Julio, the guide, told me he was going to the site of the tombs themselves at Sipan (the museum was some distance away) the next day and I could go along with him if I wanted... so of course I jumped at the chance.
So this morning we got a chaotic combi bus in usual Peruvian style, out of town for about 40 minutes into what can only be described as the desert. The Andean mountains are just visible in the distance, but here it is hot and dusty and dry. The tombs are in huge pyramid-like structures (although partially washed away and covered in dirt due to hundreds of years of weather and heavy rain) which apparently dwarf the Egyptian pyramids in terms of overall size of the site and number of stones used. Archaelogists are still at work here, they have only excavated something like 20% of the burial tomb, which contains the remains not only of the last Lord of Sipan, but also previous Lords going right back to the first Lord of Sipan whose remains are 2000 years old. They are all buried in the same pyramid, with each level being closed up on the burial of one Lord, and the next being buried on top.
As well as the Lords themselves, the archaelogists also found the tombs of priests and priestesses and important chiefs, who were buried with the same items as suggested in the many scenes painted on pottery and walls. So it has been relatively easy for the archaelogists to understand the role of each person, why they were buried with certain items etc. Fascinating.
Then as an extra bonus, I got to meet one of the archaelogists who was responsible for painstakinly drawing and documenting the findings in a new tomb which they had just started excavating in August. He had 24 huge pieces of paper, each representing another level of digging down, and each showing the exact measurements, depth and orientation of every item discovered. As he flicked through the drawings, I could see exactly how the discovery had progressed - the first time they saw the hand of the skeleton (of who, they don´t yet know exactly) lying amongst his many gold treasures, then dated 2 weeks later, the next drawing showing more of the skeleton being uncovered.. until finally the whole of his tomb was revealed. It was like fast-forwarding through the whole excavation, and I could imagine the excitement and anticipation with each level that they had so carefully and slowly dug down.
Just when I thought I had seen it all, I was invited to a small building near to the tomb where an old archaelogist was cataloguing and cleaning items that had been out of the ground only a few weeks, after nearly 2000 years of being buried!! Right in front of me on a rickety old table, were the huge gold and copper masks which formed part of the necklaces worn by the Lords of Sipan, the strange nose shields that they used to hide the fact from their people they had a human mouth and teeth just like everybody else (they were not feline gods at all, imagine!). They were cracked and battered and oxidised heavily, but after seeing the restored items from the other tomb in the museum yesterday, it was easy to picture them in their former glory. There was a small but amazingly intricate model of the Lord in solid copper, wearing all of his jewellery, his armour, his staff... and all of those items depicted on the model were found for real in the tomb as well. I held the model in my hand! How many other people have had the chance to do that! And who held it last before it was sealed up along with the body!
Ok, things really couldn´t get any better. Until I was taken next door to see the skeleton that they have just excavated only a few weeks ago, after painstakingly removing all of the artefacts he was buried with. There, lying uncovered on the floor in a low wooden box, right in front of me with no glass or anything between us, was the remains of an unknown man, most probably another Lord of Sipan, his skull intact, most of his bones still intact, the pieces of gold and silver that were placed in his mouth still there. Completely untouched, he is exactly as he was when they opened the tomb up so recently. Ohmygod I feel so privileged! (and a bit creeped out!)
So that was a completely unexpected but fantastic experience that I will never forget. I wanna be an archaelogist! I will load the few pictures that I have soon, I got a couple of the skeleton and of the artefacts, but it felt disrespectful to stand there clicking away for ages so I tried to be quick and discreet. None of the museum, which is a real shame but kind of makes it even more special. One of me actually holding the model icon of the Lord, which they think was intended to be his guide into the afterlife. I hope me holding it for a second didn´t disrupt his journey, as I don´t want any curses on me!
Interestingly I asked the archaelogist whether he ever felt any presence or energy with handling all of these old items, particularly with them being from tombs. He said he didn´t see ghosts (which I was disappointed about) but said that often if he was struggling to clean or restore a piece because he couldn´t clearly picture how it should be, he would focus on it in his mind and could often "feel" an image of how it looked.. and he seemed to believe this was coming beyond the grave, so to speak. Whoa.
