CHICLAYO, the beginning of the decline
Apart from the aggressive atmosphere of Chiclayo, an event accelerated our desire to quickly leave the city. As I was walking around in the market, alone - Anaëlle was at the hostel - four guys walked into me in such a way that I was stuck. Many strange things happened in 15 seconds and my phone was gone. The love for Chiclayo became stronger...Ok. Here I stop complaining, trying to forget these experiences. Especially because, despite the disappointment we felt growing inside, we did enjoy quite some things around Chiclayo. And let's start with our favorite subject... FOOD!!! And guess what: the food was great!!
Still, the food only didn't keep us here. However, before we left for another spot, we decided to play real tourists this time and... we took a tour!! And to help you following our trip, let's first have a look at the map below:
1. MUSEO DE SITIO HUACA RAJADA - Señor de Sipan
Before, a bit of culture - after, even more culture!!
For your info, "si" stands for "moon" and "pan" stands for "house". Not cooking pan - although we will talk a bit further about ovens. So welcome in the house of the moon!
And yes, the comparative table below talks about a Sican culture: well, we appreciate your keen-sighted ability but Sican and Sipan are indeed two different cultures. Nice try. However, some say the meaning is the same: house of the moon.
And now you try to be smart by asking when which tribe lived in the Lambayeque area...
How lucky you are: you will find an answer in the side table - and if you really read it - like, for real - it goes chronologically from the bottom to the top.
And to help, remember that the cultures have succeeded in this order:
1. Moche (from +100 to +800)
2. Sican (3 main periods, early to late, from +750 to 14th century)
3. Chimu (already from +900 to +1470, about)
4. Inca (those who ended the story and who worshiped the sun before the moon).
Let's go on now with Sipan's everyday life. Some pictures follow, that will give you an idea of the Sipan's day-to-day life - and death... And to feel like you are part of it!!!
For example, if at some point you want to create your own oven, here are the descriptions of two different types of ovens.
"Cool!" would you say. But then, you would add - very wisely I must say: "But hey, if I invite you guys for a BBQ nicely prepared in my home-made oven, I also need a house to welcome you!!"
This is when we provide you, on the side picture, with the construction details you need to build your own house. It is close to IKEA style.
Ow, as you can see, the timescale is not included.
However, I would advise you to start building the house before the BBQ-oven. (Arthur disagrees).
Moreover, we shall not assume liability for the execution and quality of work carried out. We thank you for your understanding. A&A
Now you need to decorate your house. To that extend, we understand you ask for a bit of help regarding which style would fit you and your house...
This is the reason why we provide you with some typical decorative items such as the ones in the following picture. You then have the choice between - at least - three cultural influences for your house: Inca, Lambayeque and Chimu. Our payment services accepts credit cards, Paypal and Bitcoins.
Below, a... no-no-no, this is NOT a suggested presentation for having lunch together!! You ignorant person!
Firstly, these are not healthy positions for digesting. Secondly, you should never organize a BBQ (especially when you built the BBQ, whoever you are) in a room without sufficient ventilation (OMG... we shall really not assume liability for the execution and quality of... yeah whatever!).
So below an example of a Sipan thumb (aaaaaahhh....!). The signification of their positions is not entirely eluded so have fun with your imagination!
Some of the items found in the tumbs.
Delighted with this first taste of the Sipan culture, we hopped in the bus again and reached the second point of our tour:
2. THE SANTUARIO HISTORICO BOSQUE DE POMAC
Cuuuuuuute!!!!! |
3. NUEVO MUSEO DE TUCUME => templo de la piedra sagrada
This pyramid is located in the archaeological site of Batan Grande, in the Lambayeque region. There were many of them.
In the Sipan culture, a Lord is in power of all a hierarchical society - such as the Lord of Sipan, from whom you have a representation on your left.
This Lord is considered as half a god - respect! One of his main roles is to retrieve the powers of the gods of the mountain to protect the Sipan people. A pyramid is the link between the gods and the Lord.
At some point of the Sipan's era, violent weather phenomena (in fact, El Niño) occurred in the area during a long time period. The Sipan people interpreted these phenomena as a failure in the pyramid's powers to protect them. The pyramid was then seen as cursed. Therefore the Sipans burnt it around 1100 AC as a purification ritual. And they rebuilt a new one - the one on the picture above.
"But this building is much bigger than my Sipan house! I want the same!!" No problem. Here comes the IKEA building details.
You first need to look for clay and straws. You then mix it to create what is called adobe. You then mold from it, with your cute little hands, as many bricks as you need to build as many walls as you want. Of course you first need patience to let your bricks dry before you build up your house. So, isn't it easy!!
Below a panorama where you can see vestiges of pyramids and of the Sipan's city. You have to understand that except when El Niño shows up, it never rains in this region of Peru. Therefore, the pyramids and other Sipan's buildings didn't suffer that much of erosion - knowing that they were only made of adobe.
In the Sipan culture, a Lord is in power of all a hierarchical society - such as the Lord of Sipan, from whom you have a representation on your left.
This Lord is considered as half a god - respect! One of his main roles is to retrieve the powers of the gods of the mountain to protect the Sipan people. A pyramid is the link between the gods and the Lord.
At some point of the Sipan's era, violent weather phenomena (in fact, El Niño) occurred in the area during a long time period. The Sipan people interpreted these phenomena as a failure in the pyramid's powers to protect them. The pyramid was then seen as cursed. Therefore the Sipans burnt it around 1100 AC as a purification ritual. And they rebuilt a new one - the one on the picture above.
"But this building is much bigger than my Sipan house! I want the same!!" No problem. Here comes the IKEA building details.
You first need to look for clay and straws. You then mix it to create what is called adobe. You then mold from it, with your cute little hands, as many bricks as you need to build as many walls as you want. Of course you first need patience to let your bricks dry before you build up your house. So, isn't it easy!!
Send us pictures! The winner gets an awesome price!!
Below a panorama where you can see vestiges of pyramids and of the Sipan's city. You have to understand that except when El Niño shows up, it never rains in this region of Peru. Therefore, the pyramids and other Sipan's buildings didn't suffer that much of erosion - knowing that they were only made of adobe.
View from a hill |
Time to say goodbye to the cultures of the Lambayeque region.
We won't go too far from there though, since our next destination is Pimentel, 20 km west from Chiclayo (see the map at the beginning of this post).
The road between Chiclayo and Pimentel was not of the most appealing...
And it was windy!!The road between Chiclayo and Pimentel was not of the most appealing...
GREAT PIMENTEL!!
Aaaaahhh Pimentel!!!! What a huuuge and great change in atmosphere! Sweet, calm people, non aggressive traffic and peaceful ambiance. Very small town, Pimentel has nothing to envy to its big sister.
It gives the impression that all the aggressive people were clustered in Chiclayo and that the calm and relaxed ones decided to live and stay in Pimentel.
WHAT IS THIIIIIS???!!! These are regular reed boats, people in Pimentel and in the area still use to fish.
And of course, wherever you go, you will find these unavoidable Moto-taxis, even on the beach!
Below some pictures of Pimentel beach side... Its birds...
Its fishermen and women...
An Arturus Dynamicus, in the "I-don't-move-so-they-don't-see-me" position.
So well, you got it: we enjoyed our time over there! And spent a couple of nights in a great cheap hostel - with Carlos, sweet, noisy and unforgettable!!
This is also the place where we discovered these delicious cookies called alfajores. The first time I bought about 20 of them, Anaëlle ate them almost all - yeah, she has been kind enough to leave two for me! But out of shame, she decided to buy new ones. And ate them almost all again!! This is the reason why the collage below is not made of pictures from us. We never had time to even think about taking any picture of one little alfajor!!
As other places in Peru, Pimentel has some nice remaining of colonial architecture.
And of course, as everywhere in Peru, we feed ourselves with Ceviche... mmmhh!!!
Well, not Anaëlle, since for a couple a days already, she didn't feel that well and was already on a papaya diet - yeark!! Her condition didn't improve the following days... neither did the smell of the papaya in the room.
But we were not there yet!! Naive travelers that we were!!!
Yeah keep smiling sweet-naive-little-tourist!! Your smile will have disappeared in a few days...!
Still, we both tasted a typical dish of the area: la tortilla de raya, a kind of omelette with delicious spices and ray wing. A delight!!!
Ow, same story though, it was so delicious that we only thought about taking a picture of it after it was already eaten... So this is a nice picture taken from... Internet!
Pimentel - close to the market |
After a couple of days detoxing, we continued to a small town 10 kilometers from the lovely Pimentel, called Santa Rosa. An absolute ugly town with nothing to offer.
Unfortunately, Anaëlle got really sick and needed to rest. She understood 3 months later that it was a parasite (And one day after that news, she discovered she was pregnant. Hey! Two parasites in one shot!! Good job!!!!).
Anyway, we stayed in the only hostel available, which was a gangbang place - just one more...! After two days, although Anaëlle was still very sick, but this crappy place was not good to stay.
So I talked Anaëlle out of her bed and literally dragged her and her bike for a small part to the next town, about 5 kilometers further located, called...
MONSEFU!
This small simple but lovely calm town was a better place for Anaëlle to get better. At this time, I decided it was boring for her to be sick alone and I got sick too! We took turns for toilet time for a couple of days. Funky!! But that game is fun only for a limited time... Thankfully we got better and started smiling again!
So, our stomachs back in life, we quickly came back to... the market of course!!!
One thing though: a man, yelling from morning to evening (no joke): “Chiclayo-Chiclayo-Chiclaaaaayoooooo!!!” It was his job, gathering as many people as possible to get into small buses heading to Chiclayo.
To do so, no written sign, no guess that in a small town such as this one, everybody knows where to find the bus to Chiclayo. No. It was his job and he would do so each day of each week aaaaall year long. First you smile, then you think “Oh come on, shut up!” and then, you hallucinate, realizing that he really never stops yelling! With Arthur, we counted how many seconds he would wait between two cycles of “Chiclayo-Chiclayo-Chiclaaaaayoooooo!!!” Well. The silent lasts about 5 to 7 seconds. Poor guy... what a life.
Chimbote!
Being stronger than ever, we took the bus with our bikes to Chimbote.Once again, the landscape we discovered was not that beautiful. The pictures below will give you another idea of how North Peru looks like.
Imagine then our surprise when we arrived at the main place of Chimbote!
What a change!!! Well, it is quite an important city and it exists of two parts: the old (read crappy) and new part. The picture above is from the nuevo Chimbote.
We enjoyed some of the Chimbote areas in mainly the new center and partially in the old one. The church in the new area, close to our favorite coffee bar, was beautiful.
We found a nice hostal, just in front of the main place.
Chimbote is also the city where we discovered the Sudado de Pescado...!!! Yummi!!!
At First, it looks like a soup with kind of fish stuffs in it - except when you have the entire fish swimming in the juice, which can happen!
Ok, you have eaten enough of our Peruvian peregrinations! Time to say "read you next time!!"
We will then reach Lima and have the visit of Louk (Arthur's father) and Laurence (Anaëlle's friend).
Oooow exciting!!!
Year!!! we are waiting.....
ReplyDeleteHi..
ReplyDeleteAre you lost?
Please give some news!!!!
Hello A and A
ReplyDeleteare you still in Peru???
No, we are not in Peru anymore. We are in the Netherlands.
ReplyDeleteWho is asking? :)