Day 391 – Chiclayo
Museums and ruins around Chiclayo
Today we had a self made breakfast at the lovely Santa Victoria House. When we were preparing our meal, we actually found out that another guest was from our hostel in Chachapoyas. What a small world. She also had the same itinerary as us for the day, and she could speak Spanish which is always helpful!
After chatting to the hosts, the lady took us to the main road and flagged down a taxi. The taxi ran as a collectivo without another passenger and the 3 of us. It took us straight to a collectivo station.
Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan
From the collectivo station, we had to wait for the collectivo to fill up again. We only need one more person to fill the collectivo sedan. The collectivo left at around 10am to the town of Lambayeque. It cost us 2 PEN ($0.88 AUD) per person (p/p).
Lambayeque, is a busy but smaller town. We walked a few blocks to the museum, Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum. The building is a red pyramid structure. Entrance is 10 PEN ($4.40 AUD) p/p. Photography is not allowed inside.
We spent 2 hours inside, and we were a little disappointed that everything was mainly in Spanish. However, our friend from the home stay was very helpful and translated everything we asked her to.
The museum goes down level by level into the history of the region and has interesting pottery and gold exhibits. The highlight for us was the reconstruction of the tomb.
Tucume Museum and Pyramids
Back from the main road in Lambayeque we caught a collectivo going further from Chiclayo towards the town of Tucume. The towns keep getting smaller. The plaza has a really cute church. We decided to have some sandwiches that we had packed, while our friend went looking for a vegetarian meal for herself.
From the main road, the museum entrance is just over 2km away. We decided to walk here.
At the entrance to the museum, there are two options. Route A or Route B. If you are short on time or cash, you can do Route A for 8 PEN ($3.52 AUD) or you can do both for 12 PEN ($5.28 AUD) p/p.
We firstly went to the museum. It was surprisingly good. There was information in both English and Spanish for one! Also photos were allowed. It’s not as large or full of gold as the Sipan museum, but we enjoyed it.
Pantheon of the Gods
Tucume was founded in 1000 CE, which was then conquered by the Incas in 1470. And of course by the Spanish 1533. The Incas allowed the existing dynasty to rule the area as with other areas conquered by the Incas.
After the museum, we went along Route B. This adds a short walk through some tiny houses to an sheltered area. Under the shelter is an adobe (mud brick) building. The artwork along the walls are similar to Chan Chan ruins (Day 383) and so beautiful.
We saw these signs but no bicycles Such a contrast to all the sand around
We then went back to join our friend on Route A. There are 26 truncated pyramids around Tucume. Route A allows you to walk up a viewpoint to see some of them. We could see construction work at some of the temples, where they are building what looked like viewing platforms.
As the sun was starting to set, we walked back to the main street to catch a collectivo back to Chiclayo. It didn’t take too long to find one and it only cost us 2.50 PEN ($1.10 AUD) p/p.
It did drop us off in the north of the town. We decided to walk to our home stay which was a few kilometres away.