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DAY 1 LIMA, CARAL, CHAVÍN: A JOURNEY TO
ANCIENT CITIES
We set off early by private vehicle from Lima, heading north up
the Pan-American Highway. After about 2 ½ hours, our first major
stop is Caral, once an important center of the ancient cultures
of the Norte Chico, the remains of whose rock-and-earth stepped-pyramids
lie scattered across this desert region. Caral is the perfect
place to begin a tour of early Peruvian civilizations, since
archaeological evidence suggests that this extremely old
religious and residential complex was the cradle of Andean
civilization, perhaps the oldest urban center of the Americas,
establishing patterns of monumental construction and religious
worship that persisted for millennia. Here around 2,600 BC,
while the ancient Egyptians were beginning to construct their
pyramids, early Peruvians established a less hierarchical
society, one based on marine resources, that apparently thrived
peacefully on trade and a now forgotten religion.
We continue a short way north and then turn inland, climbing
into the Andes up a sinuous and dramatic paved highway that
takes us across a high pass and into the famous Callejón de
Huaylas, the valley of the Santa river, and home to Peru´s
highest snow-capped peaks.
Continuing east, we cross the next range, cresting the
Continental Divide, and descending into the Marañon/Amazon river
drainage on our way to Chavín de Huantar, the next stop on our
journey through Peru´s ancient past. We will spend the next two
nights at the selected accommodation. (Box lunch)
DAY 2 CHAVÍN DE HUANTAR TO HUARAZ: FROM HALLUCINOGENIC
LABYRINTH TO HIGH CORDILLERAS
This morning we explore the intriguing remains of a mysterious,
powerful and astonishing civilization. Chavín is known to
archaeologists as the wellspring of the "Early Horizon" period,
dating from around 800 BC. These were the first Andean people to
spread their cultural and religious influence far and wide, all
the way to the coast, and as distant as about 300Km/200 miles
south of where Lima stands today. Their center here at Chavín de
Huantar straddled trans-Andean trade routes, and drew pilgrims
to a great temple, where esoteric rituals were practiced under
the influence of powerful hallucinogens. Here we see the
subterranean labyrinth which once boomed with the sound of water
rushing through hidden channels, and where a great stela (the
Lanzón) carved with ferocious mythical creatures and mysterious
symbols still stands in its central chamber.
After lunch we return to the Callejón de Huaylas and head north
to Huaráz, at the foot of the Cordillera Blanca, in the shadow
of mighty Huascarán, Peru´s highest mountain. We overnight in
Huaraz. (B, L)
DAY 3 HUARÁZ, SECHÍN, TRUJILLO: DESCENT TO SECHÍN ALTO AND
THE SOURCES OF CHAVÍN, AND ON TO A SPANISH COLONIAL CITY
We take another scenic plunge from Andes to Pacific coast, and
reach the site of Sechín Alto, the site of a coastal
civilization which pre-dated Chavín, and was probably its
cultural ancestor. Here an early Peruvian civilization built a
vast enclosure ringed with great monoliths carved with gruesome
scenes of battle, mutilation and death. Scholars argue about
whether these were literal representations, or symbolic
depictions of these people´s ritual lives, but most agree that
the people of Sechín Alto were the predecessors of the highland
Chavín culture.
Sechín Bajo, an early part of this site dating from a previous
period -- perhaps as far back as 3,500 BC -- vies with Caral for
the title of "first urban settlement of the Americas".
After lunch we continue northward up the Pan-American highway to
Trujillo. This city, founded in 1534 on the orders of Francisco
Pizarro, maintains a colonial atmosphere, with its spacious main
square, and marvelous colonial-period adobe buildings in the
coastal colonial style, featuring huge barred windows and
massive wooden doorways. Tomorrow we will get a close-up look at
its fine colonial architecture.
We will spend the next two nights at the selected accommodation,
a majestic hotel in the heart of Trujillo´s historic center. (B,
Box lunch)
DAY 4 TRUJILLO: THE COLONIAL CITY, THE GREAT ADOBE PYRAMIDS
OF HUACA DE LA LUNA AND HUACA DEL SOL, THE PICTURESQUE BEACH
RESORT OF HUANCHACO, AND THE PRE-INCA CITY OF CHAN CHAN.
We begin a full day of touring and exploration around this
fascinating area. Touring 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.
After our city visit we drive 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 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.
After lunch we return to Trujillo, stopping 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 overnight in Trujillo. (B, L)
DAY 5 TRUJILLO TO CHICLAYO: THE MOCHE TEMPLE OF EL BRUJO,
PERUVIAN PASO HORSES, AND AN ELEGANT NORTH-COAST LUNCH.
We set off early, heading north by road up the Pan-American
highway and into the adjacent Chicama river valley, then making
a short detour to the Pacific shore to 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.
Continuing northward, we make a stop at a hacienda in Paiján to
enjoy a delicious lunch, along with a colorful display of the
skilled horsemanship of local Peruvian paso horses and their
riders, who combine their art with the dance and music of the
northern marinera. This is an optional activity (cost not
included), which we highly recommend.
We reach Chiclayo in the afternoon, with time to relax, and
perhaps enjoy the pool or soak up the atmosphere of this
bustling tropical city. (B, L)
DAY 6 CHICLAYO, THEN LIMA: THE “CRACKED PYRAMID”, TÚCUME, AND
THE ROYAL TOMBS OF SIPÁN.
In the morning 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 gulley’s 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 gold working 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 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 return to Chiclayo for a
delicious lunch of Peru's northern-style cuisine at a top local
restaurant. We then drive onward 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, at more than 700m -- 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 say farewell to the warm, dry valleys of Northern Peru and
set off for the airport in the late afternoon for our evening
flight to Lima (Airfare not included). (B, L)
*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.
3-Just like to note that on Mondays the Cajamarca city tour is
not operational. Only can be offer as panoramic.
END OF THE SERVICES
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Kuelap Fortress
Pre-Inca Mummie |
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