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Lots and lots of pottery at the Royal Tombs of Šipan Museum in Lambayaque.
Sadly, none if it was pron-o-graphic. |
There were two items on the day's tourism agenda: (1) the Sipán sites from the first millennium A.D.m and (2) more Pope Leo XIV sites in the vicinity. This was the second day of having a driver drive me to where the tourism action is happening around Chiclayo. It would be a much longer day than the day before because of the distance travelled.
Stop #1: Iglesia de Santo Domingo in Olmos, Peru.
The odyssey began driving to the farthest point on day's itinerary: Olmos. I am here to visit La Iglesia de Santo Domingo.
It was locked tight, so we had to wait a few minutes for it to be unlocked. This is the third church that was locked and my driver found the person to unlock it. Just for me. It is seriously humbling and gratifying that people who work at these churches are willing to drop everything just to show me, a tourist from the USA, who speaks only "un poquito" Spanish, their beautiful churches, But that would not be for five minutes.
After a two-hour drive, a five-minute wait is not a problem. This is the Plaza de Armas across the street from Iglesia de Santo Domingo. The main church always has a side of the Plaza de Armas in square in every Peruvian city worthy of a Plaza de Armas.
Olmos is on the edge of the Andes.
Beyond here be: Ecuador? Not quite. But those are the Andes visible. And Ecuador would be a few hours north of the city of the main route out of town.
The church is simple.
And that is for a simple reason involving Pope Leo XIV. Olmos was devastated from massive flooding in 2017. This church was destroyed. Pope Leo was then a simple bishop in the Chiclayo diocese and he was significantly involved in the rebuilding efforts for this church in a distant outpost within his diocese.
It may not be the fanciest church (yet) in Northern Peru, but it is recovering nicely from
I actually was able to understand a fair amount of the Spanish being spoken to me about the church and the devastating flood. Just don't expect me to respond with anything other than the most simple, basic phrases.
Stop #2: Santuario de La Cruz de Olmos, outside Olmos.
Officially, this stop is called: Santuario Diocesano de la Santisima Cruz de Chalpón.
Having started with the point on the day's tourism journey farthest from Chiclayo, it's time to start working back toward Chiclayo. With hike up about 12 million steps to a small chapel most of the way (but not all of the way) up a mountainside.
This is at the bottom of the ascent. At that point, I did not know how far there was to walk.
A little way up was a small chapel. I hopefully thought: Is this it?
No, it wasn't, There were hundreds, thousands, millions more steps to climb before I would reach the sanctuary. And my legs would let me know it.
We passed the first of several cats along the way.
I joked -- in Spanish believe it or not -- that the cat was there for "securidad" -- security -- because the dogs along the climb would let anyone pass, but cats would be far more cautious of everyone climbing the climb. Every time after that, when we saw a cat, Nelson, my driver and guide on this stop of the tour, would laugh and point and say "securidad."
The hike in the Andes continued.
Finally, legs screaming in total agony, we reached the summit:
Not quite the summit. But where the staircase ended, At the little chapel at the top of the mountain.
There were votive candles for burning.
A rock for posting memories.
And, in case you doubt me, proof positive that I made it to the top.
I think I look as exhausted as I felt when this picture was taken.
The views of the valley were spectaculicious.
If that's not yet a word, it should be and it will be.
Time to descend down the million stairs. I thought my knees would be the body part in greatest rebellion. Instead, it was my screaming quads. The good news is that the descent, unlike the ascent, was not the least bit brutal on my lungs and heart. Mis piernas, on the other hand: agony.
Stop #3: Iglesia de San Julian in Motupe, Peru.
It was here that my luck with locked churches ran out.
Motupe does not have a Plaza de Armas. It has the less-martial Plaza Principal. And the Plaza Principal was decked out for Christmas, Including:
A snowman. Yes, in case you are wondering, in Catholic countries in equatorial climes with the seasons reversed so that Christmas is in the local summer, Christmas still involves snowmen.
This is an especially attractive police building:
Parked in the foreground is one of those motorcycles that have been redone into a taxi/tuk-tuk, with the driver sitting in the motorcycle seat and the passengers in an actual passenger compartment in the back. You see these vehicles everywhere, by the dozens, by the hundreds, in the Chiclayo/Lambayeque area. Their top speed is very slow. But they are cheap and functional.
Here's a look at San Julian from across the Plaza Principal. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but it still is locked.
Oh, and here's something I think you didn't know.
In the City of Motupe, recycling is represented by avocados. Given that avocados start spoiling as soon as you cut into them, I would not associate them with recycling. But I do not live in Motupe, where recycling kiosks take the shape of a cut avocado because why not.
We knocked and we knocked (politely) and no one came to let us in to see the church. So I did not get the information on the connection with Pope Leo XIV, other than this is a church he visited, and said mass, as part of his duties as bishop of the diocese of Chiclayo.
I also did not learn why Motupe is noticeably wealthier than many surrounding towns. Could it be all that avocado recycling?
Stop #4: Iglesia de San Pablo in Pacora, Peru.
Another stop. Another church locked tight with no one to let us in.
I believe the connection with Pope Leo XIV is that he oversaw the restoration work for this church during his time at the bishop of Chiclayo.
Stop #5: Museo de Tumbas Reales de Sipán in Lambayeque.
We now move into the Sipán portion of Tourism Day. And this was the star attraction of the entire visit to Chiclayo; the Museum of the Royal Tombs.
The museum is modern, but evocative of the pyramids built by the Sipán culture.
Let's have a look at the angle that looks toward Lambayeque.
Let's go into the museum. The displays on the top floor include English (and Quechua) (which I don't speak) (or read) (but this marks the first place I've ever been to with trilingual signage and the three languages are Spanish, English and Quechua).
The Sipán culture dates from around A.D. 100 to A,D. 800, with its peak in the middle of that, from about A.D. 300 to A.D. 700.
They had pottery.
This culture is known for producing some of the most pr0n-o-graphic pottery in recorded history. But this museum went the family-friendly route. None is on display. You have to go the "erotic" section of the Museo Larco in Lima if your prurient mind veers off in that direction. (It is, by the way, awesome. The Museo Larco as a whole and that particular gallery which is in a separate building on museum grounds, probably to avoid polluting the regular family-friendly museum with impure thoughts.)
Here instead is some anthropomorphic pottery.
The one in the middle looks like a chihuahua. I know it can't be. I don't believe Mexico had begun exporting chihuahuas into South America at that early point in history. But, still, my eyes what they see and they see a ceramic chihuahua. With a standard issue mutt to the left and a duck to the right.
The middle pot there is not pr0n-o-graphic, but it is graphic,
Look closely and it's depicting a delivery scene. Not an Amazon delivery. Child birth.
The pottery took a turn to the creep-tastic at this point.
Again, not a word. But a should-be a word.
Pyramid recreation:
There were lots of burial replicas with replica skeletons in them throughout the museum. This is the Royal Tombs Museum after all. And "Tombs" denotes final resting places. But I didn't photograph any of those because, well, they are not my idea of a good time.
Unlike these two pots, who appear quite jovial.
If ceramics can be jovial.
I couldn't decide if this a depiction in gold of a man wearing a ceremonial headress or a man with antlers.
Do not laugh at the antlers part. There are depictions in the museum collection of people mutating into animals. For example:
A man turning into a crab. It could be a crab turning into a man, but I'm fairly certain it is man first, crab second. Like a werewolf. Or, in this case, a were-crab. Insert your own "worst case of crabs ever" joke yourself. I will not go there.
This is a spoon-billed seabird.
Could be a spoonbill as they have them in South America. But what interested me is the blue stone. I believe that is turquesa, turquoise. From what I know about Mesoamerica and the various New World tribes in the first millennium A.D., I believe turquoise is not from the area. It is from the Four Corners region of the United States. That mean turquoise in Northern Peru in the first millennium A.D. would have been brought here along well-functioning trade routes that stretched from the Desert Southwest of the United States to the Andes of Peru.
Is this more turquoise?
Well, I know these are more ceramics:
Not sure why these are juxtaposed in a single display case. Ceramics and metal work.
This one again depicts very jovial looking pottery.
And the piece on the top is a shrimp.
We'll end with this and move to the next destination of the day because you really rarely see shrimp as a an animal depicted on the ceramics of ancient people. I mean, I like shrimp. Who doesn't? But as a pottery model?
Stop #6: Museo Arqueológico Nacional Brüning in Lambayeque.
This is the second of the two Sipán sites of the day. It is a small archaeological museum dedicated to the Sipán culture. Before the openings of the Royal Tombs Museum, this small archaeological museum must have been the cat's pyjamas. Now, it is a bit out-dated and out-classed.
I told my driver he should have taken me here first, before the Royal Tombs Museum. I would have been impressed with the interesting display of artifacts that are 1500 years old. Or more! But after the sleek and comprehensive displays in the Royal Tombs Museum, the effect is: "Is that all there is?"
If you find yourself in Chiclayo and Lambayeque, come to this museum, if only out of historic respect. This museum was the first of its kind, dedicated to the long-lost Sipán culture, stocked with historic artifacts from the personal collection of Herr Brüning. (So cool his name even had umlauts.)
The above photo is of a "hill" that hides a Sipán pyramid within it. This is why these pyramids stayed buried for centuries. People though these were just weird-shaped hills.
Here is some particularly interesting anthropomorphic pottery from the Brüning collection:
And this. A woman with a cat on her head.
And that's the Brüning museum.
Let's reflect as we step outside. This is a small museum that once housed a cutting edge collection of the artifacts from the Sipán culture and, now, is as much of an historic artifact as anything in its collection, it's worth seeing, at the quite reasonable price of eight soles (about $2.75 U.S.), if you're ever in the neighborhood. And what else is in the neighborhood?
Stop #7: Iglesia de San Pedro in Lambayeque.
Just a block or so from the the Brüning museum is the Iglesia de San Pedro in Lambayeque. I do not know the connection between this church and Pope Leo XIV. But I don't care. It's a beautiful church. We were in the neighborhood. So it definitely was worth capping off the long day (nine hours of non-stop tourism) with a look-see.
From the butter yellow exterior, it looks like a large number of other churches in this part of Peru. But the interior was beautifully ornate with the great weight of tradition.
Walking down the main aisle, approaching the alter:
The side alters are beautiful, too. To the right of the main alter:
And, even better, to the left:
Closer:
As with the everywhere else in this town, they were full-on into Christmas preparations.
Chiclayo is a wonderful city. The people in this area are very friendly, very helpful, and very tolerant of tiny Spanish language vocabulary. Peru is not a fabulously wealthy country and this is not a fabulously wealthy part of Peru. But it has been worth the vist.
Here I am at the Iglesia de San Pedro. And after two days driving me for hours to so many tourist sites in the Lamayeque Province and the area surrounding the Pope's home city in Peru, Chiclayo, it's time to introduce Nelson, my driver.
This was the final stop on the tour. Thank you for showing me your part of this beautiful country,
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