Searching for Osama

You have to admit this could be northern Pakistan, reputedly Bin Laden's summer retreat. We reckon he's camped out with his dialysis machine and wifi hooked up in these mud brick ruins, certainly looks like the latest CNN backdrops of his "broadcasts". We started our search in Northern Peru after chugging a lengthy 8 hours on a beaten up bus from Ecuador. One of the best border crossings yet with mosquitos nipping, locals shoving and entrepreneurs charging 30cents for a squat and self flush- don't ask.

Northern Peru is all desert, dust and ruins. El Nino brings rain every 8 years and plays havock on buildings, farmland and the preserved ruins. Earthquakes don't help either. Signs locating earthquake safety zones are everywhere. Not one of the most beautiful parts of the world but interesting nonetheless.

Arrived in Chiclayo late in the afternoon. Just enough time to check out the crazy Mercado Modelo where we heard the local brujos (witch doctors) pedalled cures and unidentifiable dried bits of animals. A bit of a chat with one of the shaymans revealed that we absolutely must have a blessing for our upcoming nuptuals. We were beckoned into his dark back office/urinal behind a drape of dried herbs and various other oddities (serious under-the-counter stuff). A minute later we returned to the light of the market a bit dazed after being spat on with the local hooch, mumbled at in rapid spanish and now clutching some feral looking amulets with who knows what inside and 30 soles poorer. Not really wanting to lug these ugly glass bottles around but feeling too superstitious to throw out our "love" amulets Stu stashed them in a "secret" place in Hotel Kalu never to be separated having first taken a souvenir snap, of course!

The Moche people left their mark on Northern Peru between 200BC and 850AD. A bit like the egyptians they believed strongly in the afterlife and therefore sacrifice and extravagant burials for the king poo-bahs were a big part of their culture. Huaqueros (grave robbers) took off with the gold from a few tombs but they were stopped before they found the real treasure. Lord Sipan (one of the king poo-bahs) was uncovered in the late 80s. His tomb was surrounded by the sacrificed bodies of young women, a musician, a priest, llamas, his pet dog, the head of the army and a guard with his feet chopped off so he couldn't scarper in the afterlife. All of the artefacts from the tombes of Sipan, including the Lord's bones are on display at the Tumbas Reales Museo de Sipan (above). Had lots of fun trying to decipher all of the spanish plaques here. After enjoying the museum we made a half hearted attempt to see the pile of dirt which is all that remains of the site but were thwarted by a minibus calling out "Sipan" but not actually going anywhere near the Sipan ruins.

No sign of Osama yet but walking the isolated road to the ancient Chimu citadel of Chan Chan we were sure we were going to spot him in the extensive ruins either side of us (photo at top and above). Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu people, which housed 60,000 people at the height of its power in 1300AD. A series of walled palaces and temples, each built solely for one king, and then walled up with the king and his sacrificed entourage when he died. All the buildings were entirely constructed from mud bricks, made and contributed as a form tax by the people. We were guided around the last made and only restored royal chamber, Tschudi by a knowledgable Peruvian archeologist who spoke French, Spanish and English but due to lack of funding is unable to work directly in her field. She pointed out the original frescos and reliefs. Tricky to tell the difference between the new and old to the untrained eye (the original is on the right).

The rather large room on the right was for the performance of sacrificial rituals to appease the gods. Gruesome details included the decapitation of the sacrificial lamb by the priest and drinking of their blood. It was believed that the blood was very powerful and enabled "visions". These "visions" were attributed to the large amounts of hallucinogenic, San Pedro cactus, that the person to be sacrificed was plied with and would still have been swimming around in their bloodstream when the priest took a cup so to speak.

Our ticket included entrance to the museum but by then energy was wanning and we probably didn't give it the effort it deserved. Could we be ruined out already?! A decent coffee back in Trujuillo and the promise of a shopping opportunity spurred us on to the Chimu pyramids of Huaco del Sol y Luna in the afternoon.

Each inverted pyramid was built purely for one king, much like the ryal chambers of Chan Chan. On the king´s death he was buried within the pyramid along with those coming along for the ride to the afterlife (40 to 50 graves were found surrounding the king in one pyramid). Then the pyramid would be filled in with bricks and a whole new pyramid would be built on top of the old. Archeologists are therefore still uncovering pyramids beneath. Photo below is of ongoing excavations of the city which lay between the separate sun and moon pyramids. Each pyramid was decorated in similar frescos like the one above. This one depicts a deity (not in the best mood, there are other ones where the deity is smiling but we liked this scary looking one) surrounded by geometric animals. In Northern Peru some pretty interesting real life animals can be found too. Hairless dogs with high body temperatures roam about the ruins and are much loved domestic pets. The expression "only a mother could love it!" springs to mind.

Tour over we were ready to buy a little piece of peruvian history for ourselves, replica of course. Whistling duck pottery or monkey vase, a tough choice. We went for the chimu monkey vase and hope it arrives safely in the UK. Mr and Mrs TOF look out for an interestingly wrapped parcel in the post ;-) Ok, enough of the David Attenborough spiel for now, there will be plenty more to come while we are in Peru. Hope all the Dad´s in OZ have a brilliant Father´s Day, thinking of you.

Lots of love,
Kaz and Stu xoxo

Bargain of the week: Our monkey pot, AUS$6

Arse of the week: Posting our monkey pot to Inglaterra, AUS$50

Meal of the week: Stu's family chicken and chips