CHICLAYO & TRUJILLO

Day 1: Flight Lima / Chiclayo

Arrival in Chiclayo´s airport and transfer to the hotel in Chiclayo.

Day 2: FD Tucume + Royal Tombs Museum + Sican

In the morning start the tour and visit the 26 pre-Columbian pyramids of
Tucume. It was here that Norwegian explorer and
anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl conducted
excavations from 1988-94 to discover burial sites,
textiles, and depictions of reed boats, proving
that the ancient people of Tucume were
experienced sea voyagers and traders. After
lunch, visit the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum,
where many of the Lord of Sipan riches are
displayed. Finish the tour with Sican. Hotel in
Chiclayo. (B/L)

Day 3: AM Tourist bus Chiclayo to Trujillo. (3 hrs)

Arrival and transfer to the hotel in Trujillo. You have time to make a short
tour that includes the main attractions of the city and the archaeology
Museum. Hotel in Trujillo. (B)

Day 4: FD Sun & Moon Temple + Chan Chan + Huanchaco

In the morning, after breakfast, start the tour and
visit the archaeological ruins, the Americas' largest
Pre-Columbian mud city "Chan Chan" and the huge
Moche pyramids, the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca
de la Luna. The day also includes a trip to the
picturesque fishing village of Huanchaco to enjoy
some of the best traditional sea food Peru has to
offer. At night transfer to the bus station to take
the overnight bus to Lima. (B)
22.15 p.m. Overnight Bus Cruz del Sur Trujillo - Lima
 Chiclayo
This idyllic colonial city is the capital of the department of Lambayeque, a fertile region that
gave rise to the Moche culture, a highly organized, class-based society that dominated Peru's
northern coast for 800 years until about 800 A.D.

Founded in the 1560s by Spanish priests, Chiclayo is a jumping off point to explore and
appreciate some of the most impressive archaeological discoveries Latin America has to offer.

Only 22 miles (35km) away is Huaca Rajada, where archaeologist Walter Alva in 1987
discovered the undisturbed gold and jewel-filled royal burial site of a warrior priest, known as
the "Lord of Sipán.” Often called "the Tutankhamen of the Americas," it is widely considered the
richest single archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere. There, Alva also discovered, the
tombs of "El Sacerdote" (The Priest) and the tomb of the "Viejo Señor de Sipan" (Old Lord of
Sipán).

Chiclayo is also famous for some of the finest Peruvian cuisine, serving up arroz con pato (duck
served with rice) and the local variation of cebiche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice).

The city celebrates the festival of Santísima Cruz de Chalpón in February, which falls in summer
in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a good time to visit nearby Pimentel, a modern beach resort
popular with surfers. Local fishermen there still breast the waves with the caballitos de totora,
the pointed reed rafts that have been used along the north coast for thousands of years.

Brüning National Archaeological Museum,

specializes in Moche, Labayeque/Sicán and Chimu cultures,
and its Gold Room houses one of the finest collections of relics
in the Americas. The Tumbas Reales de Sipán Museum,
built in the shape of a pyramid, is the official depository for the
treasure trove from the Lord of Sipán excavation.

Batán Grande, 31 miles (50km) from Chiclayo, is a complex of

some 50 adobe pyramids from the Sicán period, 900 A.D. to
1100 A.D., where some of the finest examples of pre-
Columbian gold artifacts were discovered in ornate tombs.
 Túcume, an extensive complex of 26 Moche ruins 22 miles
(35km) north of Chiclayo. The site is also known as the valley
of the Pyramids.

Pampa grande is the remains of a Moche city and ceremonial

center, inhabited some 1,400 years ago by as many as 10,000
people. The ruins are located about 15.5 miles (25km) from
Sipán, and lie near Chongoyape, a pleasant town that also
boasts an ancient aqueduct system and several interesting
ruins.

Trujillo
This northern city, located on the seaward edge of a vast desert plane, is rich in pre-Columbian,
colonial and modern history. The most important archaeological attractions are within easy reach
of the city. Trujillo, founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1534, features many
jewels of colonial architecture in the main square and narrow surrounding streets.

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu Empire, which appeared on the Peruvian coast around
1100 A.D. Covering several acres, the Tschudi temple-citadel is the largest and most frequently
visited sector of the ruins. The Huaca de la Luna, a ritual and ceremonial site recently restored
with funds from a national brewery, and the Huaca del Sol next to it, were built by the Moche
civilization around 500 A.D.

El Brujo is a 247-acre (100 hectares) archaeological complex, whose first inhabitants were
nomads and hunter and gatherer tribes more than 5,000 years ago. The Moche Culture built
pyramids used for religious rituals and sacrifices for more than 700 years until around 700 A.D.
Viejo temple. In one of them, archaeologist Regulo Franco discovered the mummified remains
of a woman decorated with tattoos of snakes and spiders. Dubbed "The Lady of Cao," the
woman is believed to have been the first known female ruler of pre-Columbian Peru — a
Cleopatra of South America. Her body was covered in cinnabar (mercury sulphur), which
prevented decomposition by inhibiting insects from laying eggs, and she was adorned with
accessories and jewelry crafted from copper and gold.

About seven miles (12km) from Trujillo, the fishing village of Huanchaco offers visitors a sandy,
peaceful beach, strewn with small fishing boats fashioned from reeds. There are also excellent
seafood restaurants, a long, somewhat dilapidated, pier and a crafts market.

Known for the hospitality of its residents, Trujillo hosts a festival in the last week of January
featuring a competition of the elegant but seductive marinera dance.

The Cathedral, built 1666, destroyed by an earthquake in

1759 and reconstructed in 1781, is an important repository of
Cusco colonial paintings and sculptures and altarpieces of
Baroque and Rococo styles.

Chan Chan is the 28-square-mile (75km2) capital of the Chimu

Empire, which dominated the region from about 1000 A.D.
until about 1470 A.D. It is the largest pre-Columbian city in
the Americas, and the largest mud city in the world. Built
around 1300 A.D., Chan Chan at its height had an estimated population of 60,000 people.

The "Huaca del Sol" (Sun) and "Huaca de la Luna" (Moon) are huge pyramids built by the
Moche culture some 700 years before the Chimu. The Huaca de la Luna contains chambers that
were filled with ceramics, precious metals and polychrome friezes. The Huaca del Sol, originally
built from more than 140 million adobe bricks, is the largest pre-Columbian structure in Peru.

El Brujo is a sprawling archaeological complex with some of the most impressive friezes in the
area, including multicolored depictions of life-sized priests, warriors, prisoners and human
sacrifices. In 2005, archaeologists discovered the tomb of the mummy Señora del Cao, believed
to be the first known female ruler of pre-Columbian Peru — likened to a South American
Cleopatra.