After the fairly crappy day which was Saturday I headed out on my guided tour on Sunday. I have to admit to being fairly excited about the prospect of having people to talk to after two days of my own company in crappy hotel rooms.
Arriving at the tour company I got told off for not waiting for the transport from the hotel. I had had an attack of insecurity that the transport wouldn't appear and decided to walk to the office. I tried to communicate this to the receptionist at my hotel, but obviously didn't make myself clear enough.
I was extremely pleased to meet a Japanese girl and an American woman whilst waiting for the group to arrive, wasn't so happy when I was told to sit in the back of the bus because I'm 'bigger' than them! Great way to help my ego after a day of feeling fairly low.
The tour began in Sipán where we mostly learnt about El Señor de Sipán and the way in which he was buried. Our guide worked very hard to keep us all together and impart the information in both Spanish and English. It was all very interesting, however I tend to like wandering in museums and taking the information in at my own speed - usually much faster than the guide! I won't bore you with the details of the relics, you can follow the links yourself if you want to find out more. The information that has stayed stuck in my mind, is the fact that in one of the tombs (sorry, can't remember which one), is the body of a woman who had been made to drink poison, then pushed into the tomb where she died and was then buried. My American friend and I decided it would be nice one day to find a tomb of some ancient civilization where it was the woman who died of natural causes and the men pushed into the tomb!
One hilarious part of the tour was definitely the guide, he was most insistent about where the best places to take pictures were and several times told us we should take photos of the printed information so that we would not forget!
During the tour I started to chat to a Peruvian guy who lives, and grew up, in Sweden. I thought he was a bit annoying at first but as the day went on realised he just enjoyed taking the piss out of everything. My kind of person! On our way to lunch we were joined by a German guy.
Did you hear the one about the Swedish Peruvian, the German and the English girl?
Well, at museum number two, where the original artefacts of El Señor are held, we all started to mess around a bit. Our poor guide was working so hard, but we kept wandering off. The majority of the information was a repetition of what we'd learnt in the morning. Additionally, the artefacts are incredibly beautiful and I just wanted to enjoy them. German guy kept telling me off - in a jokey way. I told him I was trying to incite some anarchy!
The last visit was to the pyramids of Tücume - which was the place I really wanted to see, from a photographic viewpoint. Unfortunately when we arrived we were told we were too late to go into the museum (even after trying to bribe the guard!). However, luckily, we adopted a new mini guide called Junior, who snuck us in round the back. We had to turn right by the cows; traverse the dung heap; through the trees; lo and behold there were the pyramids.
They really are an impressive site as at first glance they look like mounds of earth, then you realise that they have been constructed with adobe bricks. They are huge! It was also really cool to find out about these amazing pre-Incan civilizations. Normally when you think of Peru, you think Inca. Yet there are so many more archaeological sights dating back long before them.
Having spent a great deal of the day laughing and joking with my two amigos, I decided to delay my onward journey to Chachapoyas by one day so that I could go out and drink some beers with them in the evening. Antonio kindly helped me get a room at his hotel and we went out later to meet the German and surprise him (he didn't know I'd decided to stay).
A great evening ensued. We couldn't find a bar at first so we bought some beer and sat drinking them in the town square. Later on we went to a bar/club - it wasn't very busy, but they served good mojitos! I enjoyed dancing with Antonio - he was definitely up for ridiculous dancing and it's always entertaining to see the Latino reaction to a white girl (or gringa) shaking her stuff on the dance floor.
Eventually the night came to an end and we all departed to crash.
Yesterday I hung out with Jan (the German) until I got my bus to Chachapoyas in the evening. I thought I'd been very clever ordering a vegetarian meal for the bus, but no, not that clever, they didn't have anything vegetarian. Had a wonderful meal of carbs - rice, potato and yuca, avoiding the meat content.
My neighbour on the bus was a rather large Peruvian gentleman, who squished me somewhat once he fell asleep. Note to self - make sure you ask for a seat next to another female type person.
I arrived in Chachapoyas at about 5am and for once didn't have to argue with a taxi driver about the hotel I wanted to go to. After a wait of about an hour or so, I had my own room with a choice of two beds, tv, table and chairs, bathroom and a balcony with a view over the main square. Perfecto!
I've had a very chilled day thinking about where I want to go and what I want to see over the next few months - it's been really lovely to be in a space where it's been comfortable to do that.
Tomorrow I visit Kuélap.
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