Lambayeque is located almost 10min from Chiclayo. We didn’t visit the city itself, just crossed it very quickly. Lambayeque is a nice city, but definitely the greatest spots of this area aren’t in the city itself.

First we went to the “Complejo Arqueologico de Tucume” (Archeological Complex of Tucume), which is one of the country’s most important pre-inca centers because of its dimension and quality of its structures. Here we could see dozens of mud-brick pyramids formed around a sacred mountain “La Raya”.  These pyramids don’t have an end and they were built in stages. I mean, every governor built a floor of the pyramids. So they became higher, which each new governor. Until today they keep on finding new rests in the complex. You can see the archeologists working hard daily.

The main attraction of Lambayeque is the “Señor de Sipan” (Sipan’s Lord). I don’t know if you have heard about him. But it was a huge discovery some years ago. In 1987, a team of archaeologists led by Walter Alva found the skeleton of the Lord of Sipán 29 km from the city of Chiclayo in the department of Lambayeque, on Peru's north coast. It was hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds of the century. The structure found in Sipán is made up of three pyramids, one of which contained the warrior-priest accompanied by the bodies of his followers.

But more than just the spectacular nature of the discovery and the sterling quality of the relics, the Royal Tombs of the Lord of Sipán have enabled historians and archaeologists to piece together much of the lost history of an impressive civilization which dominated most of northern Peru for centuries: the Moche.

The archeologists found a very well preserved tomb from the 4^th Century BC. This Lord was one of the greates warlords for the Moche. So, he was buried with all the honors. He was buried with his head pointing south, his nose and ears covered with gold relics and his feet clad in silver. To accompany him, his subjects sacrificed women, children and llamas, while the finest warriors of the era accompanied their overlord on his voyage to the Afterlife. Even his dog was joining him. Also they found weapons, jewelry and food, everything to be used by the Lord in the next life.

After being away from Peru and exhibited in the States, Europe & Asia; the treasures of the Lord of Sipán are now on display at the Museum "Tumbas Reales de Sipán". There we could see everything the archeologist found in the tomb.

I would have loved going to the Tomb… well, something to do eventually ;)

Back at the hotel, we just picked up our stuff and went to the bus station in order to go to our next destination: Trujillo.

Ferreñafe is just 20min from Chiclayo. We woke up early and went to the main square, where we met the rest of the group and our guide. He didn't speak English, so I became a translator ;)

We saw the Santa Lucia’s Church, the main one in Ferreñafe, but the main attraction was the “Museo Nacional de Sican” (National Museum of Sican). Sican means Moon’s house in an ancient native language. Here you can find all the rests of the Sican culture, including tools, jewelry, mummies, etc. Here you would get a really good idea about how people lived in this area.  Their daily live is represented. Pictures inside the museum are forbidden.

Here we had lunch. I tried the “Causa Ferreñafana”. I was expecting a regular Causa, like in Lima. I mean a small dish, more like an appetizer. The causa is mashed potatoes fulfilled with crabmeat or tuna, but a small portion. But this causa was huge!!!! Besides what I described, it had a big piece of fried fish on the top! I needed help to finish my dish, which was really tasty :P

At Tucumbe you can see examples of the large pyramid structures built by the ancient cultures from around 11AD.

Ok pyramids seems a little strong a word given what is actually remaining, but there were certainly some pretty mighty and interesting structures built at this site.  At first sight, especially from ground level, they appear as if they could be just interesting rock formations.  However, they were actually built up using bricks and can be better viewed from the viewpoint across the site where you get an impression of how varied the landscape must have looked before they began to crumble....  And generally it is a very bizarre landscape to walk through, I went at a time when for a while there was hardly anyone else around and it was quite odd, just me and the vultures!

Back in the day these areas of fairly dry desert appear to have been occupied by pre-Inca tribes (precise names forgotten sorry, for further info see google!), and this particular site had unearthed some well preserved tombs in which ancient leaders were buried with sacrifices including llamas, dogs and people.  In one of the photos you can see a guy sitting cross-legged who was watching over the tomb, so like at Ingapirca I guess there were a number of people none too happy when they heard that the chief (or chiefess) had passed away and they would have to go with them...

The place also allowed some pretty excellent views of this dry landscape, including accompanying vultures which appear to be everywhere out in this countryside. 

Accompanying the site at Sipan are two museums located at a small (I´m sorry that all places are reduced to simply descriptions of ´small´or´large´but it really is quite difficult to gauge the sizes of these places) town outside Chiclayo called Lambayeque.  The first I visited had many of the artifacts recovered from the site at Sipan, and was housed in a surprisingly modern pyramid-shaped building that led you through the tombs as they had been discovered.  Recommended (for a museum!).

The second had further displays of gold, ceramics and other materials found at various ancient sites.  I pretended not to understand the instruction not to take photos and have a few shots for you (or rather to save me giving lengthy descriptions of what I saw!).