On my way to Chachapoyas

    

In July, I landed my first teaching job in a remote town in northern Peru: the Amazonia Region of the country in a town by the name of Chachapoyas. Population of 20,000. It would be at a small school by the name of International Language Center and I would begin at the end of July! I was so excited to be starting my new career as an English teacher and could travel way up north and see parts of Peru that I would not have dreamed about going to! I would not be paid a "salary"; however, I would be getting a "stipend" which would more than cover my living expenses. I decided to take a combination of buses and planes to make the journey from Cusco to Chachapoyas. I wanted to stay a few days in Lima on my way up north so I contacted my friend Jenny Ramirez from my TEFL class in Cusco, to see if I could stay with her and her family in Lima. Only problem was that they did not have a phone or internet at their home so to contact them, I had to call Walter's brother and he would call Walter on his phone that belonged to his brother. Another problem was that Walter's brother spoke no English! They did not even check their email everyday so it would take a few days for us to communicate for every change of plans, etc. I gave my updated information by email and confirmed it with a telephone call to Walter. I arrived at the Cusco airport in plenty of time to catch my flight to Lima but the airport was completely fogged in and they were closing the airport until the fog cleared. They had no idea how long that would be! I was panic stricken. It was very hard for me to communicate with the Ramirez family so this was going to be a challenge! We waited 2 hours for the airport to finally open again and I called Walter's brother while we were boarding to get a message to Walter to call me as the flight was delayed! Miraculously, Walter called me before the final boarding and he said they would meet me. The whole family met me at the airport and were the most gracious hosts in their very humble home in Lima. The following pictures are of my time in Lima with the Ramirez family:

Sites in Lima

President's home

Walter Ramirez and their 2 sons at a Mercado near their home.

In front of the Presidential Palace

To get to Chachapoyas from Lima, I could either take a 24 hour bus ride or fly to Chiklayo and then get on an overnight bus that left at 7 and arrived at 5AM. There were no commercial flights into Chachapoyas! The thought of spending 24 hours on a bus did not feel right to me, so decided to fly to Chiklayo. The only problem was that there was only 1 flight/day and it left at 6AM and arrived at 8AM. I would have to spend the entire day there waiting for the bus to take me to Chachapoyas! I lined up a full day tour that would take me to some recently found archaeological sites and to a new museum that housed all the artifacts that were being dug up. Walter told me that it was not safe for me to be getting a taxi at 4AM, in the dark, so he got up and hailed a taxi for me and accompanied me to the airport! Such nice people! I will be forever grateful for all their help! 

Chiclayo day tour

Pyramids at Tucume

Moche civilization

I was met at the airport by a representative of the tour company and the tour took us to an important settlement of Lambayeque culture. Here we saw numerous pyramids on the plains of Tucume which are part of the Lambayeque Valley, the largest valley of the North Coast of Peru.The following pictures are of the pyramids and the archaelogical sites.

Large amounts of pottery found in the tombs

Pyramids here show the effects of extreme weather

Recreation of findings from a tomb. The artifacts are housed in a museum nearby that we toured after

Vastness of the site

Me resting at the top of the archaelogical site

Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum
The Royal Tombs of Sipán exhibits the most important archaeological remains of the Mochikan culture in an exceptional exhibition that combines maximum scientific accuracy, security and enjoyment to show the jewels, emblems and ornaments found in 1987 in the tomb of a Mochica government leader called the Lord of Sipan.
Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum opened in the city of Lambayeque, to provide adequate housing for the remains of the treasures of Lord of Sipan.
This museum, one of the most important in the Americas, is considered to be the "Museum of 21st. century".

One of his many earrings: made of turquoise and gold

His jewelry and ornaments which indicate he was of the highest rank, include pectoral, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings, helmets, falconry and bracelets. Most were of gold, silver, copper, gold and semi-precious stones. In his tomb, were found more than 400 jewels.

One of the displays was a recreation of what the people looked like based upon all the artifacts that were found at the archaelogical sites

    

Lord of Sipan wearing all his gold, etc.

One of his many collars

Another collar made of shells