Chiclayo

Sunday:
We left the hotel at 8:00 and took a cab to the Plaza de Armas. We stopped in the tourist information desk, and the lady said she would be able to get a tour for us at 9 and get us back to the bus station by 5 (our Chiclayo to Trujillo bus left at 5:30). 
This being Peru, it was not surprising that our tour didn't actually end up hitting the road until about 10:30. It was just us and an older French couple. 
First they took us to the Museo Nacional Sican in the city of Ferrenafe. It was really cool. My favorite part was the recreation of 2 of the tombs that they found in the area. In the first, the nobleman was buried upside down in the fetal position, with all of his valuable possessions to take with him to the afterlife. Two women were sacrificed to be buried with him. One was put in the position of giving birth and the other in the position of the midwife, and this is believed to be for the purpose of aiding him in being reborn on the other side. 

The other tomb they discovered was of a relative of the first guy (uncle maybe? I can't remember). Twenty-two women and one child were sacrificed to be buried with him.
After we were done at that museum, we drove to the Santuario Historico Bosque de Pomac. It's a forest full of mesquite trees. We stopped at one called the 'millenium tree,' which isn't 1000 years old, unlike the name implies, but which is hundereds of years old and is worshipped by some people because it's thought to give good energy.

 Our next stop was the Pyramids of Tucume, the site of adobe pyramids constructed by the Chimu culture and used later by the Incas. (Not the Cusco Incans, but a smaller, less powerful group in the area). We climbed the Cerro Purgatorio (Purgatory Hill) and had a beautiful view of the area from up high. I would also like to mention that it was actually sunny all day. All day. And I wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt because I was expecting shitty weather like the last 3 days. 
After the pyramids, she took us to the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan. I was really excited for that one, because my guidebook made it sound really cool. But I was kind of pooped by that point, and hungry, since she decided to delay lunch til 3:30 since the restaurant was busy. But it was still cool! The museum is dedicated to the Lord of Sipan, whose tomb they discovered, and it's a relatively new and nice museum. There was a lot a lot of gold that they took from the tombs, and we got to see his bones, so that was exciting :) but they didn't allow pics, so I have no documentation of this one. 
Afterwards, we went to the restaurant, then they drove us back to our hotel to pick up our bags, and then to the bus station. 
We had an uncomfortable 3 hour bus ride back to Trujillo. First we watched a Spanish dubbed biopic with Cuba Gooding Jr. playing a pediatric brain surgeon who separated conjoined twins. I would recommend it! Then we watched a movie with the guy from Growing Pains playing an angry fireman with an internet porn addiction, who's marriage is dissolving. But luckily his father is around to lead him back to Jesus, as his wife is drifting away from him and into the arms of a baby-faced nerdy doctor. We didn't get to see the end but sources tell me that all turned out well. However, I have to give this one 2 thumbs down. I'm disappointed in the way your career has turned out, Kirk Cameron, and I'm sure you are, too. The one redeeming quality is that at one point, they put Jesus' face in a tree stump. I think they were trying to do one of those tricky Disney things, but it was a Christian production company, so instead of doing something dirty, they just Jesus' face in a tree stump. If you ever have to suffer through this movie, watch for it!
We got to Trujillo, walked a couple blocks to the other bus station, and waited for 2 hours for our bus to Lima to leave. The food stand was selling candy toys that had balloons that you blow up and then let the air squeak out of them. Remember doing that with balloons as kids? I sure do. And now I would like to apologize to anyone who was ever in the vicinity when I did. One kid bought the toy and immediately every small child in the bus station ran to their parents and demanded one of their own. Luckily, a year of employment at Christ Kid's Child Care has given me the ability to take a few deep breaths, go to my happy place, and tune out the noise of a large group of obnoxiously loud children.
I popped my dramamine an hour before our bus left, so as soon as I reclined my bus seat, I was out like a light. And delighted to be back in my own house (or the closest thing to my own house on this side of the equator) at 8:30 the next morning!