high above the streets below...

…I sit in my enormous and climate controlled five star hotel room trying to figure out whether or not staying here was the right choice. My bathroom with separate bathtub and shower is larger than some of the rooms I have had over the last few weeks.  This luxury thing is nice and I am sure I could get use to it. But the reality is I only have so many Marriott points to spread around and this hotel is no different than one in Chicago, Seattle or San Diego. I am here to experience South America not posh digs and superb customer service.   The king size, 6 pillow comfort with ice I can use is very nice though.

 

How about we have a little chat about real South America and the beauty and filth that is Peru? After leaving Mancora and the beach I took the advice of the hotel manager and took a right down a road through a field of oil pumps and pipelines.  I never would have been on that road without and recommendation. I trusted the advice and kept driving.  After about an hour I found a road under the pipeline and out onto the beach.  Oh wait I talked about that in my Randomness post.  Let’s just ahead to my visit to the shaman.

 

So I woke up in Chiclayo and headed east into the mountains and the ruins of Sipan.  Sipan is a tiny little town, dirt streets and roofless cinderblock homes in the middle of an amazing valley.  It reminded me a lot of the Coachella Valley of Southern California actually.  Massive lifeless desert mountains framing a green fertile valley but instead of golf courses and condos  there were sugar cane farms and irrigation canals.  The Sipan ruins are small, still being excavated and world famous for their preservation.  National Geographic ran two articles on them back in the late 90s when they were first unearthed.  If you want the real reason I went there it’s because my guide book regarded them as a true Indiana Jones adventure (people were killed over the treasure during its’ discovery 15 years ago) and what kid my age didn’t grow up worshipping Harrison Ford in either his Han Solo or Indiana Jones personas?  So out I went to the tiny ruins, possibly no larger than a football field, or futbol pitch as it were, and gazed upon a skeleton of a warrior exactly where it had been placed a few thousand years ago.   And also the skeleton of a priest, and a king, and some children.  And the immaculately preserved pottery. Amazing. 

 

Back into Chiclayo I went.  Parked at the hotel and went to see the Shaman.  The market in town was large and like all SA markets has dozens of booths stacked on top of each other selling the same knock of nike backpacks and tshirts, then rows and rows of shoes, purses, clothing. What makes the Chiclayo market unique is the southwest corner. It’s a collection of fortune tellers, shaman and sooth sayers.  If the tarot cards, robed septuagenarians , and mystical music didn’t give away the product for sale the massive amounts of incense, marijuana and BO would have. If I’d been one to partake the amounts of hallcenignes was unlimited.  As far as I could tell something similar to peyote was the chosen method for dreamweaving in Peru. I asked about it but couldn’t understand the replies.  I search for an English speaker to give my money too but no luck.  The last thing I wanted was to miss out on my fate and future because it got lost in translation.  So I took in the odor of the area,  bought some bananas and another Vallencia jersey and walked back to the hotel.  I stayed another night and had a excellent dinner of grilled chicken and French fries.   I have taken the approach in Peru that I roll without a schedule.  No alarm clocks, no pushing myself too late into the day.  Wake up and drive.  When I get tired I stop.  If I want to keep going I do. That would change dramatically on my way to Huaraz the following day.  But guess what?  It’s check out time here in the I’ll have to finish this story from another bed or café later tonight.  Chances is are it won’t be with 6 pillows, a/c and a down comforter though.  Time to get back to life on the road.