Chiclayo & Trujillo

• In the morning, you will be met in Trujillo and taken to your comfortable hotel. Later that day, you will have a city tour of Trujillo during which you will visit colonial, governmental, and religious monuments in this beautiful city. After the city tour, you will visit the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon before returning to your hotel for the evening.

• After breakfast at the hotel, you will visit the archaeological complex of Chan Chan, an enormous adobe city in the Moche Valley and one of the most important archaeological sites in Peru. Next you will be off to the tranquil beach town of Huanchaco, a fishing village for hundreds of years. In the late afternoon, you will take a scenic bus ride to the city of Chiclayo.

• Tour the Royal Tombs Museum, home to the Lord of Sipán, one of Peru’s most spectacular discoveries unearthed in 1987 and considered to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries from the last 50 years. Next you will tour the archaeological complex of Tucume, known as ‘The Valley of the Pyramids’. The Tucume complex is massive and includes 26 adobe pyramids that were built by the Sican civilization around 1,000 A.D. In the afternoon, you will be taken to the airport or bus station to return to Lima or to continue your journey.

• 2 nights at comfortable hotels based on US standards.
• Guided visits with English speaking tour guides.
• All transfers and entrance fees.
• All breakfasts.

Only 12 Km. from Chiclayo, Lambayeque is a lovely colonial town where you will visit the world renown National Archaeological and Anthropological Museum “Heinrich Brüning”, arguably the most important museum in northern Peru. The museums’ four stories house a collection of gold, silver, and copper objects from the several cultures that flourished in the region over the last 4,000 years. After the museum you will visit local colonial houses, the longest balcony in Peru at the Logia House, the San Pedro Cathedral, and the main plaza.

50 Km. to the east of Chiclayo, Batan Grande, nicknamed the “Pantry of Gold,” served as a religious and funerary grounds in the Sican culture. In 1937 sensational discoveries, such as the decorated Golden Tumis (ceremonial knives) and many other pieces from ancient Peru were made. Many of these pieces have attracted international attention. Located in the Milk River Valley, Batan Grande is located within what is now the Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary, and includes around 30 dispersed pyramids. There is also a small onsite museum. Within the forest is a huge mesquite tree, locally known as the Millenium Tree. Across the Milk River, the Japanese archaeologist Izumi Shimada uncovered two important tombs in the Parrot Pyramid, pertaining to high dignitaries and filled with numerous gold pieces.

Leaving Trujillo on the Pan-American Highway and traveling north towards the Chicama Valley, you will see extensive sugar cane plantations. This is where the majority of Peru’s sugar production takes place, with the two principal factories being Cartavio and Casa Grande. Before arriving to Chocope, you will turn towards the west towards “El Brujo” (the Witch) where there is an archaeological complex formed by 3 pyramids: Cao, Partida, and Prieta. The researcher Junnius Bird found evidence of human occupation that is over 5,000 years old in the Prieta pyramid. In the Cao pyramid polychromatic paintings have been found on several levels representing prisoners, dancers, fishing scenes, war scenes, and depictions of Moche mythology. In 2006 archaeologists found a complexly tattooed mummy dubbed the Lady of Cao and dated to be from around 450 A.D. The Lady of Cao, thought to have been an important warrior or even an important Moche leader, has caused archaeologists to reconsider their assumptions that the Moche society was exclusively male-dominant.