The supposed best bus company in Peru, Cruz del Sur´s seats push your head forward making it very uncomfortable to sit in any way upright - you need to lean your chair right back to be comfortable. Still the journey north to large town/small city Chiclayo passed soundly enough. Upon getting there I quickly transferred my big backpack to the next bus company for my onward journey that night and headed to Lambayeque, home of Museum Tumbas Reales de Sipan.
This Museum houses amazing artefacts, pottery, jewelry and human remains from a culture around 1300 years old, the Mochicas. The aethestic style of their art is quintessially Peruvian and for me very evocative of damn pagan dirt-worshippers. The feature, the tomb of the Lord of Sipan was discovered in 1987, but the museum has been many years in the creation, and immerses visitors gradually into the spectacular and intriguing journey to the afterlife the Mochicas created for their dead Lord. They used gold, silver and copper to form almost prohibitively large and ornate jewelry for his decoration, and buried 8 people, a few llamas and a dog with him. Of course they incorporated their multi-deity religion and worship of nature in these works. These pieces would be worth millions, considering only the human remains and final crypt diorama are reproductions. It was indeed impressive; of course no photos sorry¡
I was not intending to write this next rant into this blog, but after having one last dishonest and despicable experience where two robbers attempted to take my bag by distracting me in Chiclayo, I will. On a side note they weren`t very smart or good - they tried it on when i had an open knife in my hand and weren´t particular fast once i gave chase, dropping the bag.
I did not know it was possible to hate a place so much as Peru. Which is interesting, considering the romantic ideals one might have of it sitting comfortably in Australia reading a coffee table book. The place is a festering wound that exudes the filth of failed capitalism. Essentially everyone`s life revolves around money, and from my perspective it seems the idea of community building is non-existent. To be fair there is community here and in many ways people are closer and more accepting of each other than in Australia - people help each other in their daily lives and families are very close. Well, they have to be as most families live under one roof, even in Lima.
But what pisses me off the most is that many don`t think twice before lying through their teeth to you. The other part that disgusts me is the role of men in society and how they sleaze themselves onoto women, particularly Western women. Again lying is perfectly acceptable in their view, but it doesn`t stop there. Direct sexual harassment and stalking is also normail behaviour. This would not be quite as bad if the same privileges were afforded to the women also. Shy, quiet and intended to be seen and not heard, women also are expected to perform the most menial jobs without complaint. In the streets their men hold them protectively, showing others that `this one´s taken`. Many guide books warn travellers about this `machismo` and advise women to ignore it - this seems like a cop out to me, considering the amount of money Peru makes from tourism I think some more direct pressure should be put upon the government to educate people on some more acceptable global norms regarding this and the general harassment I mentioned before. Yes, I just sent this rant to the Peruvian government aswell. It certainly has put me off coming back to Peru if I can help it (except that I have to to get to Buenos Aires :)
So after almost being robbed I got on the overnight bus to Chachapoyas, or ´The northern Cuzco´.
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