Pimentel Sunset...

My cousin Mary, Julio's mom, had a birthday today! I had decided that I wanted to make it special for her so I cooked some Sancocho which is this Colombian soup that is delicious! I woke up super early to go to the market and get all the ingredients I needed to cook. The market in Chiclayo is so cute. It's alot smaller than the ones in Lima and it was just down the street from my aunts house. I didn't feel unsafe at all. I even bargained a little when buying some plantains! I've never been really good at that. So I started cooking everything and we had actually planned on going to the beach before lunch but with the cooking and the time and having people come over it really didn't give us enough time. Lunch ended up being fabulous, I have to admit!

eating lunch




Claudia and Raquel

After we ate I took a little nap. I was exhausted from all the cooking and serving and just everything. Later on that evening I realized it would be a perfect day to go to Pimentel and just watch the sunset. So me, Mary and Julio decided to go to the beach. First we ent downtown to get a cremolada! Ah I just love those things! After that we hopped on a combi headed to Pimentel. Well all these kids ended up getting and they were so loud and annoying and singing and augh! I just wanted to get out of there. We finally got there and walked around on the beach. There is this long pier that goes really far into the ocean. The wood is pretty old and kinda cracked and scary looking. I just tried not to think about it and not look down to often. We walked and walked and then we got to a point where the worker people wouldn't let us pass. Apparently they were unloading fishing boats so people can't be down there all in there way. I was bummed but we were still pretty far into the ocean. I took alot of pictures and we just enjoyed the beauty of it all. We were freezing but it was still awesome. I'm going to miss these sunsets!


eating delicious cremoladas!


the pier we walked upon


cute little old lady standing on the pier


Pimentel


where our journey ended on the pier




we had a blast


bringing in a load of fish


bringing in another load


the rickety wood




there is nothing more peaceful than to feel the wind in your hair while watching the sunset




Pimentel sunset

When we got back from the beach we realized it was already almost 7 pm and Nalva had already left to go to the bus station because she was leaving to go back to Brazil today and we took too long to get back! We left in such a hurry. We stood on the side of the street for sooo long trying to find a colectivo. We gave up and just got in a taxi. Well we weren't sure where the bus station was exactly so we ended up getting lost! We literally had to run down a long street to get to the place. The taxi driver got so annoyed with us because we didn't know exactly where we were going. Ah! well we made it! the bus was actually late on leaving so they were all still sitting around. it was so sad to say good bye. Nalva is such a sweet girl. My cousin Mary left before me and Julio because she had some meeting. So me and Julio just walked from there to down town. It wasn't too far but it was a pretty long walk. It was nice though. I love walking everywhere. We ended up seeing that hippie guy Miguel on the street selling some jewelry. We ended up just hanging out with him for a while. He showed me ho to make some bracelets but it just seemed so complicated. I hope i can buy some of the leather sandals he makes before I leave!


waiting for a colectivo


saying bye to Nalva. me, Nalva, mary and Julio




I love to shop!


I love these sandals!


me, Julio, and Miguel

When we got back to the house there were some people over and waiting for us to sing Happy Birthday to Mary. They had bought her 2 cakes! One was a 3 leches cake and the other one was some Brazilian cake..They were both really good!

Church in Tuman...

Julio pastors at a church in a little town called Tuman. He's been there for almost a year I think. I really wanted to hear one of his sermons so I decided to go to church with him. The town is pretty far away from Chiclayo, maybe about an hour or so, but riding in a combi it takes about 2. So we had to leave around 7 am to get there by 9. We took a colectivo from the house to another location where all the little buses and combis pile up and take people to other little towns including Tuman. It was really hectic! There were people all over with all these huge potato sack type bags with vegetables and fruit. They come into town to buy mass amounts of stuff to go and sell back there. So in order to get a seat you really have to just jump in and try to beat everyone to it. Luckily there were 2 combis going to Tuman, so while everyone was all running to get into one of them another came by and we got on really quick. It got packed fast though! The ride was uncomfortable, bumpy, and stinky. That many people just shouldn't be crammed together in one little van type car. The worst was when we would pick up women and they would get on wearing soo much strong, heavy smelling perfume. I thought I would pass out at any minute!Well we finally got there and we still had to walk a little ways to get to the church property. We had to walk down this long dirt road. Kinda sketchy. There weren't people around or anything. We got to the church and my cousin actually lives there so since it didn't start for another hour I just took a nap until it was time.

The church is really small. But I liked it. The children got up and sang. There was this little girl that was just too cute. She was albino. She just had the prettiest face and she was really sweet. Julio preached so well. I was shocked not that it was good but just to see him up there. He is just usually really shy and quiet. He did a really good job though! After church I played with these 2 little kids they were so cute and they just wanted me to take pictures of them. They were adorable.







Julio preaching

Lambayeque...

Today Julio took me to the museum "Tumbas Reales", which means Royal Tombs. It is the museum for "El Señor Sipan". He was this leader of the Moche people. Here is a little excerpt that kinda explains it:

"The Lord of Sipán (El Señor de Sipán) is a mummy found in Sipán by Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva in 1987. The tomb is in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, an area in Chiclayo.

The Lord of Sipán tomb is a Moche culture site in Peru. Some archaeologists hold it to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in this region of the world in the last 30 years, because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves.

Sipán is located in the northern part of Peru, close to the coast, in the middle of Lambayeque Valley, 35 km east of Chiclayo. Four tombs have been found in Sipán's Huaca Rajada, the huaca is a mausoleum built by the Moche culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru from around 1 AD to 700 AD, centuries prior to the Incas."

Museum:

"Royal Tombs Museum of Sipán houses most of the important findings that Dr. Walter Alva Alva found in 1987. He was the one who prompted the construction of a museum (Royal Tombs of Sipán) which was inaugurated in 2002. The museum is located in the town of Lambayeque (which also happens to be in the "state" of Lambayeque) in Peru. The museum itself is constructed to look similar to the ancient Moche tombs (with the exception of giant golden figures on the side). What is unique about the museum is that Dr. Alva lives very close to the museum and his first wife, whom he found the Lord of Sipán with, is buried on the front lawn of the museum.

The obvious main attraction is the Lord of Sipan and his eight guests that went to the after world with him. The warriors that were buried with him were buried with amputated feet so they wouldn't run away from the tomb; the women had their ceremonial clothes on, dogs, llamas, and 80+ huacos (Peruvian pottery)."

So cameras aren't allowed in the museum at all which I was pretty bummed about. It was amazing in there though. It actually had the actual remains of this guy. It was just surreal. All his jewelry and clothing was so intricate and fine. It really blew me away. At the end of the little tour of the museum you go int othis big room where there are all these human like figures all set up how the ceremonies in that time would have been. They lights turned on and all they all started moving and music started and it was just so cool and amazing. I always wonder how people now can figure out so many details about the way these people lived and were back then. That just boggles my mind!

Museo Tumbas reales

me and Julio

Outside of the museum was pretty awesome too. There I was able to take pictures. They have it all set up to how their houses would've been back then. In the little houses they had stuff for sale. And in one they had ceviche and other food to eat. They also had Chicha de Jora. This is a traditional drink that the Incas drank for rituals and in religious festivals. It is made out of fermented maize of Jora. You have to acquire a taste for it. I used to not like it but after drinking it again a few times I started to. So me and Julio bought a jug of it. It was really good too! I loved the little gord cups they gave us to drink out of too.

Chicha de Jora

I love Chicha de jora!

the little women selling it




how their ceremonies were possibly like





there were so many cool designs








I love this one!











After we left the museum Julio took me to "Casa Montjoy", it was built in the XVI century, and has the largest colonial balcony in Peru! It's 67 meters long! It wraps around the entire house. It was declared a national monument in 1963. It was awesome! We had to pay 1 sol to be able to go inside the whole house. It was really old and rustic inside. Probably would be really scary to be there at night. The balcony was huge too. The lady told us to be careful though because the wood is so old it could possibly break! After we left there we walked around some in the little town. It was such a cute little place.










this was just in some random destroyed room. I loved it!










the walls were all crazy and rusty looking






a hallway


writing on the wall






there's Julio all the way down there!


there's me all the way down there!








I climbed to the top of the roof and the lady yelled at me to get down..Apparently the roof isn't very sturdy!


the cathedral




I saw these little old men just hanging out on a bench. I thought they were so cute!


this was the municipalidad I think that's like City Hall or something