Yes, that is a Peruvian hairless dog in the picture above. We saw it at one of the pyramids we visited.
Near Chiclayo is a world-class museum called the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, or Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum. This royal Moche tomb was discovered in the late 1900’s. The excavation found a treasure of artifacts reflecting a king’s burial site. As it turns out, succeeding generations often added a new layer to existing tombs, generally with more elaborate decorations and more people to attend them in the afterlife.
Unfortunately, I was only able to take an outside picture, as cameras are not allowed in the museum. All rights to images are owned by the National Geographic Society. Here is a link that might show a bit: “King of Bling” Tomb Sheds Light on Ancient Peru.
Both Ellen and I were fascinated by what we saw. It is strange that we don’t know more of the cultures of South America in the U.S.
Not to be outdone by Chiclayo, we visited the Huaca del Sol y Huaca de la Luna outside of Trujillo a few days later. These are two massive adobe pyramids, one dedicated to the moon, and the other to the sun. The moon one was built first. It is speculated that a period of El Niño caused the populace to lose confidence in their warrior priests, so they built a sun pyramid about a kilometer away. A city of 60,000, many artisans, lived in between. This was all done between 100 and 700 A.D. This was all started at about the same time as the imperial Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty.
The Moche required adobe bricks as part of their taxes. Bricks were marked with familial logos:
The temple of the moon had five different layers. It appears that the priests would occasionally decide to cover the entire existing structure, and cover it with a new one, with new art motifs, etc. The walls were also built in a manner that protected against earthquakes, with sections somewhat independent of each other.
All and all, it was quite impressive, and we were set up well by visiting the Lord of Sipan a few days earlier.
At the end of the tour we were dropped off at the El Sombrero Restaurante Touristico. It was filled with Peruvians, and is probably the closest one would get to a Vegas lounge in Trujillo. The chairs were all covered with fabric, and there was a stage in the center were an emcee introduced traditional dancing acts. After the dances, people from the crowd would go up and have their pictures taken with the dancers. The food was cheap and plentiful. We also got free Pisco Sours (the national cocktail of Peru).
On the walk back to our hotel, we heard music coming from behind a wall. There was a crowd of people, so we checked it out. It looked like the maharishi singing to a group of people in which the women all wore head coverings. Hmmmm….
You guys look like you’re having a great time!