This morning the group split up for two different trips. One group went to Cajamarca to see an ancient Peruvian city where the Spanish captured one of the last leaders or Inca's and held him for ransom. The other group took busses to the Lambayeque Valley to see the vast Adobe pyramid cities that were built by the Moche people over several centuries from 100 AD to 650 AD.
The first spot we went to was the burial point for the Lord of Sipan or Warrior Priest. This bloody ruler engaged in human sacrifice at the Valley of the Moon temple, which we visited yesterday. Some of the same weapons he used for sacrificing captured soldiers from other cultures, perhaps to appease the weather Gods, were buried with him. These rituals were done to give offering to the Decapitator, an eight-legged mythical creature of the Moche people. In the photo you can see the adornment and care given to his burial. Around him were placed his wife, concubines, guards, watchmen, animals, and even a child. The gold and copper pieces are recreations as the original material is in the Bruning Museum, which we visited in the late afternoon.
We also went to Tucume which is a huge city of adobe bricks that has given way to the passage of time and weather and is quickly becoming part of the landscape. We were able to walk up to where the tallest pyramid was built against the volcanic hills. It was quite a view. You could almost imagine a bustling city of the Moche as they went about their daily life.
