Chiclayo, Peru travel guide: Chiclayo is the capital of the Lambayeque region and the commercial hub of northern Peru — a city of 900,000 that is almost…
Chiclayo is the capital of the Lambayeque region and the commercial hub of northern Peru — a city of 900,000 that is almost entirely absent from standard tourist routes despite having two of the most compelling reasons to visit the country. The first is the Lord of Sipán (Señor de Sipán): a Moche royal tomb discovered in 1987 at the village of Sipán, 35km from Chiclayo, that contained the most complete pre-Columbian royal burial assemblage ever found in the Americas. The gold, silver, and copper regalia — hundreds of pieces of goldsmithing, feathered garments, warrior regalia, and ceremonial objects — are displayed in the Museo de Tumbas Reales de Sipán, which was specifically built to house them. The museum opened in 2002 and is considered one of the finest pre-Columbian museums in South America. The second reason is the food. Northern Peruvian cuisine — built on centuries of coastal fishing, pre-Inca desert agriculture, and Afro-Peruvian culinary tradition — is considered by many Peruvian food professionals to be the most interesting regional cooking in the country. Seco de cabrito (goat stew), arroz con pato (duck rice), and ceviche de pato (duck ceviche) do not appear at Lima's top restaurants; they appear at Chiclayo's picanterías.
Crowd: busy · Noise: loud · Best time: Early morning 7–10am — Chiclayo's market culture is most alive before noon. Mercado Moshoqueque is one of the largest open-air markets in Peru and has a distinct section for medicinal plants, another for fresh seafood from the coast, and another for the prepared food picanterías. Saturday is the largest market day.
market, food, picanterías, medicinal-plants, northern-peru
Crowd: low · Noise: quiet · Best time: Tuesday–Sunday morning (Monday closed) — the museum is most worthwhile in a slow, thorough visit. Allow 2 hours minimum. Weekdays are quieter than weekends.
moche, museum, gold, archaeology, pre-columbian
In early 1987, objects from a looted site near Sipán village began appearing on the black market — goldwork of extraordinary quality that police traced back to huaqueros (illegal grave robbers) working a mound near the town. Archaeologist Walter Alva, director of the Brüning Museum in Lambayeque, was called to investigate. Police had arrested several looters; Alva identified the site and began emergency excavation. What he found below the already-looted upper layer was an undisturbed tomb — a complete royal burial sealed since approximately 300 CE. The wealth inside — hundreds of gold and silver pieces including a gold backflap, golden nose ring, earrings showing hunting scenes, a feathered headdress, a crescent-shaped gold headdress the height of a man, and the regalia of a warrior-priest of the Moche culture — was unlike anything previously found in context in the Americas. Alva spent the next years excavating and cataloguing the find under difficult conditions, with looters actively threatening his team. He published the findings internationally; the Peruvian government built the museum. The Lord of Sipán is now Peru's most significant pre-Columbian find.
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