Thursday (Jueves) 8th July, 2010
Day 482


Sipan, Peru
Sipan, Peru
Miles: 48,122
S 06.79935°
W 79.60014°



This morning after a late start we continued north through more coastal desert towards the city of Chiclayo. The sun was trying to come out from behind the clouds and the temperatures made it as far as the mid 70°F.


Just before Chiclayo we decided to take a detour to an archeological site in the town of Sipan. Our trusty GPS soon had us on a minor dirt road heading away from the Panamericana. We were amazed that our free (downloaded from the internet) Peru GPS map actually new about the road. After a brief trip through one of the local land-fill garbage dumps we arrived in Sipan and found the site.

Called Huaca Rajada-Sipan, this site was only discovered in the 1980's when a local archeologist got wind of a new supply of relics on the black market. Since then a number of intact tombs have been found and the site is still under active excavation. The site dates from the period 0AD-600AD and was built by the Moche people.

Camping

We camped in the parking lot of the Archeological park in Sipan. They understood immediately what we wanted - we assume other travelers have done the same. There is a security guard on duty all night. No facilities.