On the road again.

After seeing some fine ceramics in the town of Catacaos and finding out where they came from, we
decided to  travel to the town where the ceramics are actually made. In Chullucanas  we met Anton, a real master
of clay. 

Not only did he showed us his products but he gave us a full tour of his workshop, he made pottery
look too easy but it's certainly not.

This is a smoking oven to give his ceramics that distinctive colour without using any paint.

Perfect 

The colours and the finished are the final product you see but most important is the selection of the
quality clay from the surrounding river beds .

There is a big variety of colours and shapes even special request he says.

Dusty roads, no good for our aussie allergies, believe me.
"But what do i complaint about" this people haven't got the choice .

After Chullucanas we travel 7 hours east to the town of Huancabamba, this town is in the middle of the sub-tropical
Andes of northern Peru and is famed for their powerful shamans who live and work in the nearby lakes called the
Huaringas.

There is certainly some magic to keep this place standing.

They say that about 95 % of shamans in this town are a sham. It took me almost 3 days to find a reputable shaman so
we met and talk about what i wanted it  and he decided to take me on.
Later that night he came to picked us up and took us to his house where he arrange a room for us to stay the night.
He talked about what he did as a shaman, what products he used (all local herbs) some of them hallucinogenic.                           The session
 lasted all night that include singing, dancing and chanting, he carried a sword all night as a symbol of power and in
some occasions he went off the Richter's scale. He told me things about our lifes that we only knew, past , present and
future  and how to live a better one. At one stage he was challenged by evil spirits, things got scary when the roof of the
shack started to shake and the wind started to blow hard. He ask for help from his allies. He cleansed me from an old evil spirit
 i had for many years , he called her an indigenous old lady with chunky hair.
It was almost 8 am when we finished the session and went inside the house for a well earned chicken soup. No hangover,
no fatigue and a lot of peace and happiness i felt.
Later that day he came to picked me up and took me to the Huaringas (high altitude lakes) with freezing water for a
painful dip that almost stopped my breathing .
His name was Cesar and according to his grandfather he was the chosen one to carry the ancient tradition that
pre-dates the Incas.

Leaving Huancabamba it felt as if we were coming back down to Earth. 

Scary 

Take a look a the red truck on the road.

Driving on top of the world.

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Putting on a brave face, the altitude was the killer. 

Back on the coast and with more oxygen in our lungs we went to visit the museum of  "The royal tombs of Sipan".
This museum holds a real ancient treasure that once belong to a noble man 1700 years ago.
For security reasons we were not allowed to take pictures of the treasures so i got the following from the internet
to share what we saw.

Gold and silver worked with an insuperable  technique .

Over more than a dozen tombs were found with this one being the most important one .
It belong to a major leader of the Moche people.
But you wouldn't like to work for him.
He was buried at the time with hundreds of gold, silver, ceramics, semi-precious mineral objects  as well
as an entourage consisting of his wife, two girls, a boy, a military chief, a flag-bearer, two guards, two dogs and
a llama.
But it was considered to be an honour to be buried along side a royal to accompany him into the after life.

 

With one shot dead grave robber, police and archaeologist around like indiana jones ,
It took a few years to unearth the tombs.

This is one of my favourites.
Spider man.
A real master piece.