Shopping in Chiclayo

Chiclayo should be a good place to find good quality replica jewellery of the treasures of the Senor de Sipan. Although the Bruning Museum in Lambayeque does sell some gold- and silver-plated imitations, very few of the jewellers in Chiclayo sell high-quality copies.

The Paseo de Artesania on 18 de abril, next to the Linea bus station on Av. Bolognesi, has a few stalls selling ceramics, textiles, etc.

Supermarkets

There is a small supermarket at San Jose 550.

Markets

The Mercado Central is off the 9th block of Av. Balta. The Mercado Modelo is off the 12th block of Av. Balta.

Photography

There are many shops selling film, although Fuji slide film is difficult to find.

Getting in Chiclayo

Air connections

Chiclayo has an airport with daily connections to Lima. The TANS office is at Balta 601. Aerocontinente has an office at San Jose 867.

Bus connections

Chiclayo has good bus connections up and down the coast, as well as inland. Most bus companies have offices on Av. Bolognesi.

Lima

Lima is 12 hours from Chiclayo, and there are plenty of bus services at all levels of comfort, mostly at night. Civa (Bolognesi 714) has good services at 8pm and 8.30pm for USD 15. Flores (Bolognesi 757) has a semi-cama bus at 8.15pm for USD 13. Ittsa (Bolognesi 779) has a bus-cama service to Lima at 9pm for USD 17. Cruz del Sur (Bolognesi 888) has a bus-cama service at 9pm for USD 27, a semi-cama service at 9pm for USD 20, a comfortable service at 8pm for USD 15 and a basic service at 8.15pm for USD 8. Oltursa has different levels of service, including bus-cama at 8pm for USD 17. Ormeno (Av. Victor Haya de la Torre 245) has a basic service at 7.30pm for USD 8 and a bus-cama service at 10pm for USD 22.

Trujillo

Buses to Lima pass through Trujillo, 3 hours away. Alternatively, Linea (Bolognesi 638) has buses every hour for USD 3. These stop in Pacasmayo.

Piura

Buses to Piura, 3 hours from Chiclayo, cost USD 3. Linea (Bolognesi 638) has hourly buses.

Tumbes

Tumbes is 8 hours from Chiclayo, and buses cost USD 6. Tepsa (Bolognesi 536) has a service at 6am and another at 10pm.

Cajamarca

Cajamarca is 6 hours from Chiclayo, and buses cost about USD 5. Linea has services at 10pm and 10.45pm. Transportes Mendoza (Bolognesi 536) has a service at 12.30pm on Mondays to Fridays, 10am on Saturdays and 9.30pm on Sundays. Turismo Dias (Bolognesi 536) has services at 1.45pm and 10.30pm. Transportes El Cumbe has services at 7am, 2pm and 10pm.

Jaen

Jaen is 6 hours from Chiclayo, and buses cost USD 4. Civa has buses at 11am and 9pm. Linea has buses at 1pm and 11pm. Transportes Huamantanga has services at 12.30pm and 10.30pm.

Chachapoyas

Chachapoyas is 12 hours from Chiclayo, and buses cost USD 7. Most travel at night, which is a shame as you miss the spectacular scenery on the journey. Alternatively, you can catch a bus to Pedro Ruiz and from there carry on in colectivos. Civa has direct buses to Chachapoyas leaving at 5pm. Trans Service Kuelap (Bolognesi 536) has a bus at 6pm.

Tarapoto (Pedro Ruiz, Rioja, Moyobamba)

There are a few direct buses into the jungle from Chiclayo. The journey to Tarapoto takes about 18 to 20 hours and costs USD 12. Sol Peruano (Bolognesi 757) has buses at 8am and 2pm. Huamanga (Bolognesi 757) has buses at 9am, 9.30am and 2pm.

History of Chiclayo

Also known as Ciudad de la Amistad (The City of Friendship) because of the kindness and warmth of its people, Chiclayo is located in a region which was home to important pre-Hispanic cultures, such as the Mochica (1st to 7th centuries A.C.) and the Lambayeque (7th to 10th centuries A.C.) which remains, found in different times and circumstances, continue to amaze the world.

The founding of Chiclayo has not been recorded in Spanish history. It was born in the second half of the 16th century as an Indian town, a place where the merchants carrying wares in the area would stop for a rest. Baptized as Santa Maria en los Valles de Chiclayo, the Franciscan Monastery, the first of its kind built during the Colony has recorded the event.

At present, Chiclayo is a bustling city. Its rich past is complemented by the life of a vigorous population in constant activity, thanks to its trade and its tourist offer. Elsewhere in town there’s the small, attractive chapel of La Veronica on Calle Torres Paz. Built at the end of the nineteenth century, its most notable feature is the altar piece of silver- and gold-leaf. The Plazuela Elias Aguirre , just around the corner from here is a small shady square which has a statue in honour of the comandante of this name, who was a local hero serving the Republicans in the Battle of Angamos.

At weekends, Chiclayo families crowd out to the beaches of Santa Rosa and La Pimentel - each well served by buses from the market area. Santa Rosa is the main fishing village on the Chiclayo coast, from where scores of big, colourful boats go out early every morning, along with the occasional caballito de tortora, reed canoes that have been used here for almost two thousand years. On Sunday afternoons, Chiclayanos congregate for the horseraces at the town’s Santa Victorial Hipodromo, 2km south of the Plaza de Armas just off the Avenida Roosevelt.

Attractions in Chiclayo

A brief look around Chiclayo should be sufficient. Start at the Parque Principal, the attractive and overwhelming focal point of life in the city. People camp out on park benches and slurp on ice cream cones, shoeshine boys scurry from one pair of scuffed-up loafers to the next, and pigeons flutter from treetops to sidewalks to rooftops. The white, twin-domed neoclassical Catedral that dominates the square dates to 1869. About 10 long blocks south of the plaza, the Paseo de las Musas is an attractive park area rather inexplicably outfitted with neoclassical statuary of mythological figures.

The fascinating Mercado Modelo, 5 blocks north of the Parque Principal, is one of Peru’s most raucous open street markets. Open daily from dawn to dusk, it carries virtually everything under the sun, but it’s famed for the section of small stalls crammed with the elixirs and potions of shamans and faith healers.

The so-called mercadillo de brujas (witches’ little market), near Calle Arica, is redolent with exotic spices and drying herbs, wild with visual overload: hanging shells, small altarpieces and bottles filled with hooves and claws, snakeskins, miniature desiccated crocs, claws, skunks, and fish eggs. Echoing throughout are the distinctive come-ons of vendors. The city of stalls is about as close as you’ll get to India or Morocco in Peru, but it’s nonetheless a primer on the country’s extensive informal economy.

You’ll find luggage, natural Viagra substitutes, baskets, guitars, hats, calf brains, children’s clothes, vats of peanut butter, stuffed animals, shops of canned goods that look like someone’s pantry, machetes, and butcher knives. There are dozens of beauty salons under wooden ceilings, and shoe and electronics repair headquarters.

In Lambayeque

The modern Museo Arqueologico Bruning is the undisputed highlight of this small, quiet, and dusty town that was once considerably more important than its bigger neighbor but has long since been overtaken by it. A few clues to Lambayeque’s former status are evident in a number of colonial houses and the baroque Iglesia de San Pedro, a large and impressive yellow-and-white church built in 1700 and located on the main square. It’s worth a look inside for the impressive mural paintings on the ceiling of the central nave and the cupola. Columns are painted to look like real marble, which I suppose they do if you squint hard enough. The rest of the church is done up in pastel hues of green, blue, and yellow.

On the corner of Dos de Mayo and San Martin is Lambayeque’s other building of import, Casa de la Logia (also known as Casa Montjoy). Erected in the 16th century, it claims the longest balcony in Peru, a pretty wooden wraparound structure 67m (220 ft.) long. The house can be viewed only from the exterior.

Lambayeque really springs to life only on market day, Sunday. Otherwise, there’s little to detain visitors. If you’re looking for a bite to eat after visiting the Bruning Museum, check out Dos de Mayo, where there are several cevicherias and other restaurants.

A Modest Discount–A combination discount boleto is available to visit the Museo Arqueologico Bruning and archaeological sites of Tucume and Sipan for S/15 (USD 4.25) rather than the separate admission price of S/24 (USD 6.85). Okay, so that’s not huge savings, but it’s worthwhile just the same if you’re certain you’ll be visiting all three sites. Combo boletos are available at any of the participating locations.

Introducation of Chiclayo

Chiclayo is a city on the northern coastal plain in Peru. It is 95 feet above sea level. The population is approximately 634,600. It is the capital of the Lambayeque region. Chiclayo was founded in 1560 as a rural Indian village by a Spanish priest. Until the 19th century, Chiclayo remained a small town in comparison to the nearby city of Lambayeque. However, the city of Chiclayo has since grown to become a major modern metropolis.

Since the city is located in a productive valley, there is strong agriculture, such as rice production, sugar cane and cotton. Until Peru’s economic decline, the port of Pimentel served as Chiclayo’s main export line; sugar refined in Pomalca passed through Chiclayo by train and was exported to various desinations along the Pacific Rim. However, with the socialization of agriculture, and subsequent demise of the Peruvian economy, Chiclayo ceased to export by sea.

Economic prosperity did not leave, however. With the construction of the Panamerican Highway, the city became a center for commerce, due to the fact that it has easy access to mountain passes that allow access to the jungle, as well as being close to the sugar cooperatives.

Chiclayo is well known for its archaeological sites, such as Tucume, Batan Grande and Huaca Rajada. In 1987, in Huaca Rajada (more often referred to as Sipan), a Moche mausoleum was found. The most significant discovery was the tomb of the Senor de Sipan, who archaeologists have concluded was a royal ruler from over 1600 years ago. His clothes were adorned with jewels, gold, and silver, these artifacts can be seen in the Tumba Real, in Lambayeque. The amount of treasure found in the tomb rivals that found in the tomb of King Tut, as noted by the National Geographic Magazine, in their feature article. Chiclayo is also recognized as for its natural medicine, and for having some of the best cuisine in Peru, especially Ceviche. Monsefu was a center of events about.