Eclipse Day

So here it was, October 14^th, the day of the annular eclipse of the sun.  The path of the totality of the eclipse ran right through Utah, and if I was home, I would have enjoyed that exceptional occurrence.  Before leaving on this trip, I checked to see how much of an eclipse we would have in Peru.  That was about 70%.  Pretty good!

This was also the day when we visited the tomb and all of the artifacts of the Lord of Sipan.  That morning, we went to the Huaca Rajada-Sipan, first going through the small onsite museum.   Then up the hill to the actual huaca where 16 royal tombs had been discovered.

All of the artifacts had been removed for restoration when the tomb was discovered, and the actual tombs were reconstructed so that one could see how they were laid out. 

Here is a link for the Huaca Rajada-Sipan.

The totality of the eclipse would happen at about 1:05 PM, and I was hoping that we wouldn’t miss is, so I was keeping my eye on the time.  We happened to be eating lunch in Lambayeque at that time.  Fortunately, we were at a somewhat open air restaurant.  In the back of the restaurant was where some ladies were washing dishes, and the ceiling of that room was actually a woven reed affair with lots of spaces where the reeds crossed.  There was also an area of some tall plants near our table. 

As many of you may know, a way of looking indirectly at an eclipse is at the shadow of the sun shining through a small hole in a piece of paper, or between the leaves of a tree.  At exactly 1:05, I got up and went over to where the sun was shining between the leaves of the nearby foliage.

At the same time, I looked into the room at the back of the restaurant and saw hundreds of little crescent moon shapes on the floor.  Wow!!!  When I went back there, the dish washing ladies asked if they could help me, and all I had to do was to point to the floor and start taking photos.  They must have thought I was nuts!  It didn’t take long for several others of our group to do the same.  What fun.

The afternoon was spent at the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan, or the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan.  This is where all of the restored artifacts from the tombs are on display.  Fabulous wealth!  The Lord of Sipan was a high status Moche ruler around the year 250 A.D.  He died when he was approximately 40 years old, and was buried with 8 other people, a dog and 2 llamas who were undoubtedly sacrificed to be buried with him.  Here is a link for more information on him and the discovery of his tomb.