24.08.2015.

Loja

After getting up early in the morning I left Quito for Loja, which is a small town with 180.000 inhabitants in the South of Ecuador. The official name of the town is: Ciudad de la Inmaculada Concepción de Loja. It was founded in 1548 by a Spanish general Alonso de Mercadillo and named after his hometown in Granada. I did not have a lot of time in the city, because my flight back was in the afternoon. The objective of my visit was the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), which is one of the biggest university of the region. The colleagues showed me the laboratories, the campus and the incubation house of the UTPL, which have all high standards and could be easily as well in Europe.

Loja has a lot of famous personalities, one of them is Matilde Hidalgo Navarro. She was the first woman in the history of Ecuador to became medical doctor. Furthermore she was the first woman to vote in whole Latin America, because after receiving her diploma, she announced publicly her decision to execute voting right in the next presidential election, which was specially granted to her by the responsible minister. This of course led the emancipation and to general voting right (with time) in Ecuador and in the whole region. She was the first woman in Ecuador to stand to a public election and she was elected into the city council of Loja. Later she became the President of the Ecuadorian Red Cross. A museum and several memorial is guarding her memory in Loja and in other cities.

2015.08.15-16.
Chiclayo, Lambayeque és Sipan
Kicsit megzavart, hogy a Señor de Sipan múzeuma nem Sipan faluban épült fel, és még csak nem is Chiclayo-ban, hanem egy harmadik kisvárosban Lambayeque-ben. Biztos itt volt olcsó a telek... :-)
Mindenesetre a "Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan", mely az egyik fontos mochica uralkodó sírhelyének rekonstrukciója és az ott talált tárgyakat bemutató kiállítás
található. A piramis és az ásatások egy kisebb "kísérő" múzeummal pedig Sipan-ban.
Sajnos nem lehetett a múzeumban fényképezni, a táskákat és a mobilokat is le kellett adni egy megőrzőben.
A mochica törzs a Chiclayo környéki moche törzsek speciális elnevezése. A Sipanban feltárt piramis egy templom és temetkezési hely volt,ahol közel húsz, különböző korokból származó nemes úr és uralkodó sírját találták és tárták fel. A legkorábbi Kr.u. 200 körüli. Ahogy haladunk előre az időben, úgy lesznek a sírhelyek egyre nagyobbak, "részlet-gazdagabbak" és lenyűgözőek. Ezek közül is kiemelkedik a "Señor de Sipan", azaz "Sipan ura", aki meg "Cao asszonnyanál" is nagyobb "úr" lehetett, mivel olyan pazar kincsek borították egész testét több rétegben és több, mint tíz "kísérője" volt még holtában is. Arany, ezüst, aranyozott bronz, tengeri kagylóhéj, türkiz valamint egyéb drága és féldrágakövek voltak a gazdagon kidolgozott ékszerek, fülbevalók, orrdíszek, maszkok, nyakláncok stb. alapanyagai. De nem csak az uralkodó, hanem fontosabb kísérői is teljes harci diszben voltak mellé temetve. Az itteni kincsek vetekszekenek Tutenhamon sírjának bődületes gazdagságaval.

Chile óta azt mondogatják a vendéglatóim, és még én is poénkodtam vele, hogy egy jó vulkánkitörés és/vagy földrengés nélkül nem távozhatok a térségből. Hát... Úgy tűnik, ebből legalább egy össze fog jönni, ugyanis kitört a Quito melletti Cotopaxi Vulkán, és egész Ecuadorban szükségállapotot hirdettek. Egyelőre csak korlátozták a légi közlekedést a területen, de a quitói reptér továbbra is üzemel.

15-16.08.2015.
Chiclayo, Lambayeque and Sipan
I was a bit confused, because I thought that the museum of Señor de Sipan (Lord of Sipan) is in the village of Sipan or at least in the nearest city, Chiclayo. However the "Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan", where the tomb of a great ruler of the "Mochicas" is situated in Lambayeque, a small town next to Chiclayo. The pyramid and an other smaller museum are in the village in Sipan. Unfortunately it was prohibited to take photos in the museum, furthermore everyone had to guard its bag and mobile in a locker. The Mochica tribe is a special name for the Moché tribe living in the region.
The pyramids in Sipan are temples and tombs of the most important rulers and priests of the Mochicas, there are nearly 20 tombs found, however the excavations are still going on. The earliest of all is dated AD 200. The biggest and most decorated tomb of all is that of the "Señor de Sipan", Lord of Sipan, who could be even mightier than the "Lady of Cao", because he had more than 10 servants and priest buried next to him and a lot more jewels. His body was covered with the finest elaborated necklaces, earrings and other decoration made of precious stones, gold, silver and copper. Even the servants and priests of the Señor de Sipan were buried wearing richly elaborated jewels and clothes. You could compare this just with the astonishing treasures of Tutenhamon.

Since Chile, my friends and house-lords are saying to me, that I shouldn't leave the region without a "nice" earthquake and/or vulcan-eruption, because this belongs to the region's "feeling". It may have been a wishful thinking, because recently erupted the vulcan Cotopaxi 50 km away from Quito and it was declared a state of regency in whole Ecuador. Wait for me Quito, see you tomorrow.