Private Tour: Chiclayo City Sightseeing and Witch Market

After hotel pickup by your private guide, your 1-hour Chiclayo city tour starts at the Paseo de las Musas (the Walk of the Muses), a pleasant park in the city center. Stroll through the park with your guide to the Greek-style pavilion that features the elegant statues of the nine Greek muses, who were the daughters of Zeus. As you admire the detailed sculptures of Calliope, Clio and the rest, your guide will tell you about the artist, Peruvian Miguel A Diaz, and explain the motto written on the pavillion — Heroica Ciudad de Chiclayo (Heroic City of Chiclayo).

Next, head to Chiclayo’s nearby main square, Plaza Principal (also known as Parque Principal), and learn from your guide why the main square is not called Plaza de Armas like most other main squares in Peru. Admire the square’s colonial architecture and neoclassical cathedral, which was built in 1869 and designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). Then visit the Municipal Palace across the street for a quick tour. Originally built in 1919 during Chiclayo’s Republican period, it was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in 2006 as a museum.

Your city tour ends at the Witch Market, where you have about 1.5 hours to spend with your guide, who can help translate and explain the purpose of the market. Part of the larger city market, Mercado Modelo, the Witch Market (Mercado de Brujos) is a section of shops and stalls where local curanderos (native healers, or shamans) sell the herbs and other ingredients used in their traditional healing remedies. You’ll see all kinds of things, from herbal tonics and powders to shark jaws, snake skins and turtle shells. Talk to the vendors, with the help of your guide, to find out what ailments go with which remedies, and purchase anything that looks interesting.

After the Witch Market, you’ll be driven back to your hotel.