Sites at the seaside.
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
50
76
Trip End
Feb 01, 2007
Trujillo,
Peru
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Like Chachapoyas, Trujillo is surrounded by amazing ruins although these involve walking through very dodgy neighbourhoods rather than jungle and bush. Give me the hills any day. We seem to be constantly being warned not to walk here, not to carry valuables, not to go anywhere alone...the list goes on. Major towns often seem to be set in the middle of extensive shanty towns full of very poor and often desperate people. Each bus journey we take involves picking up a local who talks non-stop for at least ten minutes, outlining his or her life and tales of terror and disease before asking you to buy five small sweets from the ever-present bag. Whether the tales are true or not there´s no doubt that these vendors have a very tough life and have to work hard just to get through each day
A) Surfer, Huanchaco
. Those who aren´t selling sweets or soft drinks are juggling and cartwheeling for the cars at the traffic lights, all day, every day...Meanwhile, my only (albeit frequent) complaint is the bedbugs and we continue with our tour. Guess we still need a shake now and then to remind us how lucky we are, eh?
First stop was the Chimu ruins of Chan Chan - the largest adobe city in the world although much has been washed away in floods and heavy rain. What is left is awesome - fantastic friezesof fish, birds and whole walls of fishing nets.
It´s amazing to find that the locals way back were so inventive in ways of agriculture - canals up to 74km long kept the city watered. All around is desert and yet they created oasis after oasis. Fantastic.
Nearby were the temples of Huaca El Dragon and Huaca La Esmeralda, both poorly preserved but both stunning. Huaca El Dragon is also known as Huaca Arco Iris (rainbow) and, if I can get these photos to download ever, you´ll be able to see why.
Managed not to get robbed or murdered so set off for Huaca de la Luna, a huge Moche pyramid which has been extensively excavated to reveal remarkable mural paintings and reliefs
B) Al and carvings - Chan Chan
. Each new temple was built on top of the last so each layer uncovers a new and totally different set of pictures - priests, dancers, fishermen, crabs (or spiders), ´felines´ holding the decapitated heads of warriors, serpents and dogs to name but those we could recognise. And all in paint as bright as if it were painted only yesterday.Also got to meet a few of the local Peruvian dogs. The first to really earn the name Hot Dog as their body temperature is 40 degrees. They have almost no hair so you can feel how hot they are (and not get fleas!). They are very sweet but look bizarre, unlike any dog I´ve ever seen before, very wrinkled.
Lastly we headed out to El Brujo by bus, and another bus, and another bus, and yet another bus, and a 5km walk...Got there eventually to find the usual gaggle of school kids on a school trip. A very nice guide showed us round enthusiastically and I found I could actually understand most of what he said (must be improving at last). More friezes, this time of warriors, prisoners, sacrificer gods, kings, combat and lots of creatures that I couldn´t always identify. Again, very colourful and well protected thank goodness. Pottered down to the beach after the tour to find the greyest sky and windswept sand. How do people live in a place like this?????
