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Published: December 25th 2006
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Moche Paintings
These were painted on the inside of the Moche temple in Trujillo.
The temple was reused by the Moche people and each time the leadership changed, the existing temple was filled in and a new temple built on top! Northern Peru - Trujillo
And so we headed south into Peru. We were both surprised at the amount of sand and desert that we drove through. Our first stop was a place called Piura. I wouldn't say anything too exciting and we stayed the night, primarily, to break up the journey south. The most notable thing that we discovered in Piura is the Peruvians addition to sugar! The cakes and desserts are nothing short of incredible (they not only look great - they taste even better). We are both trying (but, on average, failing at least once a day) to resist them. For anyone with a sweet tooth or on a diet - we wouldn't recommend a trip to Peru.
We decided to travel reasonably quickly down the coast because we both agree we'd prefer to see more of less than the other way around.
The next day we hopped on another bus and headed south. We stayed in a place called Trujillo (pronounced something like: Tru-hi-yo). It has several important ruins from pre-Inca cultures. The hostal owners were also tour guides (who knew more than we could absorb in the short space of time we were staying with
Temple of the Dragon
This temple has been named the temple of the dragon because of the various dragon shapes within it´s walls. It is also refered to as the rainbow temple because of the lines just above our heads in this picture. them!)... we took both the tours they offer - the first to the Moche Pyramids and the second to a Chimu city (Temple and Palace). It was quite incredible to hear about the traditions and influence these cultures had on Inca culture.
Lima
After about 2 weeks of being on a bus every day or every second day we flew into Lima and arrived (late) at about midnight. We were both exhausted after our day sightseeing in Trujillo and just wanted to crawl into bed - which of course meant that our bags were some of the last to appear! It did mean our first introduction to Lima was by streetlight!
The next day we did something we very rarely do - we took a bus tour of the city. In hindsight it was a really good way to see the central district without alot of stress on our part. After that we were a little jaded after too much information so we took the rest of the day off and wandered about Miraflores (the suburb our hotel was situated in). It was great to chill out and relax (we did go to several of the Inca and Indian
Chan Chan
This was the capital of the Chimu people - it covers approx 15 sq km. The palace has seen alot of restoration. Not all of it great. The abode (mud) brick construction doesn´t cope well with El Niño, rain or humidity for that matter. The shapes and relief are badly decayed (and continue to do so). Hopefully the world interest (another UNESCO site) will mean conservation efforts have long term success. markets around the area - until Jem reached his tolerance level).
The following day we headed out and about to see some museums - to get our cultural quota in. It was really interesting and cool to see some more art / pottery from different eras in Peru history. We also chatted to a woman in one of the gift shops about Llama and Alpaca products. She mentioned that the best type was from an animal called Vicuña - so we also went on a shopping trip for a vicuña scarf for Jem. We found one - turned out to be $638 USD!! We passed on that and are planning on shopping in Cuzco (where it is supposed to be cheaper - although we suspect Vicuña scarfs will still be off the list..... Jem noted that it did come in its own handmade wooden box and there are apparently only about 1000 odd Vicuñas remaining).
Ica and the dunas...
So as not to slow down - we headed south (we normally travel much slower than this so it's been pretty quick for us)... Ica and it's surroundings exist because of the oasis that is located about 1/2 way down
Tacama Bodega
This vineyard was the first (and possible best) vineyard we visited in the Ica region.
Alot of the wine from both this vineyard and the region is used to produce Pisco - the local spirit (which neither of us were particularly fond of). Peru's coast line.
We stayed in a small (backpackers) haven just outside of Ica (which itself is a fairly grim town). We arrived in the afternoon, visited a vineyard (bought some dodgy wine) and spend some time climbing the sand dunes (or dunas in Spanish). It is amazing to be on top of them. Naera wasn't so sure about getting down from the top and Jem tried to "encourage" her to run down. Didn't quite work (and we both managed to stay upright).
We woke up the following day to find a blue sky (the previous day had been overcast) so our next activity was the buggies and sand boarding! It was great fun (so much so we tried to find out if we could go all the way to Nazca via the dunes - unfortunately this was also outside of our budget so we'll be going by bus!). We were driven up and down the dunes without any thought to the slope (on either side). I'd really recommend anyone who is around here trying it!
More vineyards in the afternoon (and similar quality wine - although we escaped without feeling the need to buy any more wine!).
And
Sand Dunes
A photo down onto the Oasis at Huacachina (near Ica). It took us about 1 hour to climb up and about 5 mins to get down!
The sand was as soft and glorious as it looks here! so we head south again to Arequipa... where we will spend Christmas! We hope this finds you all well and enjoying (without the usual headaches) the Christmas season. Have a good one!
Take care,
Naera and Jem
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