The Chimu and Moche part

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I'm still in trujillo, but I'm leaving tonight to go back to Lima. That marks about three weeks here. I guess this time hasn't been as busy as the previous adventures, but its been nice to relax a bit. Its especially been wonderful to be with Jason and with his friends here. I was getting a bit loney on the the trail all by myself for so long. I just wanted someone to talk to a bit! I'm sending out a special thanks to Belkys, Segundo, Lily, Nancy, Jorge, and Laura for being so nice.

When I met up with Jason in Lima, I arrived a day later than I had anticipated. I had to take an extra day because I had to wait for a time to get a ticket to Ollytantambo to see Machu Piccu. So, we left Lima pretty fast. Basically, we were only there long enough to eat one dinner and live to regret it a little later. That was a fun bus ride. Or not. They actually had to stop the entire bus so I had to go the bathroom. And everyone waited. Yeah.

We got into Trujillo late and went straight to the house that we are staying in. Jason is renting a room in a house from a couple. Actually the woman in the couple is Belkys, Jason's codirector. The live on the second floor, and we live on the first floor, on the other side of the courtyard. Its nice because then we have a bit of privacy. I like to sit in the courtyard and read. There is a sink in there as well. Jason washes pot sherds there, and I helped him with that a bit.

Right away the next morning we went to Jason's site. It s pretty big mound... and right now that pretty much what it looks like... a giant pile of rubble. He is taking selection sections and excavating downward to see what he finds. Its cool to see the walls and floors emerge. Anyway, the big mound is the main site for right now, but he is also excavating in adjacent fields and will eventually excavate at near by mounds. The landscape is pretty funny. Its all farm land, doted by these hills of rock and stone. Some of the hills are natural, but a large portion of them are old sites. In fact, standing on top of Jason's main site, I can look around and see 6 other sites. Some are from the same time period, but others are not. The time period for Jason's site is about 1400 BC. The culture is called cupisnique, and it predates moche (which predate Chimu, and then, Inca - although Inca is centered much farther south).

The first week, I went out pretty much all the time with Jason. I got to do some excavating myself, and I feel like I learned a little more about what archeaologists do. We get to the site pretty early in the morning, and usually it is misty and gray out. Its funny, around Trujillo, the weather is quite odd. It almost never rains. Ever. I guess they get like 2.5 cm of rain a year... that is like an inch. But every morning, the landscape is covered in a thick gray mist. Its the beginning of summer here and we are close to the equator, but even in the morning it is quite cold, and I dress in layers. As the day goes on, the clouds burn off, and then it is very very hot out. For lunch, the team is fed by a woman on a nearby farm. She is paid to support the field team. The food is actually quite good! I really enjoy Peruvian food. Its actually has its own unique qualities and tastes. Its quite spicy at times. Aji is served with every meal - a pureed form of peppers - its hot!!! And I really like it. I like eating there too. Its a real farm... there are geese, ducks, and chickens running around, along with cats and dogs. There is a donkey always tied up out front, and a cow inside a pen that I never see but always hear. One day, a bunch of sheep were herded past us as we ate. I especially like to look at the baby ducks. They don't have enough water to play in. So they push each other out of the little watering dish and swim in it for a second. I've become friends with the donkey, and I always give her a pat before we leave for the day. (I also drew some pictures of her one day! he he).

There isn't much more to say about excavating. Several hired men work very very hard moving very large quantities of rock and dirt. In some places the pits are about 4 meters deep. This goes on quite a lot. When a layer is reached that seems more interesting, careful removal of the soil with small spades, brushes, and dental tools is done. There is a lot of picture taking, measuring, and note taking. Usually followed by hours of more digging. Everyone comes home absolutely covered in dirt.

In the evening, we mostly have been relaxing. Sometimes we go into town. There isn't really to much to do in trujillo. There are the requisit big beautiful catholic churches. The Plaza de Armas was pretty amazing. Normally, I think it would be not that great, but around christmas, they fill it with about 20+ christmas trees of every size shape and color you can imagine - there was a smurf one. its a pretty spectacular display. I also went to the museum of modern art here. Its very new, and only opened a year ago. Its actually pretty good, and worth a look see if you have the time. There was an impressive collection of art from Cuba. That's not something I've really seen before. The artists represented were mostly drawings... a deviation from my favorite type of art, but that is ok. Anyway, the art was all overwhelmingly moody, dark, and omnious. Interesting... but sort of mysterious and inaccessible. I especially liked a set of oil paintings that where done in very dark and very heavily laid down strokes. They were of sort of cartoony fruit arrangements... advacados and watermelon (weird fruits for arrangements too!). The cracked surface of the paint, and the off and dark colors made it seem very aged in comparison to the modern portrail of the subject matter. I really liked it. Don't know why.

There are other archeaological museums in town, but unfortunatly, when we went to go see them, they were closed, and we never got back to those museums. We will, however, see similar, better museums in Lima. I'm really excited for Jason to take me around personally and tell me what he thinks of the pieces there. Otherwise, we watch movies, read, or just sit around. Also, I have been busy applying for jobs in my spare time. Cross your fingers for me that I can find something quickly in New Haven when I arrive back there. I have already put out 15 resumes/cover letters. I hope to get more aout before I leave here!!! Anyway... that is neither here nor there.

We don't even have to cook here. Meals come to us made. The place the Jason rents from has its meals made by a cook (who delievers them). Jason just uses this service as well, and paid for me to be able to use it. (He didn't even know how to use the stove when I showed up. hehe). Again, the food is pretty good, so it is ok. There is also a housekeeper.

On weekends, we have been taking little trips to see some other archaeological sites (that is the big thing to do here). The first site we went to was called Chan Chan. It is a chimu site. The Chimu site really differs from the Cupisnique and Moche sites in that, instead of building big giant pyramids, they build huge walls that enclosed large beautiful courtyards. Like the went more for pleasure and secrecy instead of impressive strong monuments. I'm sure an archaeologist would argue with that statement. But maybe you get the idea. The insides of the walls were decorated with streamlined looking birds, fish, and other animals, but also with simple lines and criss-cross designs. There was one courtyard that contained a large square pond with reeds and ducks (I would put that in my castle too!), that was particularly nice. Actually, we saw only one small part of Chan Chan. The area was occupied for a while, and with every new ruler, a new palace had to be built. Which meant that the area was full of these structures (not sure how much, seemed like the site went on for miles in all directions). Visitors are only allowed to see the one site. Also, its the one site that has been "restored". The original stuff has been fixed to look as it might once have done. I suppose they don't want to do that to all of the sites. Anyway, leaving Chan Chan, you have to walk quite a way to get back to the front gate. The whole time you are surrounded by these old, ruined, pieces of architecture... walls some 30 ft high.

The background to all of this is the desert. More and more desert. I guess all of the peruvian cost is this dry. Its not ariable at all, except where rivers come out of the mountains to the north, and then the water is channeled into irrigation. Once Chan Chan was quite green I'm sure, but now its all sand... and surrounded by sand. More about sand actually... one of the coolest things about Jason's project that really struck me we when they hit "sterile". This means they hit sand. You go down and down, finding this or that, or its all farming quality soil, and then, suddenly its just sand. And that means its the end of people there. They weren't farming or living there. And its just desert. Pretty crazy. It just such a stunning visual of how much effect humans can have on their environment.

The next weekend, we went to Huaca de la Luna, a Moche site. Jason thought I would really like this one, but for some reason, I like Chan Chan better. Anyway, he thought I would like it because it is colorful. The style is again in the big pyramid like structure. Inside, archaeologists found gaint friezes... mostly featuring the scary face of a god in the center of yellow, black, red, and white geometrical patterns. The paintings are on the inside of large courtyards, and really quite impressive. Other interesting things about the site are a ceremonial room with large outcrop of natural rock inside of it. A lot of old Peruvain cultures worshiped mountains and rocks. That might be reflected here. In side the this temple chamber, skeletons were found! Which meant they sacrificed people in this room and left them at the base of the rocks. Ewww. Another thing that is cool about the site is the layers of the paintings. I guess the site was occupied for 700 years. So, alot of remodeling went on during that time. The archaeologists there have taken away layers in some places, and you can see frieze, after frieze, after frieze. All very colorful. Most of the patterns in the place are repetitive, and one of the plaques there suggested that they were designed like textile designs (designs you would weave). The only thing that was different was a single wall in the largest courtyard room. It was actually my favorite piece of art there. It was assymetrical, and was very busy... in the way medievil European tapestries are. Everything was uniquely colored and sized on a white background. It was very pretty.

Last weekend was christmas weekend. On sunday night, people over from the dig site, and other archaeologists, and we had a nice dinner together. I wish I knew more spanish so I could follow along! The talking went on well into the night. It may be fulled by a sort of drinking tradition they have here ... not really a game though. Anyway, someone takes a glass and fills and and gives it to the person on ther left. When that person is done, they give ther glass back to the person who filled it, and then that person gives the beer bottle to the person on their right. It goes around and around, and new bottles are opened (beer comes in bottle like wine here, large ones). Surprisingly, you can get tipsy very quickly. Its hard refuse as well! You can't sit there and nurse the beer because the next person wants it! Anyway. Something they do.

The next day we left for Huanchaco, a beach town near trujillo. The ocean is beautiful, and the waves are large and full of surfers. I guess Peru has some of the best surfing in the world (thought not really there). Its a very attractive town, and it was a wonderfully relazing place to spend christmas! We had a pool at the hotel too! I bought a swimsuit for th trip! We had a glitch though... we expected to eat out christmas eve, but it proved almost impossible. I guess things close down for mass? That is, even though everything is open on christmas. Christmas day was better. We watched cartoons and ate cookies in the morning. Than friends of Jason's met us and we went out for Ceviche (Yummmm! I can't wait to have it again), and TacuTacu. Ceviche is raw fish marinated in lime juice, onions and other flavors. Absolutely addictive. TacuTacu is just rice and beans... but it is also really delicious! Its was a good meal. After that, we went to a small little place and had a pancake and fruit dessert and mojitos! Also yummy! THen we went back and hung out for a while (watched love actually), and then I made steaks for dinner. A nice christmas!

The last three days have gone by really fast. And now were are off to Lima tonight! More to come on my lasts days in South America...

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Photos

Chan Chan again
sorry, I don't have good picutre because I was running out of batteries

Huaca de la Luna
Jason's picture... no camera again

More H de la L via Jason
favorite piece

one more!
Jason really wants to use the computer right now...