Enjoying Trujillo Like a Local


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South America » Peru » Trujillo
June 15th 2010
Published: June 17th 2010
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Lima-Trujillo


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Engravings at the Huaca (pyramid)
I was happy to head out from Lima after a couple of days since the weather was really starting to get bad. It was pretty misty and chilly so it made it less appealing to get out and explore the city. I did enjoy my time in the city though, it has some really beautiful buildings and intriguing history. The last day though, I was thrilled to get to the Cruz del Sur bus station to head up to Trujillo for a couple of days.

At this point, I am getting pretty used to overnight bus travel down here. The Cama seats are really comfortable and big, like flying first class but on the bus. The Cruz del Sur bus station in Lima is pretty impressive, a huge building with different doors for departure that the buses pull up to and also a baggage check area too which is mandatory. Make sure you don't loose your ticket though, you can't get your bag back without it! I bought my ticket at my Hostel, the Family Backpackers, and it was delivered to the door by Cruz del Sur, pretty nice free extra service. So it came time and I boarded my
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All of this was hand carved thousands of years ago, amazing.
bus and took my seat on the first floor. I prefer being on the first floor after my whole earthquake experience, still a little wary and you never know haha. A girl with a 6 month old baby boarded and of course took the seat next to me. I gave a nice smile and asked how old, and in my head was thinking, man this sucks. She was a little disturbed by the noise the air conditioner behind us was making though and decided to move seats upstairs. I let out a sigh of relief. We had a short video to explain the bus safety rules to us. In Peru its actually mandatory to wear your seat belt the whole time, probably a good thing but definitely more uncomfortable while sleeping.(this was not the case in Chile or Argentina) My favorite part of the video however was where it explicitly told us that the toilet was to only be used for "urination" and if we had any other bathroom needs we were to notify the attendants and they would find a place to pull the bus over that was "adequate" for such needs. They repeated this multiple times haha.
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A view of the city from the Huaca

So anyways, I fell asleep and slept pretty well until we arrived at 6:30 am in Trujillo. I was excited to get to Trujillo to stay with my good friend David's family, David was a fellow student from my MBA program at Vanderbilt. I grabbed an "official taxi" from the bus station and headed over to the address that David had given me. It was a short drive and as I pulled up, David's mom was outside and came out to greet me. I was relieved to find the house and was excited to meet David's mom and sister. Exhausted, they showed me my room and I immediately fell asleep for a few hours. After a shower and an excellent peruvian lunch, I was feeling like a million dollars again. David's sister, Cecita, and her boyfriend Bruno took me on a city tour that evening of Trujillo. The architecture is really beautiful and very different from a lot that I have seen. It has a spanish colonial feel to it and the main square (plaza de armas) is beautiful. There are seven main old churches that are apparently connected by tunnels to the different catacombs underneath the streets. I love
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These dogs are hairless and really interesting, I am told they are native to peru
how the buildings are painted with different colors that apparently symbolize the history of the city. It makes the downtown very colorful and bright.

The next day I went to buy my ticket to Mancora at the Linea office in downtown. It was only 45 soles (about $15) for a cama seat on the overnight bus, not bad. Then in the afternoon, after an amazing homemade ceviche lunch by David's mom, she and I went on a tour of the Chan Chan ruins and Huanchaco. The Chan Chan ruins are pre-columbian, so very very old, and were amazingly large. Everything is made of adobe and intricately carved with different animals, fish, and symbols. We also visited a Huaca (pyramid) from the same civilization, it was made of adobe as well. At the end of the tour we dropped into Huanchaca, the surfing area outside of Trujillo on the coast. It was a really beautiful little coastal town. Lots of people were in the water surfing or learning how to surf. We enjoyed the view for about 30 min and I took a lot of pictures of the coast and also the really cool fishing boats that were displayed on
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he was a sweet dog
the beach.

That night when we got back we went over to David's aunt's birthday party. I always enjoy so much meeting families and seeing how holidays and birthdays are celebrated in different cultures. We enjoyed tea, wonderful company, and some really excellent empanadas and little mini cookies. The cake was relaly good as well. My spanish is improving and I was able to hold some normal conversations which was fun, but definitely still learning. So, after hyping myself up on sugar we went back, grabbed my things and they drove me to the Linea bus terminal on the other side of town. I hopped on my overnight bus to Piura where I would catch another bus to Mancora at 6 am. Overall I had a fabulous time in Trujillo, I am so thankful to David's family for taking me in for a couple of days, feeding me amazing food and showing me their hometown.


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Chan Chan

In the large ruins of Chan Chan
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Sacraficial areas

This one has carvings of the moon
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Water

This was a beautiful portion filled with water and animals.
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Tombs

This is where the main tombs of the complex were housed.


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