Trujillo


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South America » Peru » Trujillo
August 28th 2014
Published: September 3rd 2014
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We took the night bus from Huaraz and arrived in Trujillo at 5:30am. We waited in the bus station until 7am before heading to our hostel. We were fortunate when we arrived as our host quickly cleaned our room and changed the sheets so it was ready for us. We had a morning nap before heading out to the pre-Colombian city of Chan Chan.

Chan Chan is the largest adobe city in the world covering an area of 20 square kilometres. It is estimated to have been built around 800AD and housed up to 60,000 inhabitants and contained vast wealth of gold, silver and ceramics. The city consists of 10 walled citadels. Each of the citadels housed ceremonial rooms, burial chambers, temples, reservoirs and residences. We visited the Tschudi complex as currently this is the only one that has been partially restored.

After Chan Chan we took a local combi van the short distance to Huanchaco a surf town with a pier full of fishermen and sightseers. The narrow boats on the beach were fascinating as they were made out of reeds and very different to other fishing boats we have seen previously. These are the same style of boat as is depicted on 2,000 year old Moche pottery. I would have loved to watch the fishermen out in these boats but unfortunately our timing wasn't right. As we walked along the beach I was surprised to see blue footed boobies on the shore as these are birds that I associated with the Galapagos islands, however I have subsequently learnt that the boobies are found in several countries.

Before leaving Trujillo we visited La Huaca de La Luna, the temple of the moon. It's believed to be from the Moche period and more than 700 years older than Chan Chan. The Moche are famous for their amazing paintings and polychrome friezes. The huaca (tomb or grave) was built over six centuries to 600 AD with each succeeding generation covering the previous structure with a larger one. Archeologists are currently pealing back the layers and have discovered amazing polychrome friezes that have been perfectly preserved by the later layers, as well as lots of human remains from the human sacrafices that were important at that time.I was surprised by how well the paintings have been preserved and by the bright colours used.

About 500m from La Huaca de La Luna is La Huaca de Sol which is the largest single pre-Colombian structure in Peru and was built with an estimated 140 million adobe bricks.

Unfortunately the weather is having a major impact on these sites so it will be interesting to see what ways archeologists come up with to preserve them for future generations.

Next stop Chiclayo


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