Finishing Peru

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We finished our time in Peru with a visit to the north of the country. We based ourselves in the city of Trujillo for a few days whilst seeing the surrounding sites before moving further north to the city of Piura and then on to Ecuador.

Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru but very welcoming and easy to get around. It has kept plenty of its colonial charm and had lots of sites in and around to keep us occupied for a few days. We stayed very near the main plaza and so were able to enjoy the vibrant nightlife, wander the pretty streets and admire the architecture as well as chat with the friendly locals. We also visited a couple of small museums in the city which gave an insight into the local history.

Trujillo is near to a number of important pre-Inca archaeological sites and we were able to visit some of these through cheap tours organised by our hotel.

The first tour was to visit a few sites originally belonging to the Chimu people. The first stop was the Arco Iris (Rainbow) temple. This is a large adobe structure with ramps leading up to various ceremonial platforms. It was intersting to see that as the Chimu people were fishermen they worshipped the moon (with its links to the tides) as much as the sun.

We also visited the Chimu city of Chan Chan, the world's largest adobe city. Despite only visiting a fraction of the complex we were walking for ages. Apparently plenty of the city is still un-discovered and hidden in the desert nearby. I particularly loved the designs that the Chimu people had put into the walls at Chan Chan, including fish and fishing nets. I can see now that archaeology is all about piecing together the obvious things in a place to understand the story behind the facades.

After visiting Chan Chan we drove out to the Pacific coast to visit the small town of Huanchero. The fishermen here are well known for using reed boats which are the same as those used by their ancestors for many centuries. We walked along the beach and saw the boats but as it was cloudy the town was definitely lacking the "holiday air" all seaside towns should have!

The next day we visited ruins from the Moche civilisation at the Huaca de la Luna. This is another massive complex, still being excavated. The city is cleverly siuated at the foot of a mountain, so that flood waters (particularly from the El Nin'o rains) are diverted around it. Each of the bricks laid at the site was "signed" by its craftsman and some of these were on display, showing the use of images rather than letters on the individual bricks. The outstanding feature of the Huaca de la Luna is the paintings on the walls, showing monsters' faces, geometrical designs, animals, etc. Clearly the Moches were very advanced artists and it made for a completely different sight to the Inca ruins we saw in southern Peru.

Finally it was time to move on again. We took a bus north to the city of Piura before crossing the following day into Ecuador. Peru has been an amazing experience and has exceeded all of my previous expectations. I am definitely going to miss this country!

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Comments

[Stephen Paul]

Catch Up!
Barry is on a mountain in Ecuador and you are still in Peru? Someone is behind on travelblogs! :) I like the theme of these pics.. a few churches thrown in to otherwise local art.