Heading North-A Trip to Northern Peru
Greetings again everyone,
I hope spring fever has caught all of you back in the States and that the sun is shining upon you. Life has been going pretty well for Marianella and I in Peru. As you have seen throughout this blog, Marianella has been doing a pretty good job of showing me around Peru, but our travels up until this time have been around central and southern Peru. With a week-long vacation on Marianella's schedule last week, we took a few days to explore a bit of northern Peru. Our initial plans were frustrated (fog canceled our flight), but we were able to regroup and have a very enjoyable vacation in northern Peru, as you will see below.
Trujillo
Trujillo is the largest city in northern Peru and was actually where the groundswell for independence from Spain originated. Located along the Pacific coast the plane took little over an hour (think Minneapolis to Chicago) to land us in this wonderful city, which rapidly moved up our list of favorite cities in Peru. Marianella had visited once before and had a good idea where to take me on our visit, starting with the unique main square. As you have seen on the blog before, every Peruvian town has their own main square, mirroring the Spanish civilization that conquered Peru. Trujillo's main square is unique from all others in its use of very vibrant colors. A tour guide told us that when this town was settled, it was plagued by mosquitoes, so the idea was forwarded to paint all the buildings bright and various colors. No word on how effective this strategy was against the mosquitoes, but its legacy is representated well throughout the city. Unfortunately the sculpture at the center of the square was undergoing some touching up, so we were unable to take a broad shot of the entire square, but we hope you can get an idea of what the entire main square, and for that matter the entire city, look like from the pictures below.
While a contributing factor, the bright buildings were not the only reason we liked Trujillo. It possesses a quiet and tranquil nature and provides safe and easy walking through its main square and the commercial area nearby. In addition, it is the shoe capital of Peru, which Marianella and I both took advantage of, and its located about 15 minutes from Huanchaco Beach, which you will see pictures of later. Really a wonderful place to spend a few days or longer, depending upon the level of relaxation you need :).
A sample of the bright buildings that surround Trujillo's main square:
Temple of the Moon & Chan Chan
For those who know a little bit about Peru, you know that its most famous for the Inca civilization and Macchu Picchu, the "discovered city" of the Inca people. However, before the Inca people arrived around the 13th century, there were other cultures exisiting in Peru, two of which were the Moche (slightly before and after Jesus Christ was walking the Earth) and the Chimu (after the Moche and until the Inca arrived) cultures. We tapped into our inner Indiana Jones on our first full day in Trujillo by visiting the historic sites of the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan, with each representing those respective cultures.
The Temple of the Moon is also accompanied by the Temple of the Sun, but thus far only the Temple of the Moon has been undertaken by archeologists for excavation. On a trip that featured many highlights, this may have been my favorite. It felt like stepping into a living museum as archeologists are currently working on uncovering this extraordinary relic from the Moche culture. As you will see in the pictures below, the preservation of the Temple of the Moon has been incredible and this was due to the Moche people's foresight in taking care of their temple. Each level was built upon one another, for a total of six levels (the archeologists think). When they decided to add another level, they would fill in the previous level with adobe bricks, which you can see all over the place in the pictures below. As the archeologists explore this site, they are removing those bricks to find the preserved artwork of the Moche culture, dating about 2000 years ago. As I stated earlier, it's like a living, evolving museum. Marianella visited this site about 10 years ago and very little excavation had taken place at that time, certainly not to the point where they were seeing the remnants of the Moche culture artwork. Our tour guide told us that if we were to visit again in 10 years, the advancement in excavation should provide many new surprises and a different landscape for us to view.
Artwork of the "Decapitator", the gruesome god of the Moche people:
Adobe bricks being removed to show what's behind the walls:
Some very intricate artwork found on the exterior of the Temple:
A visual of the different levels on the exterior of the Temple:
Chan Chan was a short drive away from the Temple of the Sun, but we were stepping into a whole different culture with the Chimu (pronounced she-moo) influence. They were not as artistic as the Moche culture and this site was more exposed to the elements as it borders on the Pacific Ocean, but in its heyday, Chan Chan was the largest adobe city that ever existed. The area we walked through was immense, and it was just a miniscule portion of the entire city, some of which now lays in ruin. However, there was still enough preserved to give you a very good idea of what life was like in Chan Chan. Particular interesting to me was the office area, as Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu civilization and therefore the place where all the taxes and accounting were figured. Who knew that the office cubicle existed back in the single digit centuries?
Marianella with proof squirrels exist in Peru:
The office buildings of Chan Chan:
Tombs of Sipan
The next day Marianella and I awoke early to take a six hour roundtrip bus ride to the city of Chiclayo. Why would we subject ourselves to such an ordeal? More history. The trip was well worth our while, although the pictures are limited from this day, due to the museum preventing any pictures being taken. A quick overview-around 25-30 years ago, an archeologist from Japan finally hit archeological gold after 13 years of exploration. He found the fully encased tomb of the Lord of Sipan, who was one of the kings of the Moche empire. Along with the Lord of Sipan's remains, he also found all that went with that-a massive amount of pottery and gold that as tradition required was buried with the Lord of Sipan. What made this museum particularly fascinating was that we got to see the process of how they excavated and then cleaned and refurbished the items found buried along with the Lord. As stated, we were unable to take pictures but even if we were it would not do justice to this museum. Our tour guide told us that it has been ranked among the Top 10 museums in the world and after a few hours spent there, we could not disagree.
The Marinera with Dancing Horses
If you scroll way back on this blog, you will come across a picture from a performance Marianella and I attended of the traditional dances of Peru. The picture of the barefoot girl in white and her partner with the sombrero illustrates this beautiful dance, but in northern Peru, they put a twist on it. Here they train horses to dance the marinera with the lady. If I've figured out how to post it correctly and your computer allows, you'll be able to watch the video of the horse dancing with the girl. You'll also see pictures of the girl dancing with a guy too. Among all the dances of Peru, this is probably my favorite.
The featured dancers:
The Marinera in progress:
Me with the star of the show:
The first video shows the girl dancing with the horse, while another horse is being trained in the background; the second video shows the girl dancing the traditional marinera with a guy. Each of the videos are pretty loud due to the music, so be prepared to lower the volume immediately, especially if you're in the office. I hope it works!
Huanchaco Beach
Although it may seem that we spent all our time diving into history, we did find time to relax in Trujillo and its surroundings. When we weren't indulging in local dishes such as cabrito (goat meat, and it was delicious!), shopping for wonderfully priced leather shoes, or just strolling through the main square, we made a couple trips to Huanchaco Beach, located a short drive from Trujillo. Our first trip to the beach was at the end of day 1 of our tour that included the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan. We made it just in time to see the sun set on the horizon. Our return trip didn't produce any sun as the fog had rolled into the area. Despite the less than postcard picture view that day, it did produce about 30 surfers trying to catch a wave, hang ten, or do whatever the current lingo is for surfers which made for enjoyable viewing for us. Our short vacation had arrived shortly after the high season for the beach, but it was still great to spend a bit of time on this grand beach with its powerful tide.
A surfer heading out:
The traditional hand-made boats used in this region:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next update with the blog will probably be in June as Marianella and I welcome our first visitors from the States. Our busy June starts with my Mom and sister Mary coming to visit for a couple weeks, we have a little break which covers our first wedding anniversary (unbelievably quick year that it has been), and then we welcome our friend Sue (you may remember her from the wedding, as the blonde bridesmaid) and her friend James who arrive towards the end of June, into early July. We're looking forward to entertaining our guests and I'll be sure to update you on their visits. Take care everyone and hope life is treating you well~Tim & Marianella
P.S.
We're still looking for the perfect candidates to rent our cozy home in St. Paul. If you know of anyone who would be interested (with a start date of August 1) please let them/me know. Thanks!
I hope spring fever has caught all of you back in the States and that the sun is shining upon you. Life has been going pretty well for Marianella and I in Peru. As you have seen throughout this blog, Marianella has been doing a pretty good job of showing me around Peru, but our travels up until this time have been around central and southern Peru. With a week-long vacation on Marianella's schedule last week, we took a few days to explore a bit of northern Peru. Our initial plans were frustrated (fog canceled our flight), but we were able to regroup and have a very enjoyable vacation in northern Peru, as you will see below.
Trujillo
Trujillo is the largest city in northern Peru and was actually where the groundswell for independence from Spain originated. Located along the Pacific coast the plane took little over an hour (think Minneapolis to Chicago) to land us in this wonderful city, which rapidly moved up our list of favorite cities in Peru. Marianella had visited once before and had a good idea where to take me on our visit, starting with the unique main square. As you have seen on the blog before, every Peruvian town has their own main square, mirroring the Spanish civilization that conquered Peru. Trujillo's main square is unique from all others in its use of very vibrant colors. A tour guide told us that when this town was settled, it was plagued by mosquitoes, so the idea was forwarded to paint all the buildings bright and various colors. No word on how effective this strategy was against the mosquitoes, but its legacy is representated well throughout the city. Unfortunately the sculpture at the center of the square was undergoing some touching up, so we were unable to take a broad shot of the entire square, but we hope you can get an idea of what the entire main square, and for that matter the entire city, look like from the pictures below.
While a contributing factor, the bright buildings were not the only reason we liked Trujillo. It possesses a quiet and tranquil nature and provides safe and easy walking through its main square and the commercial area nearby. In addition, it is the shoe capital of Peru, which Marianella and I both took advantage of, and its located about 15 minutes from Huanchaco Beach, which you will see pictures of later. Really a wonderful place to spend a few days or longer, depending upon the level of relaxation you need :).
A sample of the bright buildings that surround Trujillo's main square:
Temple of the Moon & Chan Chan
For those who know a little bit about Peru, you know that its most famous for the Inca civilization and Macchu Picchu, the "discovered city" of the Inca people. However, before the Inca people arrived around the 13th century, there were other cultures exisiting in Peru, two of which were the Moche (slightly before and after Jesus Christ was walking the Earth) and the Chimu (after the Moche and until the Inca arrived) cultures. We tapped into our inner Indiana Jones on our first full day in Trujillo by visiting the historic sites of the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan, with each representing those respective cultures.
The Temple of the Moon is also accompanied by the Temple of the Sun, but thus far only the Temple of the Moon has been undertaken by archeologists for excavation. On a trip that featured many highlights, this may have been my favorite. It felt like stepping into a living museum as archeologists are currently working on uncovering this extraordinary relic from the Moche culture. As you will see in the pictures below, the preservation of the Temple of the Moon has been incredible and this was due to the Moche people's foresight in taking care of their temple. Each level was built upon one another, for a total of six levels (the archeologists think). When they decided to add another level, they would fill in the previous level with adobe bricks, which you can see all over the place in the pictures below. As the archeologists explore this site, they are removing those bricks to find the preserved artwork of the Moche culture, dating about 2000 years ago. As I stated earlier, it's like a living, evolving museum. Marianella visited this site about 10 years ago and very little excavation had taken place at that time, certainly not to the point where they were seeing the remnants of the Moche culture artwork. Our tour guide told us that if we were to visit again in 10 years, the advancement in excavation should provide many new surprises and a different landscape for us to view.
Artwork of the "Decapitator", the gruesome god of the Moche people:
Adobe bricks being removed to show what's behind the walls:
Some very intricate artwork found on the exterior of the Temple:
A visual of the different levels on the exterior of the Temple:
Chan Chan was a short drive away from the Temple of the Sun, but we were stepping into a whole different culture with the Chimu (pronounced she-moo) influence. They were not as artistic as the Moche culture and this site was more exposed to the elements as it borders on the Pacific Ocean, but in its heyday, Chan Chan was the largest adobe city that ever existed. The area we walked through was immense, and it was just a miniscule portion of the entire city, some of which now lays in ruin. However, there was still enough preserved to give you a very good idea of what life was like in Chan Chan. Particular interesting to me was the office area, as Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu civilization and therefore the place where all the taxes and accounting were figured. Who knew that the office cubicle existed back in the single digit centuries?
Marianella with proof squirrels exist in Peru:
The office buildings of Chan Chan:
Tombs of Sipan
The next day Marianella and I awoke early to take a six hour roundtrip bus ride to the city of Chiclayo. Why would we subject ourselves to such an ordeal? More history. The trip was well worth our while, although the pictures are limited from this day, due to the museum preventing any pictures being taken. A quick overview-around 25-30 years ago, an archeologist from Japan finally hit archeological gold after 13 years of exploration. He found the fully encased tomb of the Lord of Sipan, who was one of the kings of the Moche empire. Along with the Lord of Sipan's remains, he also found all that went with that-a massive amount of pottery and gold that as tradition required was buried with the Lord of Sipan. What made this museum particularly fascinating was that we got to see the process of how they excavated and then cleaned and refurbished the items found buried along with the Lord. As stated, we were unable to take pictures but even if we were it would not do justice to this museum. Our tour guide told us that it has been ranked among the Top 10 museums in the world and after a few hours spent there, we could not disagree.
The Marinera with Dancing Horses
If you scroll way back on this blog, you will come across a picture from a performance Marianella and I attended of the traditional dances of Peru. The picture of the barefoot girl in white and her partner with the sombrero illustrates this beautiful dance, but in northern Peru, they put a twist on it. Here they train horses to dance the marinera with the lady. If I've figured out how to post it correctly and your computer allows, you'll be able to watch the video of the horse dancing with the girl. You'll also see pictures of the girl dancing with a guy too. Among all the dances of Peru, this is probably my favorite.
The featured dancers:
The Marinera in progress:
Me with the star of the show:
The first video shows the girl dancing with the horse, while another horse is being trained in the background; the second video shows the girl dancing the traditional marinera with a guy. Each of the videos are pretty loud due to the music, so be prepared to lower the volume immediately, especially if you're in the office. I hope it works!Huanchaco Beach
Although it may seem that we spent all our time diving into history, we did find time to relax in Trujillo and its surroundings. When we weren't indulging in local dishes such as cabrito (goat meat, and it was delicious!), shopping for wonderfully priced leather shoes, or just strolling through the main square, we made a couple trips to Huanchaco Beach, located a short drive from Trujillo. Our first trip to the beach was at the end of day 1 of our tour that included the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan. We made it just in time to see the sun set on the horizon. Our return trip didn't produce any sun as the fog had rolled into the area. Despite the less than postcard picture view that day, it did produce about 30 surfers trying to catch a wave, hang ten, or do whatever the current lingo is for surfers which made for enjoyable viewing for us. Our short vacation had arrived shortly after the high season for the beach, but it was still great to spend a bit of time on this grand beach with its powerful tide.
A surfer heading out:
The traditional hand-made boats used in this region:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The next update with the blog will probably be in June as Marianella and I welcome our first visitors from the States. Our busy June starts with my Mom and sister Mary coming to visit for a couple weeks, we have a little break which covers our first wedding anniversary (unbelievably quick year that it has been), and then we welcome our friend Sue (you may remember her from the wedding, as the blonde bridesmaid) and her friend James who arrive towards the end of June, into early July. We're looking forward to entertaining our guests and I'll be sure to update you on their visits. Take care everyone and hope life is treating you well~Tim & Marianella
P.S.
We're still looking for the perfect candidates to rent our cozy home in St. Paul. If you know of anyone who would be interested (with a start date of August 1) please let them/me know. Thanks!
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