Trip to Trujillo

Hello again, and happy Friday! I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

Last weekend I went on a wonderful trip to Trujillo with Itxel and Carlos, and I have promised to write about it to tell you all about my time up north, so here goes!

All week Itxel and I knew that we wanted to go away for the weekend somewhere. Lima perhaps? Huaraz, to go hiking in the Andes? Well, the opportunity to go to Trujillo with Carlos (one of the people that we work with at EMAPA Huacho) was presented, and we decided to jump on the opportunity. Carlos is originally from Trujillo (he has only been living in Huacho since February 2011) and he often goes home on weekends, so he invited us to go with him. His family offered to let us stay at their house so that we would feel safer, too. What a nice offer.

So on Friday after work Itxel and I went home to finish packing up our things and have a bite to eat before leaving. Carlos came to meet us around 7:45pm and we took a taxi to Huaura, a neighbouring city. From here, essentially you take a seat on a bench near the side of the road, and wait for a bus to pass by. The only road from Lima going up north is the Pan Americana Norte (Pan American highway), and it passes through both Huacho and Huaura. Busses travelling on the road will stop in Huaura if they have extra seats though. So each time a bus would pass by, we would ask the driver where they were going... and then, if they had seats for the three of us... and then, we negotiated a price (you also have the option to buy your tickets ahead of time with some travel agents). Carlos had explained to us that sometimes you find a bus right away, and sometimes it takes hours... or you might have 4 busses pass you by before one with available seats stops. What a gamble.

So we waited, and waited. Unfortunately for us, most of the busses weren't going to Trujillo. It was still early they said. Because usually people will do the trip by night (Trujillo is 6 hours north of Huacho). And the busses originate in Lima. It takes 2.5-3 hours to get to Huacho from Lima, and if most busses wait until people are done their working day to leave, that means that the earliest ones show up around 9:30 pm... but most people prefer to leave later and arrive in Trujillo as the sun is coming up.

Around 9:45, a bus finally stopped and picked us up. It was a double decker bus, and we got to sit on the second floor :) It was pretty comfortable too, and the seats recline much more than the seats in Canada (you also have a mini tray table!). Unfortunately I was sitting right in front of the TV so the light was shining straight into my eyes, but I put my jacket over my face and managed to get some sleep (the tv also shut off around midnight, which meant much more quiet, too).

We got to Trujillo pretty much 6 hours after getting on the bus, took a taxi to Carlos' house, and went straight to bed. How nice to finally be in a horizontal position! The next morning, Carlos' mom (who is incredibly warm and welcoming) brought us juice, and we all ate breakfast together. Then we took off to see the sights in Trujillo.

Our first stop: La Plaza de Armas. Each city in Perú has their Plaza de Armas (like a central square with vegetation and many, many benches to sit and people watch). Well, Trujillo's is magnificent. It is the largest Plaza de Armas in Perú, and definitely the nicest one I have seen so far. As we were walking around, we bumped into the president of the region of La Libertad (of which Trujillo is the capital), and Carlos asked him if he would take a picture with Itxel and I. Sure, why not?


Itxel, Ing. José Murgia Zannier and I at the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo

As Carlos was setting up to take the picture, the president asked us where we were from and how we like Trujillo (in English!). Pretty neat.

We walked around the centre of the city a bit more (it is full of colonial architecture, and so it is absolutely gorgeous), and then we took a mini bus to Chan Chan. Chan Chan is the largest pre-columbian archaeological site in the Americas, and was the capital of the Chimú empire, which reigned the Peruvian coast from the XII to the XV century. They were conquered by the Incas shortly before the Spaniards arrived, and then joined the Spanish army to help them conquer the Incas (they were not the only civilization to do this; in their hatred for the Incas, many other groups decided to join forces with the conquistadores). We spent a few hours discovering the site, which is impeccably preserved (and some of it has been restored). The capital city extended on over 24 km2, but we only saw a fraction of what once was the most powerful civilization along the coast. Fascinating.


Me and Itxel next to the outer wall of the main gathering place in Chan Chan. The pattern on the wall represents the tide (as Chan Chan is located only 2 km away from the Pacific Ocean), which drawings of fish, serpents, and birds represented as well.

 After we finished our visit we took a mini bus again to Huanchaco. Huanchaco is a small city located right on the beach, a surfer's paradise. We saw a few brave people braving the cold water and enjoying the surf, and enjoyed walking along the boardwalk. Huanchaco is a popular tourist area, so it is very well kept, and all along the ocean road there are little shops, restaurants, and hotels. We stopped in at the restaurant owned by some of Carlos' friends and shared chicharrón de langostinos (a shrimp dish). What a lovely view! Once we were done we took the mini bus back to Trujillo and went for lunch at Carlos' house.


Itxel and Carlos patiently waiting for our shrimp dish to arrive.

In the evening, we decided to go back to the city centre to see the city by night. We stopped in at a shoe and leather market on the way because Trujillo is well-known for all of its leather products. What a nice place to shop! I got most of my Christmas shopping out of the way and had a great time browsing the stores and bargaining for deals. When we finally got to the Plaza de Armas, we were incredibly lucky to stumble upon a free concert and show taking place there! The University of Trujillo was celebrating its 180th anniversary, and so there was a full concert band playing Peruvian music for all to enjoy. Then came the dancing. Peru is known for its many traditional dances (which vary from one part of the country to another). All along the coast the marinera is well known, but Trujillo is the capital of this beautiful dance. How spectacular to see the couple dance! The band changed, and a dancing troup from the university put on a 2-hour show featuring traditional dances from all regions of Peru. The music, the costumes, and the dancing were absolutely wonderful. It was such a great way to spend a Saturday night. When everything was done, we took a taxi back to Carlos', had a quick snack, and then called it a night.
On the Sunday we decided to go visit another important archaeological site, the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (temple of the sun and of the moon). This site was the capital of the Moche empire, which reigned from AD 200-750 (roughly). The Huaca del Sol has just begun to be excavated (so you cannot visit it), but we got to see the Huaca de la Luna. It served as a temple for religious and sacrificial rituals. There were 5 dynasties in total during the Moche empire, and with each new dynasty came a new temple (but not a new one next to the old one; they would build on top of the old temple!). The guided tour takes you inside so you can see parts of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th level of temple. It is impressive to see that the majority of the original paintings have survived, and they help tell the story of what the temple was used for and what the beliefs of the people were at that time.

The outside of the Huaca de la Luna, with its original paintings still intact. These paintings were used to describe the ceremonial procedures that took place inside the huaca, but that the public were not allowed to attend.



Paintings of the god of the mountain from the 3rd dynasty (it is the same god for all dynasties).

In the afternoon, we had another delicious lunch at Carlos' house (his mom actually runs a restaurant, so she is an amazing cook!) and then headed off to take the bus. This time, we bought our tickets ahead of time, so we knew we were catching the 6:30 pm bus (which didn't actually hit the road until sometime after 7 pm because it had a lot of people to pick up at various points in Trujillo, but hey, it's an adventure!). We rolled into Huaura at 1:30 am, grabbed a taxi, washed up and went to bed. It was a short night, but that's okay. We had an absolutely wonderful weekend visiting Trujillo and meeting Carlos' family, and we have already been invited back to go. Itxel and I are definitely planning on going back to enjoy the beach during the summer and further discover all of the riches that Trujillo has to offer. There is also another WUSC volunteer who is working there for 1 year, so we will hopefully get to meet up with her (she arrived on the Saturday night when we were in Trujillo and we unfortunately missed meeting up with her).
My final note: If you come to Peru, I highly recommend taking a trip up the coast to visit Trujillo, you will not be disappointed!

Tomorrow, Itxel and I are headed to Picoy, a town in the mountains about 2 hours away from here to participate in the 1st annual trout festival! Our tour includes a guided tour of the city, a delicious trout lunch, and entrance to the thermal baths of Huancahuasi (the warmest ones around). Sunday, we are partaking in a press conference that is celebrating the month of water (October) that EMAPA Huacho is organizing along with other local organizations. So, another busy weekend planned, but I cannot wait. Hopefully I'll find some time next week to write to you about it! Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Sheila