Peru – Trujillo, Chan Chan and the Sun and Moon Temples

Heard of Peruvian hairless dogs?

 What about Peruvian Paso horses?  

Stock photo, but what we saw - camera battery was flat

Nup, neither had we.  How long were the Incas part of Peruvian history and what happened before they arrived?  Well I guess we found out all about these pressing questions that had been keeping no-one awake today.

We arrived in the fairly unscenic port of Salaverry this morning as an access to the rather more scenic city of Trujillo in northern Peru. 

It, like Peru’s economy is growing rapidly – the city is full of half-finished houses: they build what they can afford and finish it later when a few more dollars come in.

Eaten any Peruvian asparagus lately?  Well the locals don’t touch it as it’s

1.       Too expensive for them to eat

2.       Not part of their culture anyway

3.       A lifesaver of their economy – so eat with relish as we did with dinner ce soir.

We had a fascinating day looking at (UNESCO heritage again) relics from two pre Inca cultures and one post Spanish conquest in this lively and historical city.  The excavations are relatively recent: 1964 for Chan Chan and 1991 for the Sun and Moon temples.  Refreshingly, we were a group of relatively few tourists wandering these developing but amazing locations dating from 100 AD to 1300 AD.

As an added bonus after these rather strenuous tours we had a lunch at a local ranch watching the Peruvian Paso (walking) horses whose agility is quite amazing – and very treasured by the population - see above. We were also treated to a display of Marinera dancing – they were trying to set up a Guinness world record for this type of dancing, in central Trujllio, whilst we were there.

Trujillo was named by conquistador Francis Pizarro in 1534 after his hometown in Spain – many of the elegant two storey buildings are now one storey after being razed by earthquakes in the past. 

We visited a very swish home - now a bank

 where Simon Bolivar had signed the Independence Treaty for the city in 1820.

Desk where independence treaty signed

 The Incas were actually in the area for only 100-150 years before being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th C - the very proud Moche people (pronounced something like Motchay) were in residence beforehand and had established huge adobe temples only recently discovered; 

Moche Temple of the Moon c 200 AD

Detail of the Moche god - Temple of the Moon

they in turn were conquered by the Chimu people who established Chan Chan c 1200 AD - much destroyed by erosion and rain due to its coastal location; excavation and restoration continues.

Chan Chan ruins - external walls were originally 12 metres high

The grey on grey landscape and the erratic rainfall from El Nino has actually helped to preserve yet destroy these adobe structures – the heavy rainfall every 50 odd years was seen as a bad sign from angry Gods yet irrigation has been used for thousands of years to propagate the corn and potatoes as staple food for the locals – though sugar cane and rice has also entered the equation.

We also saw the coastal town of  Huanchaco where reed fishing boats have been used (and are still used) for hundreds of years, but is now also on the surfing trail

There’s also the wonderful Pisco Sours: a lemon/lime drink made with the grape distilled Pisco and limon, sugar syrup and egg white - it's a source of debate as to its origin between Peru and Chile - a bit like the Pavlova debate between Australia and New Zealand.  Also it's rumoured there are very tasty beers – more to come on those.  Off to Lima tomorrow for three days as we (quelle horreur) chose not to got to Machu Picchu.