Chan Chan and Las Huacas

Trujillo has a very interesting history, and I decided that it’s about time I touch on this part of the culture (especially since I visited the pictured sites over a month ago!)

The overall history of Peru is fascinating (even for someone who has a short attention span like me) and you can spend hours upon hours reading about it. I’ll spare you the complete details as I’m sure Wikipedia (and my Lonely Planet book) do a much better job. But, some little signs of history you catch in daily life here include
1) The Spanish influence - Spain occupied Peru for several hundred years, beginning in the 1500’s. A significant amount of the food and certain customs/architecture decorating the city of Trujillo reflect this bit of history.
2) Chifa - Chinese food/restaurants everywhere! This is due to a historical immigration and influx of workers, and the food today is more of a hybrid combination of Chinese with the Peruvian and Spanish substitution for some ingredients.
3) Ruinas – Every day that I work at the school, I walk by two different walled in areas that almost blend in with the homes of the residential area. Turns out they are ancient archaelogical sites from the Chimú era- and well preserved too! It’s common to see historical ruins interspersed within close proximity to the more modern culture around Trujillo.

Last month, I got to be a tourist for a day thanks to Shana, Hailey and Marcelle who were visiting.

Our first stop was at the Huacas del sol/de la luna outside of Trujillo. These structures belonged to the Moche, a coastal society of northern Peru who inhabited the land from AD 100-800. The Moche are noted for exquisite pottery and large temple mounds (‘huacas’ or pyramids), and they are still being excavated. While the climate and El Niño have reportedly done quite a bit of damage to these sites, we were still able to enjoy the mural paintings that remain in Huaca de la luna with an interesting guided tour.

Check out the local wild dog that hangs out around the Huacas. It’s called "biringo" – a native Peruvian hairless dog. Traditionally used as body warmer for people with arthritis, this dog has a higher body temp. than average!

Our second stop was at Chan Chan, which was built around AD 1300, covers 36 km, and is the largest adobe city in world and largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. The 60,000+ inhabitants were from the Chimú empire and were known for gold, silver, and ceramics prior to looting. The sheer size of Chan Chan is incredible. It once consisted of 9 major compounds or cities (but only part of 1 accessible by tourists). It’s a barren area, but with a little imagination and exploration it grows on you.

We ran out of time at the end and didn’t even make it to the other sites that Trujillo has to offer, so there’s definitely more to see – If planning a trip, may want to allow for a few days in the area just to see the historical attractions.