Trujillo and Lima, PERU

Saturday, January 14, - Salaverry for Trujillo, Peru
Sand dunes ahead of you as you look out the windows! TALL SAND DUNES that appear to be mountains. We enjoyed the free shuttle to the main plaza in Trujillo and hired a very nice driver for $15 an hour to explore. Off to Chan Chan, the largest mud (adobe) city in the world and an UNESCO Archaeological zone! It once held boulevards, aqueducts, gardens, palaces (NINE!) and over 10,000 dwellings with 60,000 people and a vast amount of gold, silver and ceramics. The Moche civilization, and 300 years later, the Chimu people took control of the region. Their empire stretched along 620 miles of the Pacific, from Lima to Tumbes.

The description sounds incredible but you have to understand that this area has horrific rain and this was all built approx. 500+ years ago…SO it is a vast area of rounded off piles of dried sand. It is not quite as impressive as it is made to sound. We were still impressed as we wandered through the labyrinth of the one open palace BUT it is was not as impressive as what we saw in the afternoon. More on that later. One royal palace has been excavated and we saw the storage rooms/bins where the common people paid their taxes – paid in food or animals. There is still a massive 16+ foot high wall around the royal palace so you can imagine how high it was in its original days. They only put up the small roof structures over the main building walls a few years ago – think of the years and years of damage to this site. The museum was small and showed examples of how the people dressed. The royal families ate guinea pig, sea lions, dog, llama and agricultural and sea products; the common people ate dog and llama. Fermented corn was the drink of the day!

We went to a smaller huaca (temple) , Huaca La Esmeralda. Then to the local gas station for drinks (same as in the USA) and off to the very impressive site of Huaca del Sol and Huaca del La Luna (Temples of the Sun and Moon). Huaca del Sol is the largest pre-Columbian structure in the Americas attributed to the Moche period. The Huaca del Sol is just like the Egyptian Sphinx with the head! All that remains is the body. The structure has an estimated 140 million adobe bricks, many of them marked with symbols representing the workers who made them. The Huaca del la Luna is incredible! Archeologists have covered sections of the ruins that, even today, show the gold, white, black and red colors of the inscriptions and friezes. The colors are beautiful and the size of their size is impressive. The structure was built over six centuries to AD 600 with six succeeding generations expanding on it and completely covering the previous structure. Many stairways and various levels and built at the side of the mountain; quite an impressive site! We hurried back to the ship in the taxi and collapsed! Long, hot day filled with lots of Peruvian history. Lots to do in this port; would like to return and stay longer.

Peru is the third largest country in South America. Their currency is the Nuevo sol.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang

Sunday, January 15 – Callao for Lima, Peru – Diane’s birthday!

A Road rally in Lima! All the streets are blocked off and the old section of the city is for pedestrians and rally cars only. We started out late – well, we only docked at 10 but I was not feeling well. Off the ship at 12:30 and it is a 45 minute transfer to Lima, Miraflores section to the Larcomar shopping center and JW Marriott hotel. Of course, a lovely section of the city. Together with a nice Dutch couple we hired a taxi to go to the Gold Museum, a private museum. The first floor was full of many medieval armors, guns, hats, saddles, rifles, pistols…all time periods, all types – incredible collection. The gold collection was in the basement and had silver and gold from the ages. Truly impressive. Mummies, textiles, oars…how does one begin such a collection and where does one store it BEFORE the museum is begun? Wow. Lots to see and do. We had the nicest taxi driver – Judith, who is an English teacher, and her son Miguel, 18 years old - -it was his first driving assignment. They are teaching him. She lived in Miami for a few years and her husband, Rafael, is one of the main drivers at the Marriott hotel. We had fun with them. Back to the hotel and to the park and overlook over the Sea and Larcomar shopping mall (UNDER) the park and on the shuttle back to the ship. I didn’t feel so good – a cold – so I went to bed and the others enjoyed a wonderful Peruvian dance and fashion show on the ship, Inkamerica.

Callao, our port, was founded in 1537. It became the main port for Spanish commerce in the Pacific as good were carried over the Andes mountains by mile to Callao, then shipped to Panama, and then to Cuba and then to Spain.

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” - Samuel Johnson

Monday, January 16, 2012 – Callao port for Lima, Peru

Peruvian Trivia: The potato is originally from Peru and they produced over 3000 varieties! The tomato is originally from Peru and is a close relative of the potato. Corn from Peru is a variety with the largest kernels in the world amongst 32 others produced. The avocado is also from Peru and they produce the softest variety. The finest cottons in the world are Peruvian, Pima and Tanguis. The weeping willow is originally from Peru and it produces the base for aspirin. The highest train pass in the world is in Ticlio at 15,793 feet. The deepest canyons in the world at Cotahuasi at 11,810 feet and Colca at 11,150 feet. (The Grand Canyon is only one mile deep.)

Today, we worked at the Marriott for over 3 hours. Free internet, free phone using Skype…have to make the time to get it all done. Then we found Judith and her husband, Rafael (Taxi drivers), and with a couple from New Zealand, we toured Colonial Lima. Lovely day – cathedral, main square, monastery, catacombs…and we went inside the hotel we had stayed in over 20 years ago – Gran Hotel Bolivar – not quite “grand” but still in use. Back to the ship via the free shuttle and to the many shops at the pier for a few souvenirs. Nice BBQ on deck with a local Peruvian band and dancing. We don’t sail until 10:30PM so it is a rather quiet night.

“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” - Paul Fussell