65. Lima (2)

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gold pieces in the National Museum, one of the nicest in Lima

The pre-colonial part of Lima is at least as impressive as its colonial part, with a well-preserved pyramid and some fabulous museums containing the nation’s treasures.

Of course, Lima is more than the old city centre; in fact it is a huge metropolis, with over ten million people on some 800 km, the third-largest in Latin America. And yet, even inside this metropolis the Peruvians have managed to unearth an ancient temple, the Huaca Pucllana, which served the so-called Lima culture between 200-700 AD, sort of time equivalent with the Moche in the north. But where the adobe pyramids of the Moche have been badly eroded by rain (or by deliberately diverting a river, like south of Trujillo), the Pucllana structure, also entirely adobe, is in a remarkable shape. Initially I was convinced that this had been reconstructed, but the guide – here too, entrance only with a guided tour – corrects me, firstly that ‘we don’t speak of reconstruction, but rather restoration’, and secondly, that most of the structure is actually in its original state. It never rains in Lima, that’s why.

the Pucllana adobe pyramid

with recognisable structures

stacks of adobe bricks

together forming a pyramid, with stairs

according to our guide, right half has been restored, left is original – there is a difference

there are indeed people working on the restoration

another view of the pyramid

one of the present inhabitants

the outer side

the first piece we see in the National Museum, must be a sign…

All these huacas – temples or pyramids -, in Lima and everywhere else in the country, have yielded lots of treasures. Many of which have been lost through grave robbers – initially the Spanish, hunting for gold and silver, later Peruvians, feeding the black market for historical artefacts. But luckily quite a few have survived, and I have shown some of those earlier, as they were included in local on-site museums. Of course we expected that the best pieces would be in Lima, but nothing had prepared us for the two main museums here, the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History, and the private Larco Museum.

very original pottery, given it is hundreds, if not a thousand years, old (Chimu)

pottery from the Recuay culture, the same ones who did the stone sculptures in Huaraz (200 BC – 600 AD)

golden burial mask (1000 – 1476 AD)

copper mask, Lambayeque culture (1000 – 1476 AD)

pottery pieces in the Larco Museum

a captured enemy, to be sacrificed (Moche)

lime container from the Moche (100 – 800 AD)

earthen vessel (Chimu culture, 800 – 1300 AD)

late Chimu pot (1300 – 1521 AD)

textile weaving with supernatural figure, Paracas culture (1250 – 100 BC)

wooden sculpture, Chincha idol (1300 – 1532 AD)

funerary mask (100 – 1300 AD)

ear rings

silver necklace with mini-masks (100 – 1532 AD)

golden headdress for burials (1200 – 100 BC)

and another one, both are Vicus culture

The National Museum takes a more chronological approach, the Larco Museum is more thematically organised. But both places obviously have had first choice in selecting what they wish to present. I don’t think I have ever spent so much time in a museum, perhaps with the exception of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. Every piece is worth looking at, especially because what is on display – what is beautifully displayed, especially in the Larco Museum – is so different from what we are used to in the west. The most exquisite pottery, each culture having its unique characteristics, in shapes and in decoration. Fabulous gold and silver jewellery, or headdresses, or vessels. Thousands of years old textiles, intricate weavings with bird motifs. Even a few stone sculptures – not so many as in Huaraz, though -, and the occasional wooden piece, wood not being the favourite material in Peru. There is so much, and so much detail, that I am sure I could go back and spend another couple of hours there. Oh, and the Larco Museum also has an adjacent room, their depot, with cupboards full of more pottery, thousands of them, arranged by theme. It took me a while, but I did locate the decorative crabs. At a later stage I will devote individual entries to both museums – even more photographs!

funerary bundle head, Chancay (300 – 1532 AD)

the depot of the Larco Museum

absolutely stacked with even more material

crab decoration on depot pottery, no idea about age

the coastal strip at Miraflores

with parks and modern apartment buildings

but rather little beach, and no sand

the pier, and surfers in the water

the square at the Barranco neighbourhood

and the rather underwhelming Puente de los Suspiros

an old house

intricately decorated along the roof

Outside huacas and museums Lima also has its fashionable neighbourhoods. Miraflores is one of them, mostly upmarket residential , with lots of trees and small parks, an attractive Malecon – coastal boulevard -, and some excellent restaurants; we have eaten very well, here! Another one is Barranco, further south, which is more romantic, older houses, some gingerbread-type, a nice square. The main attraction is the Puente de los Suspiros – the Bridge of Sighs -, in fact a rather underwhelming narrow thing, except that it is full of people on a Saturday afternoon. We make our way to the coast, which is not very far, and admire the sunset, that quintessential moment that we have admired all along the Pacific Coast, the past few months. With a Pisco Sour. Naturally.

next: wrap up with looking back

paragliding is the thing to do here

late sunshine towards Miraflores

and the last sunset of our journey, in Barranco

64. Lima

Blog entries

the glass roof of the railway station and library in Lima

The metropolis of Lima, the old Colonial capital, has a lot of predictable history, and at the same time many unexpected corners that make it such an attractive city.

Lima is our final destination of the trip. We have booked ourselves in an apart-hotel in Miraflores, the upmarket residential neighbourhood, with the idea that we don’t have to eat out every night, and can cook for ourselves, so once in a while. Except that our small apartment has a kitchen sink, a small fridge and a microwave, no more. The microwave is the only kitchen equipment we don’t own, never did – and don’t know how it works (it is not too difficult, actually).

the Bus Rapid Transit system

To get to Lima, from Barranca which is less than 200 km away, it took more than four hours. Two-and-a-half to get to the outskirts, and the rest to get to the bus terminal in the centre of town. Traffic in this city is impossible. To alleviate this, a five-line metro network has been under development since the 1980s. Lots of problems, mostly on the financial side, means that now there is only one line operational, between seven stations, and only during the weekends from 10 am to 6 pm – utterly useless. In order to come up with something, the municipality decided to introduce the Metropolitana Bus Rapid Transit system, again with a number of routes, in 2006. Today, one of those is operational, and the good news is that it brings us from close to our apartment straight into the old colonial centre in 20 minutes. On its own dedicated lane, avoiding the traffic chaos.

yellow-paimted buildings surround the Plaza

with large wooden balconies

and long covered arcades

the cathedral at the other end of the Plaza

inside the cathedral

carved wooden choir

Although Lima is one of the oldest cities in the Americas, founded in 1535 by that old rascal Pizarro as City of Kings, most of colonial Lima is 18th Century, rebuilt after a disastrous earthquake in 1746. And they did a good job: there is the fabulous Plaza de Armas, now called Plaza Mayor, partly surrounded by huge arcaded and balconied yellow buildings, by the cathedral, and by the, rather ugly, presidential residence, de Palacio de Gobierno. In the streets around the Plaza there are plenty of old houses. One, the Casa Alliaga, has been in the same family for, reputedly, sixteen generations, right from the time of the Conquistadores – which, once again, doesn’t seem to bother anybody here. Likewise, there is a statue of Francisco Pizarro in a park nearby, and his tomb in the cathedral is being venerated, in a separate chapel. Not a villain, then, but a national hero.

and ancient coffins at the catacombs

the tomb of Francisco Pizarro

and the proud description, conquerer of Peru and founder of Lima

streets around the Plaza

old houses, decorations

the railway station, in use as library

the glass roof once more

balconies inside a courtyard

and tiles, and a monumental staircase

oldish lamps

and oldish wooden ceiling

some of the Lima balconies

intricately carved wood

We find the old post office, and the old railway station, from where once a month the train to Huancayo departs, the highest railway in the world ascending to 4800 m, with tunnels, bridges, switch-backs, the whole lot. Unfortunately, the next ride is three days after we have left. Pity, I would have loved to ride this train. Most of the railway station, with its iconic glass roof, is now used as a library. Lesser colonial houses, with extensive stretches of wooden balconies, line some of the streets – the municipality-initiated program ‘adopt a balcony’, where people who can afford it ensure that the city’s balconies get repaired and maintained, obviously has been a great success. So once in a while a more important house appears, with elaborate courtyard and marble staircase; some of those can be visited, with a tour, but most are being used as offices. And then there are the churches, of course, the oldest one in Lima, Santo Domingo, the nicest one, San Pedro, the best-known one, the Convento of San Francisco, and many more, should you be interested in baroque church architecture.

the dome of the San Domingo church

decorated with angels

and apostles

the San Pedro church, unfortunately closed

the Convento of San Francisco

with a heavily decorated front

including detailed sculptures, not sure of whom

an interesting tower near the bull ring, called Mirador de Ingunza

the bull ring itself

honouring a Peruvian matador

inside, including sky box

Across the river is a more humble neighbourhood, and pretty unsafe if we may believe whoever we talk too, so not normally a part of our program. Except that the oldest bull ring in South America is located here, something I must see. The place is closed, of course, but with our proverbial luck, the caretaker was just letting a car out, and didn’t mind letting us in. Great place, finally somewhere we could wander around freely.

a great stadium

at the back, where they keep the bulls

with plenty of opportunity not to be exposed to them

the arcades around the stadium

a lamp in town

the statue of Pizarro

San Martin, liberator of Peru

buildings around the Plaza San Martin

On our way back we reach Plaza San Martin, not only a hero in Argentina, but also honoured as one of the liberators of Peru. The square is newer, surrounded by early 20th century buildings, and in the streets around the houses are more run-down; the adopt-a-balcony scheme hasn’t arrived here yet. And the idea to walk on through the various parks failed, as somehow we didn’t manage to find an entrance that was open. We see plenty of people inside, but for one weird reason, most gates to the park are closed. Nearby is the national stadium, and the Metropolitana bus that wheezes us back to Miraflores in no time.

next: more Lima

and the police, always prepared…

63. Caral

Blog entries

stairs to one of the six pyramids in Caral

The ruins of Caral are the most ancient archaeological finds in Peru, by far. Against our expections, they proof to be spectacular.

Barranca is another one of these small coastal town that have not much of interest. Earlier we perhaps could have enjoyed the beach, but the season is over, and almost everything along the boulevard is closed. Yet, the centre has a pleasant enough atmosphere to establish ourselves for a couple of days. But we are not here for Barranca, we are here for the archaeological site of Caral, by far the oldest in Peru.

the valley of the Supe River

The road to Caral, an unsurfaced road branching off the Panamericana, follows the Supe River, through an attractive valley. Lots of agricultural production, from sugar cane to maize; fruit trees everywhere, and passion fruit plants blooming. A little further back, there are several lesser pyramids and other structures being unearthed, all part of the Caral culture, and subordinate to the royal complex we are heading for.

local transport is by horse

humble houses in the country side

workers waiting for transport at the end of the day

the flower of the passion fruit

distant pyramids being explored

not much progress yet

the Supe River, which we cross by footbridge on the way to the Caral site

and there he is again

but with others, this time

even though not all the birds are brightly coloured

Although the site has been mentioned in earlier records, it was only properly explored in the late 1990s, by an archaeologist who, using aerial photographs, decided that the six stone hills she observed could possibly be man-made, rather than natural. So she started digging, and unearthed six stone pyramids, dating back some 5000 years ago, so long before the Moche and the Chimu cultures, long before the – inferior – adobe pyramids we have seen in around Chiclayo and Trujillo. 5000 years ago, that is time-equivalent with Mesopotamian civilisations, and Egypt’s pyramids.

the first views of the pyramids – not unlike Egypt, no?

one of the bigger ones, indeed called the Great Pyramid

and this is the ‘La Galeria’ Pyramid

entrance to one of the dwellings

outer and inner wall, the latter one with stucco remaining

more remaining stucco, with traces of paint left – 5000 years old!

one of the circular plazas, used for offerings

niches that may have been storage places – for offering material

the stairs to the Great Pyramid

another view of the stairs

other,not yet excavated, stairs to a smaller pyramid

more stairs

We didn’t have a lot of expectations: a site not very well known, even though it is relatively close to Lima, the unsurfaced access road, absence of tour buses. But what’s attractive is that our 10 year old guide book mentions that here, at last, we could wander around freely, could climb the pyramids, unconstrained by ropes outlining what is out-of-bounds, and instead directing the prescribed route, the path. Finally, Indiana Jones revisited!

a residential place, note the stucco remains on the wall

and the stump of one of the wooden beams once supporting the roof – also 5000 years old!

cottton nets used to collect stones and place them inside the walls – also 5000 years old!

all together a fabulous example of aan old house

Not so, anymore. However much we argue, you can only enter the site with a guide, one who makes sure you do NOT climb the pyramids, do NOT wander around freely, and furthermore tries every trick to shortcut our tour as much as possible. From a distance we already noticed that we may have to readjust our expectations. The many different buildings stretch over a large area, and they look absolutely fascinating from afar. “Ah, senor, una hora, no mas” – one hour, no more, according to the guide. To cover this vast area, look at each and every construction, around each and every corner? Even without climbing the pyramids that is not going to be enough.

One reason that these pyramids have been kept so well, is that when they were abandoned, around 1800 BC, they were filled in and covered with rocks, so that from the outside they were unrecognisable. (Another reason maybe that they now don’t allow tourists to climb the pyramids anymore!) On site, several people are working to unearth more and more from the structures, the six pyramids in a large circle and several ceremonial platforms, an amphitheatre, residential dwellings and other pieces of construction. Our guide, in fact, turns out to be a nice guy, although he gets exhausted by the very many deviations from the official route we propose. At one stage I get told off by somebody else on the site, because I have drifted too far away from my guide: no amount of ingenuity is going to help, here! In the end we spend a good two hours, all on the official paths, thoroughly enjoying this impressive complex.

next: Lima, finally

another view of the ‘La Galeria’ Pyramid

‘La Huanca’ Pyramid

62. the detour

Blog entries

the bridge in Huaraz, halfway our detour

Time is running out, but we decide to make a detour to Huaraz anyhow, for the mountain scenery of the Cordillera Blanco and a unique sculpture museum.

It would be easy to just continue south, through the mostly desert landscape in the direction of Lima, but that would be boring, too. Instead, we opt for a detour via Huaraz, a town initially prominent in our schedule, but because of the many changes, and lingering in other places, now unfortunately scrapped. Except that, with this detour, we may enjoy the approach to the town, which crosses a 4200 meter pass, Paso de Callan, with views over the Cordillera Blanca – the string of snow covered peaks behind Huaraz that has propelled the town to the foremost hiking and trekking centre of Peru.

the approach of the mountains, coming from the desert

cactus country, mostly

with ascending, we get a view of the rivers

green and yellow mountain meadows

And the road does not disappoint. I manage to get myself in the passenger seat, next to the bus driver, which helps appreciating the landscape – except that the driver is almost more chatty than my regular travel companion, which means that I am frequently too late for that one unique picture, of which there are many. In the timespan of a mere three hours we ascent from near-sea level to the Paso de Callan, after which we drop down as a meteorite onto Huaraz – at 3000 meters only. A not unimportant detail: although much of the Cordillera Blanca is covered in clouds, we, for once, do not cross the mountains in a dense fog.

the mountain men, in discussion

first views of the Cordillera Blanca

and further views

definitely snowy peaks

Huaraz is down there, at the end of a meteorite descend

the people of Huaraz

mountains means mountain people again

the museum garden

every wall lined with sculptures

individually expressive

or contemplating

In fact, when we get to Huaraz, the sun shines, briefly. Which makes no difference, because the town itself it utterly uninteresting, ugly even, and with the large influx of tourists, not our favourite place to hang out. However, there is the museum. The Museo Regional de Ancash has, apparently, the largest collection of stone sculptures anywhere in South America – and stone sculptures is one of the many things that has my special interest. Whilst we are here, we might as well have a look. This turns out to be not that easy. We arrive on a Sunday afternoon, and the museum is closed. And on Monday, all government museums in Peru are also closed. Hmm. Time to stay until Tuesday we really don’t have, or we need to sacrifice something else. Tempting, because there are several other sites around Huaraz that would be of interest – which is why the town featured prominently in our schedule, in the first place! But not with only a week left. Next to the museum is an office of the Ministry of Culture, or something, and we decide to walk in on Monday morning. “No, really, the museum is closed, and there is no staff on duty, and it is dark, we cannot let you in”. “But what about the garden?” My travel companion does not give up easily. In the end, an archaeologist who works here turns up, and almost manages to convince us to stay an extra day, and visit the sites around town, too. More importantly, she opens the gate to the garden, “briefly, because in reality you haven’t gotten permission, so I will be in trouble if they find out”, the garden where all the stone sculptures have been exhibited, in the early morning sunlight. Although too short, it is a very impressive visit, wandering in between all those carved stones, mostly upright sculptures from as early as 400 BC to perhaps 1000 AD, that served as guardians to villages, houses, fields and burial tombs during the Recuay and Wari cultures.

and some group sculptures, too

next day, better weather, even some blue sky

more snowy peaks

not always against the blue sky

the high plateau, 4000 m or so

After which we have achieved our number one objective in Huaraz, no need to stay longer (inside the museum is mostly pottery and a few mummies, of which we have seen enough already, this trip). So we find a collectivo, a shared taxi, to bring us, once more over a 4000 meter, or so, pass, once more past the Cordillera Blanca – now much better visible than yesterday – and back down to the coast, to Barranca. Took us two days to get there, instead of half a day, but a worthwhile detour.

next: Caral

looking down the valley we descend

sometimes pretty narrow

but ultimately a fabulous view

61. Sechin

Blog entries

a carved megalith in the Sechin complex

Near the town of Casma is Sechin, one of the most enigmatic archaeological complexes in Peru, and clearly different from what we have seen so far.

We are moving south again, direction Lima, with two weeks left. Our next target is Casma, which is so small, that the main busses don’t stop there. We change to a combi, a minibus, in Chimbote, where we initially planned to stay for a night or so. Luckily, we don’t, now. Chimbote is a large fishing port – attractive, lots of fishing boats – with a large fishing industry. Unattractive: the smell from the  processing plants is pervasive, and the whole town smells fish.

the Sechin complex from above

and from right in front

this is how the outer wall looks, large megaliths put together

one of the warrior temple priests

and another one, weapon in hand

the stones are carefully put together, with smaller ones in between

one of the stranger figures, Kamagurka-like

Casma itself is not very interesting, but just outside is Sechin, one of the more enigmatic pre-Inca cultures of Peru. In fact, not much is known about this complex, thought to be dating back to 1600 BC, or even older. The main building is a temple of which the surrounding wall is made of carved megaliths, held in place by smaller rocks and mud. It looks like this has been recently done, but everybody on the site assures me that it is the original structure, save for a few blocks that have been put back after earthquake damage. The carvings are quite something, representing priests on some of the blocks, and body parts – interpreted as severed heads and other parts – on others. Having been in Peru for some time now, these images are clearly different from what we have seen so far, especially the heads, with bulging tongues, rough hair, popping eyes. But very expressive.

individual heads, supposedly chopped off

another two heads, note hair and tongue

or this one, a rare frontal depiction

and my favourite one

Further sites include a fortification, or perhaps it is an ancient observatory, up in the mountains, but Casma doesn’t have much of a tourist infrastructure. I fail to locate a travel agency cum tour operator, taxis are not interested to drive up to the castle, and the only person who offers to take us demands an extraordinary amount of money for the two hour excursion, and turns out to have no car himself. From the photos, we decide against it: we have accepted that we cannot see everything in this country. And Casme is too limited to stay much longer: we count six different pollerias, essentially the local – and far superior – version of Kentucky Fried Chicken, but not much else in terms of eating. Time to move on.

next: the detour

some colour comes from the birds

not in the least this bright red one

and this is the local landscape, pretty dry all around except the river valley

60. the adobe remains

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a brightly coloured frieze in the adobe Temple of the Moon

Just outside Trujillo there are the remain of several ancient Peruvian cultures, in the Temple of the Sun and that of the Moon, and in Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the world – of which not much is left.

the Temple of the Sun, not yet excavated

As everywhere in Peru, Trujillo also has its share of remnants of past Peruvian cultures. The Moche, whose art treasures from the burial site of the Lord of Sipan we have seen earlier, nearby Chiclayo further north, had their main centre just south of here, where they built the Temples of the Moon and the Sun. The Huaca del Sol, in Spanish, was the largest single structure in Peru, and is in remarkable shape, given that it was probably built more than 1500 years ago. Its structure is far more readily recognisable than the adobe pyramids seen earlier in Sipan and Tucume, even though much of it is gone. It is estimated that the original building consisted of more than 130 million adobe bricks, contributed by more than a hundred communities: in the ancient systems, tax was collected in the form of work, which included the provision of bricks, marked with a symbol of the community that contributed them. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the building has disappeared, as Spanish grave robbers, looking for even more gold and silver, diverted a whole river to wash a way a significant part of the temple to create access to the lower levels. The disadvantage of adobe, which is nothing more than sun-dried mud, of course. Unfortunately, there has not yet been much work done by archaeologist, most likely because of lack of funds, and the temple remains off-limits.

the outside has some structures

like this monumental staircase

dwllings in between the two temples

in which they have found large earthen pots, in situ

this is inside the Temple of the Moon

brightly coloured friezes at one of the upper levels

they are really quite expressive

other decorations are also still recognisable

painted stucco

and painted figures at the stairs

archaeology isn’t easy, proves this blob

which, according to the interpretation, is a woman besieged by a wolf, or something

the northern wall is five levels high

each with their own motifs, or symbols

the bottom two levels are clearest

like this splendid warrior

Better accessible is the Huaca de la Luna – Temple of the Moon. Here we can enter, albeit only in company of an official guide, and admire the internal structure of the temple, too. I say ‘admire’ because large parts of the walls of the temple have been decorated with a variety of symbols, of which the colours are still vividly visible. Apparently, the temple consists of five ‘shells’, as each subsequent temple covered the old walls and built a new level on top, a bit like a Russian Matruschka doll. We only see three of the five level, the deeper ones not having been excavated – because this can only be done at the expense of the higher levels. The best is left for last, when we get to a large square in front of the temple, which is decorated five layers high, each layer with its own symbol. This must have been quite something, so long ago, when all the colours were still brightly red, white, yellow, blue and black.

In between the temples are the remains of residential dwellings, not as spectacular. And as with many of the archaeological sites of Peru, there is a small site museum, which is quite attractively set up.

also, in one corner another, unusual painted frieze

with some details, like this man

a hunting scene (perhaps)

and a condor biting off a man’s head (according to the guide)

it is quite a spectacular wall

the vast expanse of Chan Chan, with adobe walls everywhere

one of the compounds has been restored

and this is the overall result of the restoration, of one of the chambers

Somehow, the Moches disappeared, and were succeeded by the Chimu culture, contemporaneous with the Sican, who built Tucume near Chiclayo. The Chimu also used adobe, and did this to build the largest adobe city in the world at Chan Chan, north of Trujillo. This complex, built around 1300 AD and perhaps covering 20 sqkm, consisted of up to ten individual walled compounds, with large squares and temples and corridors. From most of those, just the walls seem to have survived the combined onslaught of Spanish grave robbers and El Nino rains, and quite some imagination is necessary to envision a grand capital city with up to 60,000 inhabitants. But help is at hand, as one of the compounds has been partially restored, with smooth new walls which outline the original buildings, covered by corrugated iron sheets. I suspect that most of the adobe friezes, the decorations along the walls, have also been restored, if not newly added, as they look too smooth to be original. The decorations include geometric patterns, fishes and bird. It is nicely done, but lacks authenticity. A strictly laid-out walking path means that free wandering around is also no option, although with some ingenuity I manage to reach places that at first look appear closed to the public.

original friezes, I think

and the same pattern, restored

a throne, quite likely original

and one of the parts only accessible with ingenuity

another frieze pattern, original?

outside the restored compound are only ruins

but with recognisable elements

and clearly brick walls

Wandering outside the restored compound is strongly discouraged, because of potential muggings in between the crumbling adobe walls. We take some measured risks, and do wander around a bit, until we get to the obligatory site museum, which we reach from the back. A pyramid, Huaca Toledo, begs to be climbed, but here my ingenuity fails, as just after I am half way up, I am whistled back by one of the guards of the museum. It seems that you were not supposed to climb the pyramid?

next: heading south, to Sechin

this is how adobe bricks look like

one of several pyramids at the site, the Huaca Toledo

with an inviting staircase to climb

nowhere it says ‘no entry’

one the most impressive pieces in the on-site museum

and another expressive pot

a mask as seen earlier in the Sipan museum

a remarkably well-conserved wooden sculpture

and a wooden guard sculpture, equally well preserved

59. Trujillo

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tasteful street lights in colonial Trujillo

Despite having seen many a colonial town already, Trujillo proved to be different, and very nice, indeed;  Salaverry on the coast is less spectacular, but serves lunch.

two-storey houses, many with wooden balcconies

but the real balconies are found around the plaza

other houses have nice examples too

although it is uncertain how oldd these really are

entrance to one of the palaces,

another courtyard gallery

and the courtyard itself, now a Trujillo social club (and restricted access)

a window with grills

another one, these are Trujillo grills

and this one is more decorative

more wooden balconies

and one of the older houses

another window and balcony

and the last one, I promise

colourful street, painted houses

the cathedral at the Plaza de Armas

another church tower

and a church cupola, elsewhere in town

Not sure whether it was the few days holiday, or perhaps the warmer weather along the coast, or even real sunshine again, a cloudless sky, but we are all geared up again. And Trujillo helps. Where I thought that Cajamarca was a colonial town like so many others, Trujillo has a whole different atmosphere, no narrow cobbled alleys but normal streets, with more stately colonial houses, multi-storey, and with the Trujillo hallmark: big windows with grills. And yes, wooden windows and balconies, too. And courtyards, some huge, surrounded by pillars, others are still supporting parts of original frescos. Many houses have been painted in bright colours, which looks nice, especially in the sunlight. The yellow cathedral, not very interesting itself, contrasts sharply with the blue of the neighbouring museum, and the red of the flowers in the Plaza de Armas. Lots of other churches are scattered around town, well maintained from the outside, and inside uninspected, because they were mostly closed. But that is compensated for by the delightful toy museum, el Museo del Juguete.

the doll house in the toy museum

and one of the large collection of marionet puppets

a cafe named after Francisco Pizarro, along the street of the same name

Trujillo was founded in 1534, only two years after the Spanish ‘invasion’, by their leader Francisco Pizarro, and named after his home town in Extremadura, in Spain. The activities of Pizarro were quite controversial, to say the least – a villain, a cruel manipulator, chasing riches, of which he never had enough, and status, in the process destroying the Inca empire -, so it is quite surprising the find one of the main roads in Trujillo named after the number one Conquistador. Yet, nobody seems to have difficulty with this, bars and hotels have been named after him – or the street -, too.

the fishing fleet of Salaverry

and in a bit more detail

fishermen on their way to the beach

where more boats are waiting

fish is being sorted

and empty fish crates stacked in the port

some of us enjoying lunch

of a full plate of two-armed crabs

Trujillo is near, but not on the coast, so we make our way to Salaverry, a small village with a beach and a port. The beach turns out to be at one side of the port, not very attractive, and the port is mostly a fishing affair, the whole fleet moored in the secluded bay offshore. Small dinghies bring the catch to shore, or rather, to the pier where the fish is being sorted and put in refrigerated trucks. No fish market here, just big industry, a bit like in Santa Rosa earlier.

Which doesn’t stop us from eating a great lunch, of course, with one of us indulging in a plate full of crabs, luckily all with two arms.

next: more pyramids, the adobe remains.

58. the holiday

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Caballitos – reed canoes – on the beach in Huanchaco, our holiday location

A few days holiday on the beach in Huanchaco charges the batteries once more. And provides more photo opportunities.

We have selected Huanchaco, on the coast, as the place where we retreat for a couple of days off. Off from the traveling, off from organising transport, off from taking in more ruins and cities and scenery. A few days doing nothing. Well except updating this travelogue, of course.

all along the beach stalls that sell fruit and ice

Comfortable hotel (incompetent staff, but that aside), swimming pool, and across from the beach. The beach is almost deserted, even on a Sunday. It is too cold to swim for most of us, and too dangerous, too, with all the surfers that this place attracts. But plenty of restaurants serve fresh fish, and that usually helps when it comes to appreciating our holiday.

Nothing to tell, either. Just a few photos.

and next is back to work: Trujillo

but few customers, so late in the season

or perhaps it is just early in the day

not many swimmers, either

surf boards for rent

some bring their own

the pier in Huanchaco

quite long

looking out over the waves

sunset is the big thing here

from each and every angle

but you don’t have much time left

even with (almost) two arms this one didn’t survive the beach

57. Cajamarca

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the hats from Celendin are equally popular in Cajamarca

I am not sure whether it is Cajamarca that disappoints, or whether we are just temporarily tired of traveling. Plenty of pictures, though, so there is enough to see and do.

We had high hopes for Cajamarca. Everybody we had met that had been here was very enthusiastic. There are lots of things to do, and the town itself is, reputedly, very charming. We even find ourselves a nice hotel in an old colonial house, with a courtyard.

the 1692 fountain on the Plaza de Armas

decorated with not-so-pretty faces all around

the cathedral, also aat the Plaza

with beautifully decorated entrance

and more modern the Iglesia de San Francisco, also decorated outside

a random street in the centre of Cajamarca

wel-maintained houses, balconies, flowers

a window

a little square elsewhere in town, opposite de Complejo de Belen

the main structure of the Complejo de Belen

the entrance to the former hospital

complete with curious, four-breasted woman

pomegranate in the market

and a wheelbarrow full of fish

a local lady, with scarf and top hat

and two more selling flowers and something else

men, too, wear the conspicuous hats

but ladies are generally more colourful

And yet, we never warm to the town. Firstly, because it is actually not warm, at all, at 2600 m altitude, especially once the sun disappears. Which it does, frequently. But perhaps there is also a limit to the number of charming old colonial towns one can appreciate. After all, the Plaza de Armas is wonderful, including a fountain dating from 1692, the narrow cobbled streets and the old adobe houses are lovely, and the balconies, but they are not that different from the earlier charming old colonial towns we have seen. The churches are nice, from the outside, but actually mostly much newer than the colonial era, and not so impressive on the inside. But when even the market area cannot fascinate me anymore – except for the many Celendin hats, that also populate large parts of Cajamarca -, I realise that it is just travel fatigue that hits us.

We do visit some of the sites around town. Of course we need to go to the Banos del Inca, the place where, allegedly, the vast Inca army of Atahualpa was assembled, which subsequently proved powerless when the opportunistic band of Spaniards of Pizzaro captured Atahualpa in 1532. We dutifully spend half an hour in the thermal waters, in a private cabin. We go to the Cuarto de Rescate (the Ransom Room), where Atahualpa was kept prisoner, and where he promised to fill the room to as high as he reached, with gold and silver objects, as ransom for his freedom (which he did, and then got executed anyhow). Not much to see, except for a perfectly built small Inca structure. And we enter a few churches, the cathedral and the Complejo de Belen, which included one of the earliest hospitals in town, run by the nuns.

hers is a little older

now accesible to the populace, steaming water

the Cuarto de Rescate

and, allegedly, the original Inca bath

the ventanillas de Otuzco

lots of burial niches in the rock face

sometimes in groups, not unlike modern cemeteries

Outside town, we get to the Ventanillias the Otuzco, another burial place, where the dead were put in purpose-dug niches in the rock face. A total of 337 niches have been identified – not by me -, not all equally deep, or even deep enough to put anything in, and in any case, any treasures or bodies inside have been vandalised by the customary grave robbers long ago. The fact that it doesn’t stop raining, doesn’t help with the appreciation of this pre-Inca site.

the disappointing rock paintings of Callacpuma

this one being the most frequently used – the only – image in promotions

luckily, a hummingbird provides some colour

and another bird, in full flight, too

the church of Llacanote being cleaned

the little brook downstream from the waterfall

indeed leads to an equilly humble cascade

but, two-thirds up the photo

we find another hummingbird, bathing – or posing for the camera

One morning we decide to see some alternative sights, no more churches and ruins, but rock paintings and a waterfall. The rock paintings of Callacpuma, according to the sign boards of the Ministry of Culture, are the oldest in the Americas, 5000 years old, and there are over 4000 of them, in a 3 km area. Unfortunately, the spot that is being promoted by the same Ministry involves a steep climb to a rockface with just a few, barely visible, red paintings, some covered by later graffiti. Asked about the other paintings, higher up, the guard at the site says that he doesn’t know, because those are not under the responsibility of the Ministry. Of course not! We don’t manage to find anybody else who can show us the paintings, and to just go and wander off into the mountains didn’t seem such a good idea. Better to go and see the waterfall, in the village of Llacanote. But noting the little stream coming from where the waterfall is, I realise that this, too, is going to be disappointing. And indeed, it is.

Perhaps we just need a holiday. (otherwise, click through directly to Trujillo)

and in the small village, lunch is being prepared

56. to Cajamarca

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the road to Cajamarca, for most of the way a narrow ledge between the steep slope on one side and the abyss on the other

To get to Cajamarca, back on the other side of the Andes, takes us a day, and because of the weather, we don’t see a lot of the apparently beaytiful countryside.

The transport problem – because of the road floodings between Chachapoyas and Leymebamba – keeps on haunting us. For our travel onwards, to Cajamarca, we are once again dependent on buses from Chachapoyas, and there are currently very few coming through, at very unpredictable times. We decide to hire a taxi for the eight-hour drive, also because that way we can best enjoy the spectacular views along the road, or so we are promised by guide books and everybody working in the tourist industry.

also, mostly mist along the way

which also affects the the road views

tree, white background

When we leave at eight in the morning, it is raining. Buckets. But once we are climbing, from Leymebamba’s 2000 m to cross the Calla Calla Pass at 3600 m, about an hour later, the rain stops. We are now driving through dense fog, instead; so much for the views. Once again, I wouldn’t think that there are many people living here, so high up the mountain. But then our driver stops, in the middle of nowhere, blows the horn a few times, and out of nothing – well, out of the mist – comes a man towards our car. To pick up some batteries that the driver had brought him from the village. There is little else to tell about the next few hours, as we see preciously little of the countryside. Just as well that this is called the cloud forest! Except that the road is in horrible condition, frequently potholed, or all together without hard surface, and in many places really not more than one lane wide; luckily, we don’t meet a lot of traffic. Luckily, too, we mostly cannot see all the way down, down the steep abyss! No guard rails, no nothing, I wonder how often people drop over the edge here. The only highlight is coffee at Dieguitos, a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

restaurant Dieguito, and the kitchen, full of meat drying

the highlight of the first part

The fog only clears, once we get close to Balsas, at about 850 m altitude on one of the main rivers, the Maranon River. In the process, the scenery has changed again, from the cloud-forest of the Amazonas Region, to a much dryer country side, with the return of cacti. We have crossed the Andes once again, back to the Pacific side. Unfortunately, the views don’t last. Long before we reach the next pass, only just under 3000 m high, the road and everything around us is shrouded in mist again. It is not until we get to Celendin that things get better. And flatter, too. Gone are the steep mountains and deep valley that so characterised the central part of the Andes, in come more gentle folding landscape, Switzerland-like once more.

the road, going down

and this is the road surface, often enough

view of the Maranon River, near Balsas

the bridge acrosss the river, for the time being

not much of a clear view on the way to Celendin

this peak was, minutes later, gone again

the famous Celendin hats

past Celendin, the road gets better

also with a lot more traffic

so once in a while, an Inca trail crosses our path

more gentle folding landscape, little streams, cattle

more terraces, and more agriculture

Swiss-type chalets, almost?

some villages have bull rings, which, apparently, are still actively used

Celendin, apparently, is famous for the production of oversized wide-brimmed hats, and indeed, these are very popular, amongst both men and women. In fact, all the way to Cajamarca, the hats are a feature of the landscape, and of every little village in between. I am almost tempted to buy one.

For the last two hours, to Cajamarca, the road is better, two-lane and asphalt. Which prompts the Peruvians immediately to overtake each other again, at neck-breaking speed, irrespective of whether they can see, or not, what is around the next bend in the road. Perhaps the single lane version, with or without guard rails, is a better solution for this country, after all.

next: Cajamarca

a family on the move