Monday, Aug. 11, 2003 - 3:09 p.m.
After Tumbes, I traveled with the guys to the town of Chiclayo (about a 7 hr journey south). At first, I felt a little like a younger unwanted sibling tagging along, but the guys have been really cool about me joining them. I've discovered that they can be quite amusing, they have a good sense of humor.
Don't know what happened to Tom, never got an e-mail from the jerk either.
In Chiclayo we saw some ancient ruins of pre-Incan cultures. We went to a few museums and seen artifacts (pottery, textiles, tools, ceramics, etc) of the Moche culture (1100 BC), the Chavin (1200-700BC) and Lambayeque (700-1350AD). On Aug. 7th we went to Sipan (pronounced "See-pahn") where an ancient burial site (Moche) was found, the most important tomb was the "Lord of Sipan", an important high priest. Then we went to Lambayeque to the Bruning Museum and saw lots of artifacts, including impressive works of art of gold.
On Aug. 8th we went to Tucume, saw the museum and walked around the crumbling ruins of large pyramids. They almost seem like just big piles of pale earth until you notice the pattern of "walls" that back in 1200 AD were smooth pyramidal surfaces.
Then we took a 3 hour bus to Trujillo (pronounced "True-hee-oh) that has even better known ruins of pre-Incan cultures. As we rode along the Northern part of the Peruvian coast, I noticed that it is a dry, barren desert.
In Trujillo we've been visiting more pre-Incan ruins, it's been great! We're on the coast right now, at a lower elevation, which makes it really hot during the day and kind of chilly at night.
On Saturday Aug. 9th, the guys and I took a tour to visit some of the pyramids that make Trujillo popular with tourists. We went to the Rainbow temple (Chimu, built about 800AD), the museum and the Chimu capital city of Chan Chan, built around 1300-1400AD. Lots of the adobe mud walls and friezes have been destroyed by the sea winds and looted by the Spanish. But it still is impressive and sometimes called the largest adobe city in the world. After that we went to the nearby port town of Huanchaco. It was the first time I saw Caballitos, boats made of tightly wound reeds with a pointed bow. We also saw some surfers in this little beach town. (Later I learned that my friend Penny is staying here).
On Sun Aug. 10th we took one last tour of the remaining pyramid, the Temple of the Moon. This was one of the most impressive and best preserved of them all. Inside we saw paintings & freizes, one of which from the 5th century is the face of the Moche god with ocean waves as hair and teeth of a jaguar. It is very colorful with white, black, red and gold. Human sacrifices were also sometimes made at this temple.
It seems I've brought the bed bugs from Cuenca with me as well, so I may have to get rid of my sweatpants, but I really don't want to.
I apply cream to my feet every night, but the infection isn't going away. I think that I might go to the farmacia in the next day or so and get some antibiotics that I'm NOT allergic to! Do some self-medicating. We'll see.
Got e-mail from my friend and former housemate Kathryn, she climbed Cotopaxi and made it to the summit! I am so happy for her! Man, what an accomplishment! She said the peak was COLD, like 20 below. Crazy!
Then I met up with Penny last night. She is going to stay in Trujillo for a couple more days. I'm going on to another city, Huarez, with the guys, leaving tonight. The only major problem I have had is with my ATM card. Yesterday a stupid cash machine took my card & didn't return it. I had to go to the bank this morning and after being persistant, and showed them my passport, I got it back. But now I don't know whether to risk using another ATM or cash one of my few travelers checks! I am waiting for an e-mail reply from my bank before I attempt to use it again...
