Trujillo

Greetings,
It has been awhile since my last post and there is much to say so I will begin right away. This weekend APEC (Asian Pacific Economic something or another) was hosted in Lima which prompted the government to declare three days of holdiay for the Limeños (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). My host brother Nelson and I took advantage of this time to visit some relatives of his that live in the city of Trujillo about eight hours to the north of Lima by bus. We left Wednesday at noon and returned Sunday morning. Trujillo is an incredible place with some of the friendliest people I have ever met (even the taxi drivers were unusually cheery and helpful). We stayed with Nelson´s tía Coqui, tío Pedro and cousin Liz who were all exceptional hosts. They introduced us to Trujillo, taking us to the center square, various restaurants where we ate some delicious Chifa (Peruvian style Chinese food), Turkey sandwichs, and other various plates. At the limits of the city are two ruins that date back to pre-incan times. One is known as Chan-Chan and the other is called La Waca (Huaca) de la Luna y del Sol (there is a temple dedicated to the moon and one to the sun, however the sun temple is currently off limits to tourists). On Thursday we set out (Nelson, I, another cousin Diana, her boyfriend Tito, and a friend Rosanna) to see the ruins at Chan-Chan. The tour occurred in four parts because the ruins are located in different areas far from each other. I will try to post pictures of the weekend soon. The temples were void of color but did contain an array of designs and patterns featuring ocean waves, birds representing man and woman, dragon-like creatures, and more. La Waca differed in that color (yellow, red and black) was used in the designs. Also, the temple of La Waca itself was designed more like the Mayan pyramids with levels upon levels where as the Chan-Chan ruins were built in differing locations but never one upon the other. Our tour guide was a student of Tía Coqui´s and he was really knowledgeable and friendly.
In addition to exploring the ruins and the city of Trujillo, we also spent a day visiting the small town of Samne located in the mountains where Nelson´s Grandfather lived while he was growing up. We ate a lunch there of duck and yucca root with, of course, plenty of rice. While in the mountains we also explored the town of Ortusco and attended a church service there. We also stopped by a small bakery and ate some of the most delicious sweets I have ever tasted. Nelson and I bought a ton of these little postres to carry back with us to Lima where no one makes them. We encountered a llama in the town square as well.
That evening (Saturday, our final evening) the group of us took a short taxi ride to Huanchaco (the ocean side town ten minutes from Trujillo). We made it just in time for sunset. The entire trip was enough to make me want to move there, or at least to retire to Trujillo. That night Nelson, Coqui, Liz and I were invited to a dinner (a birthday celebration of the sister of a friend of the family, Isabel). We ate some excellent tasting chicken with onions and avacado (and a salad made of beets which I personally hate). Right now I am homesick for Trujillo. I´m just sitting here thinking of ways to go back. That is the impression Trujillo (and the people I got to know there) left on me.