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Yes, finally after all my adventures with Ecuador, it is time to say goodbye, I really liked ecuador with its amazing nature.. But now it is time for my rainbow country, Peru... As you can see we start making friends from the very start =)... And making friends is tiring =P.
We start from a little "used to be" fishing village called Huanchaco... It is near trujillo and it used to be this gorgeous fishing village. I won´t deny that it is still gorgeous (I am sure you won´t after the photos either), yet now 1 of every 5 buildings is either a restaurant, a hostel/hotel or a disco/bar... Oh god, where the world is headed for!!!! But still even with them, you can not change this gorgeous view with mountain mist and the beach, right?
As I told you, it is a fishing village, and even a traditional fishing village. They are still fishing with the boats their ancestors used to fish with. Those reed boats are the main bread boats of their everyday life for the fishers of huanchaco. Of course even the fishermen had their share from the touristification,, as you can see in the first 2 pictures, they make a small disneyland for tourists for a price that will keep them going better. Check the first picture, and it is not hard to understand they don´t have a guarantee for not getting wet =).
I don´t know why the fishing villages have the best sunsets (amasra in Turkey), maybe it is the fishermen who love gorgeous sunsets and become fishermen getting seduced by the sun, or maybe it is the fish that get seduced and the fishermen run after them.. Jokes aside, nature is still the most astounding beauty in the world no matter how better we get in technology...
As you can see the village only goes a little more than the coast, the sea is its point of breathe, no sense in going away from it...
And talking about the seduction, lets come to the real sunsets of Huanchaco.. And even for better, this is the sunset of 31st december 2006, what a better way to hasta la vista 2006!! You know what they say, however you enter new year, it goes like that. And this is what I call the vista...
It was just too good, I am sorry, it is why you are having 18 pictures from a single sunset!!! And as the new year comes, I am still hesitant about what they say though. I am not sure even if I will be able to see such a sunset all my life again!!!!! What an amazing way to welcome 2007, and it is in Peru in a place probably most of my friends has never heard of...
Yess, the sun is gone, we embrace the night. Dark attracts the vampires as you see, it is a feast of forgetting the past welcoming the future (I guess it is the sunset that makes me poetic =). And the feast of vampires doesn´t even end with the dawn.. (To tell the truth, I didn´t even notice the time until Senol told me: "the weather looks weird, it is as if there is some light coming"!!!!)... And yes, the third picture is from 6:30 am, 1 Jan 2007. And yes, those people had no sleep at all, and yes I was with them... Welcome my new year....
Enough for the feast, let´s hunt for the culture... This is the real reason I came to Trujillo and in some way Huanchaco... The pre-inca archeological sites. The first one is the most amazing one at the same time. Welcome Chan Chan please, the biggest mud built city in the world. It belonged to the Chimu civilization, around 30000 people lived in the city in its peak time. For more information:
This building that I am in is called the Tschudi Complex, given its name after the archeologist that found it... This is one of the 6-7 complexes in the huge city, and those complexes shared administration to outside, Tschudi was one of the most important two.
The complex is famous for its well preserved carvings (check second picture with fish carvings) and ceremonial complexes. The first picture on this row shows the cenote (sounds familiar? Check mexico Tulum =) , which is used in religious ceremonies as a water supply. The second picture is the tomb of the senor (lord), which also contains many female companions for the other world with a lot of belongings etc. The third picture is the discussion room for the fellows of the ring, with each window containing one person, and a good acoustic that allows every single one in the rooms voice to be heard by every other window. (I am not sure if they had some powerpoint technology but this is cool enough for me =). The last picture is the main ceremonial square.
The problem with chan chan is that the area other than Tschudi complex is said to be not secure, and apparently there are thieves that steal your camera when you travel alone. The problem with me is I am brave and lucky =).. Although I decided not to go for the outer chan chan area to avoid being mugged, I met those cool guys on my way back, 4 mexican students, 3 girls and a guy... We just agreed that we were safe enough with 2 tough guys and 3 girls specialized in screaming and so started the crazy uncensored part of my chan chan trip.. We literally climbed over every single rock that we could find =).. And those guys were really cool and we had a lot of fun time wandering around this awesome mud city. Especially Francisco here is doing a trip similar to mine for around 1 year. Maybe I will meet him at some other place too, well keep following my blog to find out =).. As you can see, chan chan is a city of huge size for its time.. It is very interesting to see h9ow civilizations can be destroyed so easily and just remain as a group of ruins leaving people in mysteries about how the life was. Time is really cruel, what can I say..
My second archeological site here is still interesting Huaca del Luna, which belongs to Moche Civilization, moches were barbarian fighters with sacrificial ceremonies and very interesting pieces of pottery showing their lifestyles. The amazing part of the Huaca Del Luna is that, it is not being restored, it is only for conservation the people are working there. And those carings and images are dstill from their original painted values, which is amazing to see in their full bright colors.
My next stop is farther north, where remnants of moche civilization are found. Sipan, close to Chiclayo, is famous for the "Lord of Sipan", which is a tomb found in the area nearby the village. The first two pictures are from the tomb, and the museo nearby the tomb. In the first picture you can see the lord 3 women buried with him and also a guard buried in guarding position protecting the lord!! But the real treasure is actually in the "Museo de Tumbes" in Lambayeque. This museo contains some amazing artwork from Moches found in the area of the tombs. The most significant of them for me are one ceremonial stick with a temple on top of it and the famous spider necklace of sipan. There is no photography allowed in the museum, so I added the picture I found from the web. The spider necklace is formed of 10 pieces, each piece has a face attached to a spider web. The spider web itself in a piece has 100 soldering connections. It is a highly meticulous artwork and is believed to symbolize sacrifices done by Moche civilization in which the victim is like a prey on a spider´s web..
Yes, after a long day of travelling, I am ready to eat one of the largest chickens I ate (and can you believe that it is only a half chicken?? Just compare with the fork), and what else better to drink after it other than Inka Cola? =)... (Inka Cola is the biggest competitor for Coca Cola in Peru and has significant market share. It tastes not like cola but a similar to fruko with some "damla sakizi" in it (Sorry this part was only explainable in Turkish terms for me =) )
And finally we are ready to leave Trujillo with Senol, ready for our big Amazon adventure in Iquitos Peru... Before we leave we don´t neglect to take a few pictures of this colonial city with its own athmosphere.
Soo, see you on our way to Iquitos!!!
