Living in Peru : your everyday companion

by
Rodney L. Dodig

Outside of the city of Trujillo stands another of Peru’s vast collection of monumental archaeological sites. The Huacas de Moche and the city between them stands here on a dry sandy plain at the foot of a mountain in testament to the ingenuity of the Moche, another of the many ancient cultures of Peru. On the day that I toured this site one of the many things that I marveled at was the number of Peruvian persons visiting versus the number on non Peruvians. Of the 100 or so people visiting at the same time as me, the vast majority were from Peru. I was very impressed by this fact. It gave me a good feeling about Peruvians and their desire to learn about and respect their wonderful heritage. As with the other sites I have visited to date, you can either hire one of many tour companies in the city or drive out on your own and hire a guide at the site. The cost either way of visiting this particular site is extremely reasonable.

by
Rodney L. Dodig
 
On a recent trip to Trujillo I had the opportunity to visit the ancient city of Chan Chan, the capital city of the Chimu Civilization. Taking the taxi into Trujillo from the airport the road passes through what looks to be about the center of this vast city made of mud bricks. You are immediately struck by two things, one is the immense size of the place and the other is the vast destruction done by looters, earthquakes and the weather. UNESCO has declared this a world heritage site and work is being done to preserve as much as possible but as we all know there is only so much money to go around to all the sites in the world that need help. I had heard from friends and read that this site was a must visit for anyone coming to Peru and they were certainly correct.

by
Steve Cambridge

This is the second year of the Pacasmayo International Marathon. Pacasmayo is located on the northern coast of Peru, S.A. in the department of La Libertad, about 100 Km north of Peru’s third largest city, Trujillo. Although Pacasmayo is well known throughout the international surfing community for its world class waves, it is less known for its world class off-road running and biking.

By Ruth Holliday
Telegraph.co.uk

After two months battling altitude fatigue in the Andes, getting back down to sea level in Lima fills me with beans. Despite my re-oxygenated superpowers, I decide not to test my luck by lingering too long in the Peruvian capital.

The city is getting safer by the year and I spend an enjoyable night in the smart district of Miraflores without needing to fend off any baddies. Nevertheless I am eager to get away from the edgy atmosphere and frequent hassle that continue to make Lima unpopular with visitors.

Through the detailed travelogue Audre and Dimitri are keeping of their trip to Peru, we experienced their exciting and interesting visit to Arequipa and then joined them on their wonderful time in Lima.  After that we accompanied them on their adventure through Peru's Amazon. In this part of the travelogue we will join Audre and Dimitri as they travel to Northern Peru. If you missed out on the first, second or third part of their trip, click here for part I , here for part II and here for part III.

There is a lot of desert on the coast in Perú. It’s endless and only sometimes interesting. Our first stop north of Lima, however, was definitely very interesting. We had heard about the Caral archeological site on a BBC travel show. We learned that at km 160 of the Panamericana Norte, there was a 23 km unpaved road in good condition that would take us to Caral. We left Lima at 11 a.m. but didn’t arrive at Caral until 3:30 p.m. The unpaved road was very bad and so it took forever to get to the site.

We were pleased with an excellent guide, Segundo, and it was a very rewarding experience. Caral is 5000 years old. When the people of Caral were building their pyramids, the Egyptians were building theirs as well. Awesome. The site started being excavated in the 1990’s, the Peruvian sand and desert having preserved even the colors. The website is very well done too: www.caralperu.gob.pe We were given the jubilados entrance fee rate of S/.2 (under US$1). We shared the price of the guide with another couple so it was an additional S/.10 for us (a little more than US$3). All in all it was a great detour even though a small section of our back bumper fell off during the rough road ride to Caral.

We didn’t stop at the pyramid of Paramonga. We pressed on to Barranca to stay the night at the Hotel Chavin (Jr. Gálvez 222, fono: 235-2253, website: www.hotelchavin.com.pe). It was okay but only if you need a place for the night.