On the Road Again

Ok folks, for today´s blog update, Jill finds herself in Cajamarca, Perú. It is a city in the mountains and is famous for cheese because it is surrouded by dairy. I have tried some of it, not bad. This does come from a person used to really salted Honduran cheese, so it might actually be very good, just not salty enough for my tastes.

Before I get in depth, I took a daytour (it´s a detour that lasts one day) in the city of Trujillo. First, let me just say that I prefer Trujillo, Honduras.

The city is the third largest in Peru and hosts some pre-Incan ruins. Now, the Inca are not a really old group, they came about later and were then vanquished by the Spanish, I´ll get back to this later.

I hired a taxi to take me to all the interesting points during the day. First we went to the best place which is called Huaca de la luna, and it also encompasses Huaca del sol. They are temples used by the Moche people, who basically existed between 100 and 800 AD or after christ. The museum here is very well done. There is a lot of pottery found in the ruins and I am guessing some replicas.

These people had their stuff together and were very religious. One notable fact is that they did human sacrificing. They were also very good at pottery, textile weaving, metalurgy and other artesan stuff. There was a city between two temples and it was very organized with streets and avenues, as well as canals to bring water around the city.

The temple Huaca de la luna is also amazing because the color of the murals still exists. FOr some reason, these people really liked temple building. Every so often they filled in the old temple and built the new temple right on top of it. There are literally layers of temple. The new temple was pretty much exactly the same as the old, but just a little it bigger.

Archeologists think that only the truly elite were allowed in the temple, everyone else stayed in the courtyard. The main god was a compilation of different animals, from the land and sea. HUmans, warriers who lost fights, were believed to be sacrificed to appease the gods and make for better weather conditions. I think I have mentioned that most of the Peruvian coast is a desert, so they couldn´t really afford dry spells.

THe Moche people are believed to have abandoned their religion when a El Nino wave hit them and it became clear that the priests really didn´t control weather. They then lived by more traditional government for a while before finally disbanding the culture. Most probaby assimilated into the Chimbe culture.

Only a few miles away you find a few ruins of the chimbe people. Two are literally within the city limits (all cultures from all times gather around water sources, in this case a river). These ruins are really less interesting. Right outside of town there is a huge complex where it is believed that 50,000 people lived. That is a lot of people for that time frame.

Now, the museum here is sub-par. THen, guides cost a bit of money, so most people just wander around on their own. There is nothing or very little of note. There are few designs on walls, and what there is has been covered over, for protection against the elements, but it just makes them look fake.

Finally I went to Huacachaco, or a name like that, and saw the beach. I really didn´t do much more than look and take a few pics. I had lunch. Now, if you don´t like seafood, beach towns are a problem. THey just don´t do other food well.

Then I hit up to main plaza in Trujillo. It is ok, nothing special. One thing to note is that there was a political rally for Keiko, the female presidential candidate, so there were a lot of people. THe rally didn´t officially begin until later, so i wandered around. I bought a shirt because all my clothes were dirty at the time.

The rally started 2.5 hours late. Imagine if Obama had ever showed up that late, all but the diehard supporters would have left. However, I am in Peru, and those who are from here and understand how things work, didn´t show up until 2 hours after the start time. I however, had no where to be, so sat on a stone staircase for 2.5 hours.

Ok, so like I mentioned, this was just for the day. Someone might wonder what I did with my bag for this time. Well, I bought my overnight ticket at 8am and checked my bag then. So, I needed everything that I could possibly need in 24 hours with me. My purse got a little heavy. Here is what I had in it:
book (i knew at some point i would still have to wait for a while for the bus to leave)
water bottle
wallet (and it´s a large clutch purse but it organizes everything well)
camera
phone and headphones
toilet paper (there is never any)
handkerchief (still getting rid of the last bit of cold)
candy bars for snacks
guidebook section for peru
sunglasses
sunscreen
Gifts that I forgot to take out of my purse the day before

now, what is not in there is a jacket of some sort. I was travelling in the desert for the day practically, so i didn´t have a coat. However, that night it got cold. Waiting around for the rally to begin was a little chilly. I only stayed for a few minutes of the actual rally because i had reached my cold limit and i didn´t want to sit on the step for any longer.

The buses all thankfully come with blankets for each seat, which is so nice.

I pulled into Cajamarca around 5am, got out my sneakers and coat (did i mention i was also in sandals) and then got a cab to a hotel. They let me check in right away without paying extra which was nice.

Cajamarca is also the place where the Inca people lost to the Spaniards. The last INca leader was betrayed and eventually killed here.

The first day I did my own walking tour of the city. It was ok, nothing too exciting.

The second day I opted for tours. I went to Cumbemayo in the moring, which is a rock outcropping a little ways outside the city. THe tour was very so-so.

In the afternoon I did a tour where we visited a dairy farm, saw the workings and did some cheese tasting. Cheese with oregano is very good. Then we went to a garden and saw some artesan stuff. THen we went to what are called the ¨windows¨ which are actually preincan ruins where they used to store the bodies of dead people. It´s a cemetery basically.

On the second tour there was a better guide and more active/talkative people, so it was much more enjoyable. I went to dinner with a German woman who is also travelling alone. We tried some traditional dishes and they were very good.

During the break between tours I pretty much did a tour of the bus companies. I wanted a ticket out of town that night, but everywhere was sold out. I ended up having to stay another day, which is why I can write this update. I slept in late, watched cable (including old Big Bang Theory) on tv in English! I am going to try cow brains for lunch and then see if I can get another tour for the afternoon.

I will do another daytour tomorrow although since the elections are tomorrow, i don´t know if i will be able to or not. I hope so. After that it is back to the mountains and more ruins. I like ruins, what can I say. Then several solid days at the beach.

Take care all,

Jill