Hotel el Golf, Trujillo

We are ready for a round of golf. But no such luck - I think they meant gulf - because it the hotel is outside of the city of Trujillo near the ocean - who know. But anyway - it was a nice place with a patio and pool and nice grounds.

Huaca de la Luna - Temple of the Moon - Reliefs

These photos show how the temple was expanded just by adding bricks on top of the existing walls. The reliefs are amazing. The main colors used are red, yellow, white and black. These are mineral based colors

The two temples are consider to be a religious complex.

Huaca de la Luna - Temple of the Moon

The Temple of the Moon is being extensively excavated. It is also built with adobe bricks. It contains 6 levels. The Moche just built over the first temple to make it larger. This rebuilding occurred over 600 years. Much of the paintings on the wall with the vivid colors have been found in the excavation. The symbols were the writing of the history of the people.

The Moche ruled the land in the North part of Peru from AD 100 to AD 700. The Temple complex is located at the foot of the mountian Cerro Blanco - which they worshiped.

The anthropormorphic figure "Ai Apaek" - El Degollador - The decapitator appears in many of the reliefs. He has the hair of the seas and the eyes of the owl.

Huaca del Sol - Temple of the Sun

Huaca del Sol - in Trujillo,Peru - An adobe brick pyramid built by the Moche Culture to worship the sun. The archeaology site has both the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. Between the two temple - they are excavating the royal city.

The Huaca del Sol is 148 feet tall and is the tallest adobe building in the Americas. Built with over 140 million bricks by 200,000 workers. It was built around 500 ad as part of the Moche culture.

The phenonomen El Nino - great rains have come with more frequency in recent years and has tremendously damaged the structure.

Biringo - Peruvian Hairless Dog

"Perro"(dog) - this type of dog is native to Peru. The only thing I can say is UGLY.

Pottery Factory in Trujillo - Part 2

The brothers gave a demonstration on how the Moche actually made pottery - using both shaping by hand as well as using molds.

Pottery in Peru is the sources for information about the life of the people. Everything is included in pottery - farming, houses, war, prisioners, ceremonies, etc. Archeaologists have pieced together much of the history of the ancient culture by cross referencing different pieces of pottery.

The Brothers have performed in several ceremonies in Trujillo - their home is just outside the archeaology site of Huaca del Sol and Huaca del y Luna - the Temples of the Sun and Moon.

Pottery Factory in Trujillo

Our guide Miguel tells us he is taking to a Potter Factory. Ok... We know the drill. However when we arrived in the courtyard - we started hearing music. First the conch shell being blown with its distintive sound. Then the flute, drums and guitar. The music was beautiful and quite moving. The performance continued as we entered the store. They were dressed in Moche costumes - which we later saw replicated in pottery from that era. (They could have stepped out from back in time.)

The pottery shop is owned by a group of 9 brothers. They have very clear blood lines going back to the original Moche culture with the wide noses and oriental eyes and face. They added the shaking of a string of shells to the performance. Our guide Miguel - translated as they told us the story of their people.

Shoe Market in Trujillo

One of the markets in Trujillo is only for shoes. There were over 50 shops featuring every kind of shoe imaginable. Some quite beatuiful leather work.

Trujillo History Museum

The History Museum of Trujillo is housed in an old colonial home. The courtyard features an ancient "Moche" culture stone head. The Moche dominated much of the North part of Peru before the Inca empire. The home was built using trees brought from the Amazon basin as Trujillo is very much like a desert with few trees.

Trujillo - Northern Coast of Peru

We visited several sites in the historic center of Trujillo, Peru - located on the North Coast.

Darrell and Lanny Scholes are listening to our guide - Miguel.

Downtown Trujillo retains much of its colonial influences in its architecture. Wooden balconies are a fashionable addition to the home. The coverings allowed the people inside to see out but not be seen, during the colonial age.

We also saw: Iglesia la Merced (Catholic Church) - built in 1636. The church suffered great damage in 1970 by an earthquake. Peru as well as the western coast of South America is a very active earthquake region.

Poinciana Trees - Trujillo,Peru

Beautiful Poinciana Trees are found in many places in the city of Trujillo.

Plaza de Armas - Trujillo, Peru

June 13, 2010 The historic center of Trjillo surrounds the Plaza de Armas - the town's main square. The park has a fountain with a statute for victory in the center of the square. The mustard yellow color of the main Cathedral - Basicila Menor -built around 1647 - anchors the square. Many coloful volkswagon "bugs" are gathered at the plaza in a touring group. The colonial era homes with their vivid colors surround the plaza.

Huaca Pucllana - Pyramid and restaurant

We had a wonderful dinner in a lovely setting on our first full day in Lima. Huaca Pucllana is an adobe pyramid dating back over 1500 years. The restaurant has a splendid view of the Huaca (Pyramid) and amazing food!!

Maria Teresa Milla - owner of Peru Hands On Travel joined us at the restaurant. I had my first "Pisco Sour" - the most famous drink of Peru. Pisco is made from grapes and is like a grappa. Then a lime juice mixture is added then topped with frothy egg whites with a dash of nutmeg. It is actually wonderful. It tastes a lot like a margarita.

We are traveling with our friend from Naples -Lanny Scholes. Our dinner was wonderful. Ceviche is the famous dish of Peru - it is pieces of fresh raw fish marinated in a lime juice.

I couldn't pass up the photo of the "cotton tree." Having grown up on a farm - I know cotton very well. The cotton in Peru is a much taller stalk. It has been domesticated in Peru for thousands of years. But this tree is an arrangement of tall stalks.

"Love Park" in Lima, Peru

Parque del Amora - The Love Park - a beautiful overlook of the Pacific Ocean in Miraflores (Lima) Peru. "The Kiss" (El Beso) by Victor Delfin - is the focal point for the Gaudi (Famous architect/sculpturer from Barcelona Spain) inspired park. A wall and benches with colorful mosaics surround "the Kiss"!

Lima is overcast for most of the winter. We are here in winter for South America. It is very damp in this area. Despite being so close to the equator - Lima is not really that warm.

Sculpture in the Miraflores area of Lima

The area of Miraflores in Lima had many nice home and is near the ocean. This sculpture was located on the street near our hotel.

Archeaology Museum in Lima

The Archeaology Museum in Lima portrayed all of the different cultures of Peru. The Tello Obelisk is in granite from one of the earliest cities in Peru - Chavin. The quipas - knotted strings used as a form of record keeping and language. Textiles are also very important and quite beautiful. Pottery was used to tell the stories of the people. The indian civilizations did not have a written alphabet - but relied on symbols to tell thier story. Archeaologist have pieced together a great deal of information using pottery.

Lima - Hotel Antigua

Darrell and I arrived in Lima on June 11, 2010! We are spending the first day in Lima - touring the city and also to the Archeaology Museum.

We are staying in the Miraflores section of Lima - near the Pacific Ocean. Our hotel is Hotel Antigua. The hotel was formerly a colonial home. The grounds are really nice. The hotel has a courtyard with a fountain.

Chicha - purple beer in Peru

On our first day in Lima, Peru we enjoyed Chicha beer - a favorite local beer (non-alcholic) made from purple corn. It is actually quite good and refreshing. A little like kool-aid with spices!

We are sharing our trip with Lanny Scholes from Naples, FL and a member of Quail Creek CC. Lanny is also from Toronto Canada.

Darrell is outside -trying to get in. Our hotel has a strong metal fence!

Gold from Lima Archeaology Museum

Peru had a huge amount of gold within the Inca Empire. When the Spanish arrived in 1533 they managed to steal most of the gold - jewelery, idols, vests, gold plated walls, etc. The Spanish melted it all into bullion and took it to Spain.

The Archeaology Museum in Lima has a downstairs room with several ancient gold pieces. Some of the most interesting pieces are earrings. They are huge - the Inca people had huge holes in their ear lobes for the earrings.

Lunch in Nasca, Peru

Our group traveling in southern Peru. Darrell, Lanny Scholes, Dave and Kathleen, Rick and Phyllis Roberts and Elaine!

I will try to catch up my blog when I return to Lima tomorrow. Connection issues as well as schedule issues - we are getting in at midnight and leaving at 4 am.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Peru and Colombia 2010 - Map

View 2011 Peru and Colombia in a larger map

Peru and Colombia 2010 - Map

View 2011 Peru and Colombia in a larger map

Peru and Colombia 2010 Schedule

June 11 Depart Memphis for Lima
June 12 Lima - city tour
June 13 fly to Trujillo (Northern Coast of Peru) - City Tour and Temples of the Sun and Moon
June 14 Huanchaco Beach and Chan Chan; drive to Chiclayo, Peru
June 15 Lambayeque - Lord of Sipan discovery site and museum and Tucume: Valley of the Pyramids, fly back to Lima
June 16 Lima - Plaza de Armas, Archeaology Museum, Miraflores area market and dinner
June 17 Drive to Southern Coast along the PanAm highway to Paracas Bay and Ballestas Islands; Ica - Sand dunes and oasis at Huacachina, Tacama winery tour. Overnight in Cantayo
June 18 Fly over the Nasca Lines; Chauchilla Cemetery and Aqueducts of Cantayoc
June 19 Regional Archeaology Museum, Pachamac ruins and return to Lima
June 20 - fly to Cusco (The Sacred Valley of the Inca) in the Andes Mountains. Tour the Sacred Valley visiting - Pisac ruins and Ollantaytambo - a living Inca city.
June 21 - train to Agua Calientes - visit Machu Picchu - on the Winter Solstice!!
June 22 - sunrise at Machu Picchu. Train to Cusco
June 23 - Inca ruins around Cusco - Sacsayhuaman, Qenko, Qorichancha. Cusco city tour
June 24 - Inti Raymi - Festival of the Sun in Cusco
June 25 - Cusco
June 26 - Inkaterra bus ride on the "Road of the Sun" from Cusco to Puno to Lake Titicaca
June 27 - Lake Titicaca - boat tour to Uros Floating Islands and to Taquile Island
June 28 - Fly to Bogota
June 29 - Bogota
June 30 -Bogota
July 1 - Bogota
June 2 - Fly to Memphis - home!!