Trujillo day one: colour, cake and the Lady of Cao

What a fab day this was! We had to get up early for the 6.30am bus from Chiclayo to Trujillo, a 3-hour journey through rather boring landscape of sandy desert, piled with rubbish heaps much of the way, bordered on the landward side by rugged brown, mostly vegetation-less hills, and all covered by low, grey, smothering cloud, creating an atmosphere of overall gloom. I snoozed!

But everything changed when we arrived in central Trujillo. What a picturesque city it is … or, at least, the inner city, with its heritage of stunning Spanish colonial buildings. They are painted in the most striking colours: sunflower yellows, lipstick pinks, cornflower blues, barn reds and mint greens, with the elaborate door frames, ornate wrought-iron window screens and other sculptural features all picked out in a crisp clean contrasting white that makes them pop!

We were collected from the bus, had half an hour at our hotel for an uplifting cup of tea, then were met, with a huge smile and infectious laugh, by the charming Henry, our tour guide for the day. He led us off up the street for a wonderful 3-hour walking tour around the inner city. How entertaining it was, with Henry recounting story after story about the history of each place we visited.

Our first stop was the Plaza de Armas, an enormous square with a grand three-tiered sculpture at its centre. The Freedom Monument pays tribute to the heroes of Peru’s wars of independence, with sculptured figures representing trade and health, the arts and sciences, the journey from oppression to freedom, and a naked youth at the top representing liberation and the future. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Henry told us that the youth used to be quite well endowed, but his appendage offended the local nuns, who successfully campaigned to have it cut off!

Trujillo’s wedding cake of a cathedral was next. It has been much damaged and subsequently much rebuilt since its inauguration in the mid-seventeenth century, but is beautifully decorated with many fine old artworks. From there, we walked around the plaza to Urquiaga House, a colonial mansion that now houses the offices of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, but has been charmingly restored and is lovingly maintained. I found the brightly painted walls dazzling and took so many photos. More superb examples of colonial architecture followed, as we continued our tour by walking along the pedestrian-only Avenida Jirόn Pizarro. We explored a community arts centre, and also poked our noses in the local rich men’s club – being women, only our noses were allowed!

When Henry departed to join his wife and young son for lunch, Sarah and I found a delightful restaurant on this avenue and enjoyed a delicious 3-course lunch for a relatively trivial sum. And this was the beginning of our gastronomic exploration of the cakes of northern Peru. For more on that and some drool-inducing photos, see my earlier blog.

We met up with Henry again at 2 o’clock for the fast car trip out of Trujillo to El Brujo, the temple and museum of the Lady of Cao. Because of the splendour of her grave goods and the inclusion of massive weapons in her tomb, found inside yet another crumbling pyramid, archaeologists have surmised that the Lady was a ruler of the Moche civilisation some 1500 years ago, the first known female ruler in all of ancient Peru. Walking around the pyramid, we saw original and reconstructed painted sculptural reliefs and graves, but the highlight of our visit lay within the nearby museum – the mummy of the Lady herself, and the splendid items that accompanied her to the afterlife.

Amazingly, the Lady’s arms, legs and feet were tattooed, with presumably sacred creatures – spiders and mythical beasts – plus various geometric designs. And, as well as the war clubs and spear throwers, her grave goods included exquisite gold earrings, nose ornaments and necklaces. No photos were allowed within the museum but I took a photo of a magazine article about the Lady, so I could show you what she looks like.

From the top of her pyramid tomb, we could see and hear the Pacific Ocean, just a hop, skip and a jump away. It was the first time I had seen the sea, except through the windows of a plane, in months and, for me, it just topped off a wholly perfect day.

Christmas Cusco-style, part one

The run-up to Christmas, in Cusco, in pictures …

In Cusco, everyone seems to be getting into the Christmas spirit. At Molino, one of the biggest local markets, everyone has decorated their tiny stalls with tinsel, or little Papa Noels, or miniscule Christmas trees.

I love this shot! The blue that people use here on their windows and doors reminds me so much of Greece, especially when the geraniums are added. The Christmas decoration here just adds that special touch.

A Christmas decoration Peruvian-style. This is made from a small gourd or calabash, as they call them here. Usually the locals etch images of Inca places or mythology into these calabashes and sell them to tourists as souvenirs. I love the novel use of this calabash, with a tiny nativity scene inside.

On the 14th day before Christmas, I went for an evening stroll around Cusco taking photos of all the stunning lighting displays. This is just one small building of the many that are beautifully adorned with decorations and lights.

This gorgeous Christmas tree is in the window of one of the more upmarket tourist stores here in Cusco, Peru. The tree has been decorated with local ornaments, like little llamas, tiny Peruvian dolls dressed in traditional costume, little chullpas (the local knitted hat with ear flaps), and much more.

The Plaza de Armas, Cusco's main square, is ablaze with Christmas lights, many of them in the shape of animals. I would like to say that I planned to align one of the streetlights to look like this reindeer's eye but it was, in fact, sheer good luck!

This window is in the Palace of Justice, the imposing and very beautiful Spanish colonial building that houses the law courts and justice department here in Cusco. Even in such a serious setting, Christmas is obviously still a big focus for the staff, as many of the windows are decorated with festive scenes. I love the irony of this photo, with Santa looking like he's in jail behind the security bars on the window.

This is Cusco's main Christmas tree, in one of the plazas in the central city. The name Coca Cola seems almost to be synonymous with Christmas here - you can see the logo on this tree but also in many shop window displays. Unfortunately, the Peruvian people drink way too many fizzy drinks, so obesity is becoming a problem in the children here, and such sugar-intensive drinks play havoc with the teeth of children who have no access to dental care. Coca Cola’s best present to Peru would be to stop advertising their products so heavily!

The 16th of December was La Chocolatada in the small village of Oropesa where I work. My organisation, Globalteer, and the kind folks at Southern Crossings travel agency gave all 800 of Oropesa's primary and high school kids a large hunk of Paneton bread and a mug of freshly made hot chocolate. The smiles were heart warming.