Day 14 Trujillo, Peru

We were wakened this morning by the ships horn.  Looking outside the fog was so thick we could not see 50 yards.  We docked later than planned.  In fact our ship was the only one to navigate thru the fog with the help of four tug boats and some cars that were pulled up to the wharf with their lights on to guide us in.   We were blissfully unaware of all of these extraordinary measures.

Once we left the ship we negotiated with a taxi driver to give us a tour of some of the early Peruvian historical sites, the central square in town and finally a black beach known for boats made from reeds lashed together.

First we were cautioned that this is not a country that you want to wander around in.  We took this to heart.  It was easy to understand why once you see the homes, roads and businesses between our ship and the central square.  To be fair we had no problems and everyone we met was very nice.

The first stop was to visit some Mochican (early Peruvians) structures.  From a distance these look like large dirt hills.  Up close you can see that they are actually constructed from millions of adobe bricks.  This is their version of pyramids.

Next we went to the central square in Trujillo.  This is a beautiful place that is surrounded by some historic buildings that appear to be in great condition and are attractively painted.   The plaza is nicely landscaped with bright flowers and well manicured trees.

From there we were off to Chan Chan, an ancient city that is now a vast area of waist high rubble.   It is amazing to see a city this size from such a long time ago. (1,000 AD). 

Finally, we visited Huanchaco, a seaside village, with a supposedly black beach.  They are famous for their reed boats. 

The most dominant observation I came away with was that every structure we saw was constructed from bricks.  Bricks are the only building material these people utilize.  We did see some re-bar concrete that was used as a structural support.   Every wall along the highway was brick, every house was brick.  For an area so susceptible to earth quakes this seems to be dangerous.