Huanchaco & Trujillo, Peru


Kara says:

Huanchaco - a small town on the coast of northern Peru, Trujillo - a big town nearby.

Am now battling our computer as well as the internet - since Karl reset the language to spanish it seems to have adopted a "mañana" attitude, maybe i'll open that application today, maybe tomorrow, there's no rush...pasa lo que pase.

Huanchaco. Little fishing village that's now popular with surfers, including Karl who just raves about the perfect groundswell and forgiving waves and his new-found ability to do s-turns and be generally brilliant. The fishermen here use little kayaky-type boats made of reeds to paddle out and surf in, see photos, and now can make extra money on weekends getting tourists wet. We have ourselves a little bungalow here a block from the beach and have been doing basically nothing for several days. Karl's had a few surfs (with his "no, we've never had problems with sharks bites" wetsuit - see photo), I've been running along the prom (though with typical Peruvian footpaths it's more like cross country), we head down with a beer to watch the sunset in the evening (Karl gets to use his beer-opener-ring with much pride)...it's a tough life all 'round really, see photo of Karl chilling out with his wine in our bungalow/orange submarine. Had been wondering what exactly was making all the heavy footstep noises on our roof every morning (an interesting combination of scratching birdlike sounds and yet heavy stomping human sounds) - then we saw the biggest peakcocks in the world, huge, photo does not do it justice!

Trujillo is the big town in the area. History as per every other significant town - founded by Pizarro in 154_, main square is Plaza de Armas, cathedral in Plaza de Armas dates originally from 15__ but destroyed by earthquake in 16__ and reconstructed in 17__, still retains colonial architecture in various states of decay (actually Trujillo is in very good nick) and an interesting central market. Photo of Karl diligently applying suncream in the plaza in Trujillo. It has very, very pretty colonical architecture and lots of things - including the sculpture being contructed in the middle of the Plaza de Armas - called "Olympica" but i can't imagine why. I doubt there's any Peruvian Olympic bid in the offing. Perhaps a recent medallist from Trujillo? I'd google it if this computer actually worked. Photo of a yellow building where the builders asked "do we need to line up all the windows are doors?" and the architect said "nah, just put 'em roughly in the right spot, no-one'll notice". Also a shop advertising "shambar" - no idea what it is but felt it was calling me...

The other site in the area is the archeological excavations of the city of Chan Chan. Once the biggest cities in South America (Karl claims also the biggest ever adobe (mud) city in the world ever! Although he is unable to back up this claim with facts or sources). Mind you, probably not alot of competition as most people like to build cities with stuff that doesn't disolve. It was the capital of the region from about 600 BC until the Incas took over in 1470, and then the Spaniards took over. Photo of Karl, just being Karl. Photo of me at the authentic adobe ticket booth.

Have also been watching TV and discovered a program perfect for our level of spanish - Sesame Street! Although also enjoying "El Coche Fantastico" - Knight Rider, and the worst telenovelas imaginable, how there is not a reverse Oscars for worst scene I do not know - fabulously bad scene today of woman falling (delicately sliding) down a flight of stairs.













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Valparaiso, Chile

Image
Kara says: Valparaiso - a port town near Santiago with little colourful houses climbing up the hills behind the bay. Thoughtfully, they have provided funiculars around town to help you up the hills. Photo of me enjoying the very healthy Chorrillana - a pile of chips, fried onions with egg, meat, melted cheese and whatever else they feel like piling on top. Also photo of a street and a market spilling out onto the street. We wandered around and did mostly nothing. The Amazing Race came to town - we spent a whole lunchtime in a plaza waiting for the couples to come running by chased by their out of breath cameraman and soundman. It was funny (in a slightly cruel way) to see the teams that went down streets that none of the others had chosen. Losers. How we laughed as we sipped our beers. We headed to the beach, see karl posing, and down a very spectacular coast to see one of Pablo Neruda's (Chilean diplomat, poet and Nobel Prize winner) houses. Have picked out a nice little second ho...
Read more

Quito, Ecuador

Image
Kara says: Quito. Really lovely colonial city (I haven't said that before have I?) surrounded by green hills with the suburbs climbing up them. In the new part of town the hills seem particularly close and covered in wild jungle that no-one's ever got into 'cause of the monsters. Especially when the afternoon clouds and thunderstorms roll over the mountaintops. So Quito - Pizarro, 154_, you know the story. For a big city it's got a great, quietish but busy, really well preserved old centre full of plazas, churches and pleasant streets. And it's real! The plazas are surrounded by real shops for real people not tourist restaurants and souvenir shops. We had to get a new transformer (stupid 110V sockets) and went to a fabulous little electrical shop with every possible plug, wire, switch, capacitor, thingymagigy that you played with in physics class and now can't remember what they're for. If you lived here I think there would always be at least one dome...
Read more