Tourism in Trujillo

Tourism is also a major industry in Trujillo due to the city’s closeness to important sites where the Moche and Chimu civilizations evolved. Trujillo aspires to be considered a World Heritage Site, because of the proximity of both those cultures and its historical colonial city centre whose old houses attract many visitors.

Nearby ruins include the Chimu mud city of Chan Chan, and the Moche ruins of Huaca del Sol, Huaca de la Luna, and El Brujo. The world-famous beach Huanchaco, a surfing destination, is located just north of Trujillo. In addition, the revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar lived in a house on the Plaza de Armas.

Every year the ruins of the La Libertad department are admired by thousands of visitors. Trujillo’s beautiful Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, Archbishop’s Palace, Seminary, House of Culture and the theaters are symbols of the Spanish culture. The archaeological and colonial ruins include: Chan-Chan, the Huacas del Sol and La Luna, the Huaca del Dragon, Pacatnamu, Marcahuamachuco and Wiracochapampa.

The capital is Trujillo and serves as an economical and cultural center. Tourists can visit the city sites, as well as its beaches. In September, Trujillo becomes the “World Capital of Spring”. The most general expression of northern people is “The Marinera”, a typical dance. In Trujillo, the most important competitions of that dance are performed. Only 12 km from Huamachuco is the the Sausacocha lagoon, which is another tourist attraction.

History of Trujillo

In ancient times (10,000 B.C.) the valleys of Trujillo and its surroundings were popular for hunting and harpooning fish. The farmers and seafood gatherers in this area learned to build temples and irrigation systems, such as the one at Alto Salaverry.

The Cupisnique culture represents the time of greatest development for Trujillo. During this period, the people of this area made beautiful ceramics, which can be seen in the Huaca de los Reyes and Valle de Moche temples. After the Cupisnique culture, the Moche culture became prominent. Examples of this culture can be found in the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de La Luna. The Moche culture encountered problems following the Wari conquest and after the 11th century a new culture called the Chimu came into play.

Their impressive capital was called “Chan Chan”. Considered as the largest clay city in America before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Chimu Kingdom, became a great empire dominating the land from Tumbes to Supe. It was the largest empire on the coast before the Inca domination. The Inca Pachacutec and his son Tupac Yupanqui invaded the kingdom. The Chimus surrendered, but the invaders who became their allies respected them. The Chimus were skilled goldsmiths and they influenced the art of the Incas. The Inca domination only lasted 100 years, after which the Spaniards conquered them. (more…)

Geography of Trujillo

The capital city of Trujillo has great geographical importance. This is where the Andean Cordillera links to the Pacific Ocean. The Andes are first seen from Trujillo. It starts off as a row of low elevated hills, but the Andean Plateau soon increases altitude sharply to the east.

The Department of La Libertad’s varied landscape produces a wide variety of natural resources. Sugar cane is cultivated in the large plains. Due to the richness of the coals in the nearby highlands, La Libertad is also a mining area. Immediately adjacent to the mining area, there is a high jungle zone rich in gold. Overall, La Libertad has a mild climate and its valleys are highly productive.

The coast also offers natural ports such as the Chicama. Currently, the modern port facilities of Salaverry are aiding in this department’s development.

Getting Around in Trujillo

Downtown Trujillo is a grid of relatively short blocks ringed by Avenida Espana. At the heart of the centro is the Plaza de Armas, and the main sights are all nearby on the major streets leading off the square. Getting around the small centro is thus best managed on foot. However, you’ll need to take either a taxi or a public bus to visit the major archaeological sites outside Trujillo, or the beachside suburb, Huanchaco.

Confusing as can be are Trujillo’s street names: Nearly every street and avenue has two names and two corresponding signs, one a smaller printed version and the other a fancier painted sign. Most maps go by the smaller, printed name, which is what I give in this section.

Several urbanizaciones, or residential districts, lie just beyond Avenida Espana. Urbanizacion El Recreo, where several resort-style hotels are located, is just west of Av. 28 de Julio. Chan Chan is just 5km (3 miles) northwest of the city, on the way to the airport and Huanchaco. The Huacas de Moche are 8km (5 miles) south of town beyond the Carretera Industrial.

By Taxi – Taxis, all uniformly painted black and yellow, are plentiful in Trujillo. Most in-town fares, inside the Avenida Espana ring, are about S/3 (85¢). A taxi ride to Chan Chan or Huanchaco costs S/12 to S/15 (USD 3-USD 4). You can hire taxis by the hour (S/15 or USD 4) or by the day (USD 25-USD 35) to tour archaeological sites in the environs of Trujillo. Be sure to negotiate or ask first in the tourist office to determine the going fares because price gouging is not uncommon in Trujillo. Official taxis are identified by a coat of arms of the city. (more…)

Getting in Trujillo

By Plane — Trujillo is well connected to the rest of the country, but by far the easiest way to get here is to fly. Aero Continente and AeroCondor fly daily to Trujillo from Lima and Cajamarca. Flights from Lima cost between USD 59 and USD 69. Aero Continente also flies from Chiclayo. Flights arrive at the Aeropuerto Carlos Martinez de Pinillos on Carretera Huanchaco in the Huanchaco district . The airport is about 20 minutes northwest of downtown.

To downtown Trujillo, a taxi costs as little as S/10 (USD 2.85) if you bargain, although most drivers start by charging S/20 (USD 6). Huanchaco-Trujillo buses and colectivos pass in the general direction of the airport, but at a distance of about a mile from the entrance, making public transportation to and from the airport impractical for anyone with luggage.

By Bus — Like most big cities, Trujillo is serviced by several domestic bus companies from Lima and most major points along the north coast and northern highlands. Many long-distance buses travel at night only. There is no central bus station in Trujillo. Most individual company terminals are near downtown, located to the northwest by the Estadio Mansiche, to the southwest near Avenida Espana, or to the east near Avenida El Ejercito.

The major companies making the 8-hour trip from Lima are Ormeno (tel. 01/472-5000), Cruz del Sur , and Oltursa . For the 6-hour trip from Cajamarca, Transportes Linea has two classes of service, economico and especial, which is slightly faster, a bit more comfortable, and a tad more expensive than economico class. Transportes Linea is also the major company for the 3-hour journey from Chiclayo and the 8-hour journey from Huaraz. ITTSA runs from Lima, Chiclayo, and Piura. Note that night buses especially have a reputation for being unsafe. In Trujillo, Ormeno is located at Av. Ejercito 233, Cruz del Sur at Amazonas 437, and Linea at Av. America Sur 2857.

Shopping in Trujillo

Trujillo doesn’t have much to interest potential shoppers, unless you need eyeglasses; Calle Bolivar is loaded with opticians. For a taste of what shopping means to most Trujillo natives, check out the sprawling street mercado that operates daily along Avenida Los Incas.

It’s one of the more unruly (and headache-inducing) markets in Peru, with vendors struggling to be heard over the incessant sounds of car horns. The market stretches across several blocks and spreads out into the street, selling an unending variety of vegetables, fish, and household items; there are even carts full of charcoal.

Most visitors will be better off shopping in Huanchaco. Artesania del Norte, Los Olivos 504 (tel. 044/461-220), has some of the coolest exclusive ceramics designs in Peru. They’ll ship pieces to your home if you can’t limit yourself to just one. The mercado de artesania fronting the beach in Huanchaco has a number of stalls and is also an excellent place for jewelry, including pieces made with the sought-after blue stone lapis lazuli.

Attractions in Trujillo

In Trujillo

Trujillo has an impressive collection of elegant colonial- and republican-era houses (casas antiguas) and baroque churches, as well as one of Peru’s odder museums of ancient ceramics. A tour of Trujillo rightly begins with the graceful Plaza de Armas, where vendors hang out and families in their Sunday finery pose for pictures in front of the Libertad monument. On the square is the Catedral, built in the mid-17th century but rather sober and uninteresting, although it has a Museo Catedratico (tel. 044/235-083) with silver and gold chalices and bishops’ vestments. The plaza is ringed by colorful examples of fine colonial-era mansions, including the one that is now home to the Hotel Libertador. Trujillo’s pastel colonial buildings are distinguished by their ornamental wrought-iron window grilles, unusual in Peru.

Trujillo’s Casas Coloniales–Besides the colonial and republican houses that allow visitors, other houses worth a look from outside (and occasionally inside, if they’re public buildings) are the bright yellow Casa de la Emancipacion (now Banco Continental), Pizarro 610, where independence from Spain was proclaimed on December 29, 1820; Casa Bracamonte, Independencia 441; Casa Lynch, on the Plaza de Armas opposite the cathedral; Casa Aranda, Bolivar 621; Casa del Mayorazgo de Facala, Pizarro 314; and Casa Garcia Holguin, Independencia 527 on the Plaza de Armas.

Huancacho

Huanchaco, 12km (7 1/2 miles) northwest of Trujillo, is a tranquil and traditional fishing village now doubling as pretty low-key resort. On summer weekends, though, it gets jumping with folks from Trujillo and vacationing Peruvians. Huanchaco is a very good alternative to Trujillo as a base for exploring the archaeological sites of the Chimu and Moche (and a day’s visit to the capital city is easily accomplished from Huanchaco).

The town’s fishing character is apparent in the long jetty that juts out over the water and the pointy handcrafted boats called caballitos del mar (or caballitos de totora), for which Huanchaco has become famous and which remain the photogenic vessel of choice for fishers. These small boats, made of bound totora reeds, have been used by fishermen for more than 1,000 years, since the reign of the Moche. The area around Huanchaco is one of the few places in Peru where this ancient sea-vessel tradition has not disappeared from use. When not out on the water, they’re parked on the beach in groups like slender tepees.

Besides a stroll on the beach and visit to Huanchaco’s pleasant artesania market, there’s not too much to see or do. A 16th-century colonial church clings to a cliff, but it’s a long walk uphill from town. More than anything else, Huanchaco’s easy pace and proximity to the sea are its main attractions. It has several agreeable resort hotels, seafood restaurants, and nice stretches of beach. The big waves here attract local surfers and a few board-carrying tourists, although the biggest and best waves are at Puerto Chicama (also known as Malabrigo), about 80km (50 miles) farther up the coast. Waves there can be ridden up to a half-mile, and it’s the site of the largest left wave in the world. (Another good spot in the far north is Cabo Blanco, about 110km/68 miles south of Tumbes.) La Casa Suiza hostal rents out body boards.

To get there, pick up a Huanchaco bus (S/1 or 30¢) along Independencia in Trujillo; the buses go along the first part of the beach before turning on Los Ficus. You can get to Puerto Chicama by colectivos, which depart hourly from the Terminal Interurbano on Calle Santa Cruz in Trujillo; the journey takes about 90 minutes. A taxi from Trujillo is about USD 4.

Catch Some Ondas–If you want to check out some waves along Peru’s north coast, If you can read Spanish, another good surfing site is www.peruazul.com.

The Peruvian Rat Dog–Near the Chan Chan site museum and elsewhere in northern Peru, you might spot a peculiar smooth, black-skinned creature, often with blotches. This less than blessed creature is the biringo, or Peruvian hairless dog. Ancient and — to my Labrador-loving tastes — ugly as all get out, these dogs were kept by several of the pre-Inca cultures of the region, and they’re still around and kept as pets. These dogs are hot to the touch, and it is said that ancient nobles kept them as portable heaters. The Lambayeque and Chimu not only domesticated the animal, though; they also made it part of their diets. Eeww.

Moche Culture

Anyone who has spent time in a small museum room crammed with the famed erotic ceramics of the Moche culture might feel that we know almost too much about this ancient civilization, certainly more than plenty of people are comfortable seeing depicted on vases and other vessels. But our knowledge isn’t limited to the Moche’s sexual mores. The Moche, who inhabited the northern coastal desert of Peru from A.D. 100 to 700, left detailed information about their entire civilization in their finely detailed ceramics, which are some of the finest produced in pre-Columbian Peru. The Moche are, along with the contemporary Nasca people from the desert coast south of Lima, the best-documented culture of the Classical period.

The apogee of Moche society was A.D. 500-600. Although they possessed no written language, their superior painted pottery presents evidence of nearly all elements of their society, from disease and dance to architecture, transportation, agriculture, music, and religion. The Moche were a strictly hierarchical, elite-dominated society that developed into a theocracy. They also constituted one of the first true urban cultures in Peru. Religious temples or pyramids, called huacas, were restricted to nobles, warriors, and priests; common citizens — farmers, artisans, fishers, and slaves — lived in areas removed from the temples.

The finest selection of Moche ceramics in the country is found at the Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera in Lima, the largest private collection of pre-Columbian art in the world. The founder of the museum is the author of the classic study Los Mochicas. The Museo de Arte Precolombino in Cusco also has a fine, although small, collection of Moche artifacts.

Nightlife in Trujillo

Trujillo is pretty quiet except on weekends, when it springs to life. A few nightclubs and penas are clustered in the centro, but most of the hopping discos that go all night are very local and young affairs, on the outskirts of the city. Trujillo has a surprising roster of casinos and movie houses (including two multiplexes showing recently arrived English-language films), and those are as good as any destination for an evening out.

Las Tinajas, Pizarro 383 , with a balcony overlooking the Plaza de Armas, is a pretty chic and popular bar with a downstairs disco, good for drinks midweek. On weekends, it features live rock and pop; the cover is S/5 (USD 1.50). El Estribo, San Martin 810, is a lively and large open music hall with pena music and Mariah Carey wannabes occasionally performing. The cover charge is S/7 (USD 2). La Canana, San Martin 791 (tel. 044/232-503), is another nearby pena with a good restaurant and live music and dancing on weekends. The cover is usually about S/10 (USD 3).

Luna Rota, at America Sur 2119 in the Santa Maria district at the end of Huayna Capac , is an all-in-one complex with a thumping disco for teenagers, a pub, and a casino for slightly more mature folks. The cover in the disco and pub is S/7 to S/10 (USD 2-USD 3).

Cine Primavera, Orbegoso 239, near the Plaza de Armas , has first-run American and European films in their original languages and draws long lines of moviegoers. Among the collection of casinos along Orbegoso and Pizarro is Casino Solid Gold, Orbegoso 554. Open daily 24 hours, it has cocktail waitresses in flashy short skirts and a low-rent Vegas feel to it; its cheesy theme is “Chan Chan Lost World.”

When to go Trujilo

In September, the International Springtime and Marinera Festival takes place in Trujillo. The city dresses up for the festivities, taking on a joyful air that makes it very attractive.

During the Festival, the famous “Corso de las Flores” (Parade of the Flowers) is held along with a variety of artistic and folklore shows which are enjoyed by thousands of local and foreign tourists. Not only that, the Festival is also the ideal time to enjoy Peru’s leading dance Peru’s leading dance, the “Marinera”, in all its splendor; an amorous pursuit full of elegance and gallantry.