Day 12 - 10/18/23 - Salaverry, Peru
Today's word is archeology. It really defined what today's independent excursion that I set up involved.
As a little background, Over the past 9 years or so, I have researched and found excursions in the ports of call all over the world that the cruises visit that we are on. There are a number of companies that provide excursions and sometimes the cruise line will buy out all of the available excursions and then market them as ship excursions. However, generally that is not the case. For this cruise, many of them I inherited from another cruiser who cancelled their cruise. In addition, I found others on my own. Then near the embarkation date, another cruiser had to cancel due to family medical issues. So I assumed 4-5 of her excursions.
For today the excursion was booked to visit two archeological sites, the historic center of Trujillo (about 20 minutes drive from the Salaverry Port), and a beach which features traditional reed boats. This excursion itinerary is one we did 5 years ago off of the Maasdam on our way to Easter Island so I was familiar with the port. For these excursions I have everyone meet at the Ocean Bar so that I can do a last minute head count and go over any details before we disembark the ship, We assembled at 8am and the ship was cleared to disembark shortly thereafter. We disembarked the ship and made our way to a port shuttle bus as we were not permitted to walk through the working port (nothing was really going on!). At the main gate we met our guides and 24 people in our group were put on one bus with two guides and 8 of us were put on a second bus with 8 other people who had booked independently through Expedia or Viator.
I should note here that I spoke with both Florian and Jeremy about us having no issue five years ago on the Maasdam, and they indicated that the local port authorities had no comprehension of what it was like to receive a cruise ship and they weren't even ready when we arrived this morning.
We headed out of the port town of Salaverry (not much to see here as a tourist), and we drove to the site of the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. The Temple of the Sun adobe ruins was used for administrative duties back in the day and is not open to the public. The Temple of the Moon was excavated in the 1990's and provides a glimpse into the life of the Moche people. It's built on the side of a mountain with the basic structure arranged in a north/south direction with all significant religious objects facing north. Alfredo, our guide, provided intricate detail about the symbols and layout and use of the temple where there were human male sacrifices made.
Two teams would compete and the losing team of men would be sacrificed at the temple. The victors would parade the roped up losers up to the temple where they would be sacrificed and the blood would be offered up to their god. This community lasted from about 100BC to 700AD when El Niño (rains) destroyed the people's housing and farms in the valley below. The ruins then became covered in sand (this is a desert area with sand that goes down to the sea). Also, looters have ravaged the site over the centuries and the Conquistadors raided the tombs as well.
From the Temple of the Moon, we drove into the center of Trujillo which is the second largest city on Peru. There is a main square with a monument to liberty which was erected in 1929, Surrounding the square are many significant and colorful buildings include a bright yellow cathedral (a mass was occurring when we were there), police, municipal government, a large hotel and a museum which was a house that Simon Bolívar stayed during the time of the revolution to free South America from Spanish rule. We visited that and it was quite interesting as was the monument and the cathedral.
Our next stop was the Chan Chan ruins which were just about 3 miles west of Trujillo down more very rough streets. The Chan Chan ruins cover a lot more ground and they were unearthed in the early 1960's and are now only conserved. The Chimú people lived here and the wall structures surrounding the Tschudi Palace are immense both in depth and height. As in the Mpon Temple, the entrance to the Tschudi Palace is on the north side.of the complex. The Chimú people lived here from about 850 to 1470 when they were conquered by the Inca's. They also had sacrifices, but in their case, they sacrificed women and children, not warriors. This culture's decor was much more 3 dimensional and less colorful than the Moche people.
For more information about these cultures, use your favorite search engine and you'll find lots of information.
We then drove to Huanchaco which is known for its reed fishing boats. Many were on display and we all enjoyed a late lunch before heading back to Salaverry and reboarding the ship. Most of the group ate together at one restaurant while Angela and I ventured out and ate at a smaller restaurant where were enjoyed ceviche and a side seafood dish and a soda for for 25 Peruvian soles or about $7US. It was really good and I also like the Trujillo beer which was quite lights and especially tasty on a warm but not hot day.
Our group didn't want to linger and stroll the waterfront, so our bus departed about 10 minutes early for the port. We traveled down the busy Pan American highway which stretches from Punta Arenas to the Darien Gap and then continues from Panama to Alaska.
With the rough roads and sitting in the back of the bus, I logged over 15,000 steps today. We did a little shopping at the port where Angela purchased a pretty Alpaca shawl and a bracelet. Back onboard the ship, we had a light dinner and then attended a comedy show on the World Stage featuring a new entertainer for this voyage: Simon B. Cotter from Canada. He was really funny. Afterwards we started to watch the movie, Theater Camp, in the Wajang theater but got bored with it and returned to our stateroom and prepared a bag of laundry to be set out. I then wrote this blog and Angela read.
Tomorrow is another sea day and we have a couple of interesting lectures and a cooking demo and a special dinner surprise.
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