Day 384 – Trujillo
Moche Civilisation Ruins
Today we had breakfast at Hotel Alexander. It was a nice meal and exactly the same menu as yesterday. We left for Huaca del Sol. We asked the hotel for directions and went on our way back to Ave Los Incas. From here we caught a bus to Los Incas. The bus was going in the wrong direction, but we had faith, hoping it will do a loop.
We ended up going all the way to the coast, which was the end of the line! Fortunately this only cost us 1.40 PEN ($0.62 AUD) per person (p/p). Since we wanted to see the beach eventually, we made the best of the situation and visited the coast.
The town of Trujillo is protected by a rock wall, so there isn’t actually a beach area to swim in, but it was nice to see.
We walked back to the main road and saw a police officer on the corner. He told us in Spanish that there is no direct bus to the temple. We decided to use the Easy Taxi App since we still had a 50% discount. With the discount, this journey only cost us 12 PEN ($5.32 AUD). The driver was a little way out when he accepted our fare, so he called us. It was difficult to communicate with him, as he only spoke Spanish, but we worked it out in the end.
He drove us to the Huaca del Sol, but dropped us off at the museum, so we could purchase the entrance tickets. The tickets to the site and museum cost 15 PEN ($6.64 AUD) p/p. Its 10 PEN for the ruins and 5 PEN for the museum.
Museo Huacas de Moche
This is an amazing museum. The exhibits are well explained in Spanish and English. Photography is not allowed inside. One of the best things for us was in the room at the back of the museum to the right (directly after walking in from the entrance). The room had nice explanations on how the adobe (mud) brick temple was made.
Apparently using workers who were a little high! A combination of ground sea shells with cocoa leaves apparently gives super human strength. Unlike now, there was no machinery or large animals (horses, buffaloes, elephants) to assist with construction.
The museum is definitely worth a visit. We spent 40 minutes at the museum.
Huaca del Sol
From the museum, there is a 5 minute walk to the entrance for Huaca del Sol. Essentially its called the temple of the sun. Our tour started at 1.05 pm in English. You have to go on the tour and it’s based on tips. The guide spoke perfect English and was very informative.
2017 Visitor locations View of the temple of the moon (which is closed for tourists)
The site itself is so impressive. The temple is made from adobe (mud) bricks, similar to Chan Chan (Day 383). Since it doesn’t rain here, the site is in a decent condition. The Moche, who built this site, is another pre Inca civilisation.
Human sacrifice zone
Every so often, the Moche would rebuild the temple, on top of the existing site. When they do rebuild it, it is always bigger. So archaeologists have excavated areas, and you can see how well preserved the bottom layers are. It’s incredible.
Tombs of the priests Designs show which clan made the brick Artists rendering of site The main alter
The final mural is so impressive. The massive hole in the wall, are remnants of Spanish looking for gold to steal. Just given how much care and time had gone into a wall, it’s sad to not know how the art work would have looked. It probably would have been amazing. The site is an active archaeological zone.
How the site was found Mural of the myths
The tour lasted 1 hour finishing at the starting point.
Getting from Huaca del Sol to Trujillo
From Huaca del Sol, it’s really easy to get back to Trujillo. Right in the car park, we got into an awaiting collectivo. It only cost 2 PEN ($0.89 AUD) p/p. We asked to go back to the main plaza. The collectivo stopped a short 5 minute walk from the plaza. It was super easy.
Plaza de Armas de Trujillo
At the plaza, we decided to have a super late lunch. Since we wanted to try the culture and something traditional, we ended up at maccas. After people watching for a while in the plaza, we walked back to our hotel.
