Our first top in Peru was a port called Salaverry.
When I looked out in the morning, the dock across from our ship was littered with birds. A man got off a boat and was walking toward them and that forced them to take off and move. It was an impressive sight.
The nearest major city is Truillo, the third largest city in Peru. The area is a major exporter of asparagus. And, in spite of being right on the water, they get virtually no rain. The guide on our excursion told us that at Chan Chan (more later), they get 1.2 millimeters of rain a year. I asked again to make sure. That is less than .1 inches per year of rain.
The Pope was visiting Peru just after we left and there were signs everywhere welcoming him. It must be a huge deal for the first South American pope to visit Peru.
Our first stop was Chan Chan, a major archeological site about 3 miles west of Truillo. Chan Chan was the capital historical empire of Chimor. It was about 20 square kilometers (about 8 square miles). The excavation we visited was one of the 9 palaces that were in the city. Chan Chan means sun sun. Given the lack of rainfall, it must be an appropriate name.
Below are a couple of pictures from the palace.
Close up of the walls showing fish net carvings. The rooms of the palace.
The walls were decorated with intricate carvings. A ceremonial plaza.
After the visit to Chan Chan we went to a temple of the dragon or rainbow (it wasn’t quite clear to us) The temple was a very sacred place and only a select few could enter it after a month with no food and no sex. And, a seemingly minor issue compared to not wearing shoes. In the photo below you can see a rainbow motif and the head of a dragon eating something. Carvings like this were all around the base of the pyramid structure of the temple.
It was Sunday afternoon and the beach near our ship was jammed with people. From the terrain behind the beach you can see they don’t get any rain. The green areas are all irrigated from the river.