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Peru’s northern coastline is blessed with a year-round mild climate
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and perfect sets of rolling waves.
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It’s also home to the picturesque colonial city of Trujillo.
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Yet, there is another, much more fascinating reason why you should visit…
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Almost two thousand years ago,
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the first settlers of the Moche Valley
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achieved the seemingly impossible with their bare hands.
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They created
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Farmland in the desert…
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fishermen’s rafts that could surf the waves…
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fine jewelry crafted from crude metals…
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and entire cities out of mud.
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From the treasure trove of ruins in these sand-swept desert plains,
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it’s clear that the Peruvians developed impressive agricultural,
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architectural and artistic insights long before the Europeans arrived.
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When the Spanish did come,
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they swiftly created one of Peru’s finest and largest cities: Trujillo.
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Exploring its compact city center is like browsing an open-air museum
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of Spanish colonial architecture.
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Everywhere you go, you’ll pass colorful mansions,
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adorned with tall window grilles and enclosed wooden balconies.
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For more than 400 years,
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the exterior of the Cathedral on the northern end
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of the Plaza de Armas has remained largely unchanged.
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Step inside to see precious religious paintings
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and admire the cathedral’s central altarpiece with its twisting columns.
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From the Historic Centre,
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it’s only a short taxi ride to the seventeenth-century mansion
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of Trujillo’s Archaeological Museum.
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Its exhibits paint a picture of the pre-Columbian peoples of northern Peru.
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The fascinating pieces they left behind
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help us piece together their story.
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Start your tour of the region’s famous ruins at the Temples of the Sun and the Moon.
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Made from millions of sun-dried bricks,
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these were once the largest adobe pyramids in the world.
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While the language of the Moche people has been lost,
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we can interpret their habits and beliefs through their
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elaborate murals and brilliantly expressive artworks.
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They were warriors who sacrificed their rivals to appease the gods.
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Yet, their pottery shows there was also harmony in their fierce existence.
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Like the Egyptians, the Moche buried their elite in pyramids.
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See one of the world’s most mysterious mummies at the coastal site of El Brujo where,
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as recent as 2005, the Lady of Cao was discovered.
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The tomb of this tattooed Moche woman also held copper darts and jewelry,
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suggesting that she was a priestess or warrior leader.
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It’s believed that relentless El Niño rains caused the demise of the Moche culture.
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By the time the Chimú people arrived,
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around 900 A.D, the landscape had returned to arid coast.
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Like the Moche, the Chimú cultivated reed to make fishing rafts
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and used the clay and minerals from the river valley
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for for their building bricks and decorations.
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Visit their capital,
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Chan Chan,
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to explore what was once the largest adobe city in the Americas.
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Follow the city’s maze of corridors to central courtyards,
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which were decorated with fishnet patterns and animal reliefs.
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In the late fifteenth century,
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the Incas came and assimilated the Chimú culture into their own.
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Less than 60 years later, the Spanish followed, determined to conquer the New World.
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These “Conquistadors” stripped the temples and tombs of gold and artifacts
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and created a new city, which they named Trujillo.
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They also introduced the pure-bred Paso Horse to the region.
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World-famous for its gait, it has what the locals call “brio”:
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a mixture of nobility, pride and fire.
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These characteristics proved a perfect match for the spirited Peruvians
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from the northern desert and together they perform the Marinera,
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a show of elegant seduction and fierce resistance.
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With its long history of resilient people,
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Trujillo was the first Peruvian city to proclaim independence from Spain in 1820,
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an event that is commemorated by the Freedom Monument on the central Plaza de Armas.
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One of South America’s revolutionary heroes, the liberator Simón Bolívar,
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stayed at Casa Urquiaga, which is open to visitors.
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Colonial architecture, ancient art and pyramid temples,
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combined with proud Latino traditions,
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have made Trujillo “the Peruvian Capital of Culture.”
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Like an oasis in the desert,
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discovering Trujillo is replenishing for both the body and soul.
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It’s refreshing to see that from these barren grounds,
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such creativity can sprout.