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| Border Crossing |
Getting into Peru was "ok" ... we took an 8 hour night bus at 11pm and arrived at the border crossing at 3 a.m. We had to exit Ecuador (military checks etc) and walk across a bridge to Peru. There we woke up the border official in order to get our immigration forms. He was not happy to be woken up at that time but tough going ! I had to explain again where Mauritius is, that it is not Morocco nor Mauritania but that it is another real country ... We were stuck there for 1 hour as some older folks needed help to fill in the forms.
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| Northern Peru has a lot of deserts |
Anyway we arrived in Piura at 8 a.m. and decided to take the express (4 hours) bus to Trujillo. Northen Peru is a lot of deserts - don't want to be stranded here.We wanted to visit two archeological sites nearby : Huacas del Sol y la Luna and Chan Chan.
The people who lived there were the Moche and the Chimú. Those sites were really amazing especially when you realise that both the Moches and the Chimús knew so much about the tides, the sea current, astrology, meteorology and seismology.
They built pyramids that did not budge for the last 2000 years during which time the Spanish town of Trujillo 5km away was completely destroyed several times in only 5 centuries. How ? They used an array of construction techniques to absorb and mitigate shocks, stresses, strains and torsions. Great civil engineers.
They also knew everything about the Humbolt and El Niño sea currents and of their implications on regional weather and fish migratory patterns. They knew exactly how to explain atmospheric phenomena such as fluctuations in air pressure, the optical prism (occurrence of a rainbow), etc. They had lunar calendars to guide them out to sea to fish when the tides would be the most favourable and fish more plentiful.
The Chimus built, Chan Chan the biggest city in South America in pre-Columbian times. For about 700 years this city stayed the biggest in South America with about 20km². It was conquered by the Inca in 1470 ...
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| Business is slow ... |
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| Snapped at an art exhibition |
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| Still slow the next day ... |
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| This race of dog has been declared a National Peruvian Treasure - it's body can reach 43°C |
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| Bouillon Crabe anyone ? |
The people who lived there were the Moche and the Chimú. Those sites were really amazing especially when you realise that both the Moches and the Chimús knew so much about the tides, the sea current, astrology, meteorology and seismology.
HAHA! Please buy something from the poor lady with the cart!! HAHAHA!!
ReplyDeleteHey Ceci, I wanted to but impossible to wake her up !
ReplyDelete