Trujillo Overview

By Tammy Portnoy

If you try to picture Trujillo, imagine something out of Star Wars or a South American Egpyt — somewhere vast and consuming but with galaxies of history represented in pyramids look a lot like ancient sandcastles.

The Spanish founded Trujillo in 1534, but, while there, it’ll be obvious that people had been living there for a long time before that. Peru’s third largest city has a population of more than 800,000, and it doesn’t have a whole boatload to offer in addition to the ancient ruins, aside from some interesting boats.

Besides that the key exports from Trujillo are shoes, rice and asparagus, the main thing to know about the area is that it is a World Heritage Site because of the popular archeological sites of the ancient Moche and the Chimu cultures. Some say that the elaborate pyramid-like constructions, Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol, of the Moche (100-800 A.D.) are second only to Machu Picchu for ruins left in South America by ancient civilizations. More famous than the ruins left by the Moche is what is known as Chan Chan, the largest pre-Colombian city in South America that was created by the Chimus (850-1470 A.D.).Chan Chan is big. It used to house more than 30,000 people, we’re talking giant-ific, like possibly the largest adobe city ever.

After Chan Chan, Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol have been crossed off the Trujillo traveler’s checklist, take a walk around the town. There is a nice contrast of greenery against buildings and a good mix of historical with modern. The main plaza, Plaza de las Armas, is a great representation of just how colorful the city can be.

In addition to city life, check out Peru’s most famous surfing beach about 70 km. away from Trujillo, known as Huanchaco. It is a beautiful place to chill out for the day. The beach is known for the fishermen who build boats out of reeds and literally surf the boats when bringing the already-built boats back into shore — the surf is that good. It doesn’t hurt that the shore is covered with vendors selling unique, yet yummy, food.

NOTE: Keep an eye out for the hairless dogs that are typical to the area. These funny-looking dogs were vital to the ancient civilizations. Apparently they are now endangered and you also can use them as hot water bottles, since their blood is so warm.