THE REVENGE OF THE CUYS

23rd of January-28th of January.

On Sunday I was very honored that David invited me to join a family outing. He wanted to take his sister, mom and aunt out to visit the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (the "pyramid" of the Sun and the Moon). I was very happy to tag along as I had been looking forward to visiting this archeological site for the past weeks.

The site is just South of the city of Trujillo, not too distant from the bed of the Moche river. At first sight the two Huacas appear to be nothing more than a pile of dust and sand. Natural erosion, conquistadores and the huaqueros ("tomb robbers") have robbed the impressive Moche temples of their former glory. The Moche are believed to have lived in this area around 100-900 a.C. Archeologists believe that the Huaca on the Northern side of the citadel had administrative purposes, whereas the one on the Southern side was a religious temple. Unfortunately the one on the Northern side (Huaca del Sol) was partially destroyed when the Spanish conquistadores deviated the course of the Moche river in a ridiculous attempt to find Gold. To date the Huaca del Sol hasn't really been investigated. Whereas the Huaca de la Luna is better conserved and has been analyzed by the specialists and is now open to the public.

Huaca del Sol, Moche city in the foreground and Trujillo in the background

We received a guided tour, conducted by a young trainee that thought I was a Limeño (inhabitant of Lima). Why, muchas gracias! The tour was interesting and the Huaca was amazing. It never ceases to amaze me how civilizations, Gods, religions, economies are created out of the blue and eventually decline and make place for the "next big thing", but we human beings are still here, still fighting wars, still creating religions, still painting pictures, still making music, etc., etc.

Me, David's Mom and Sister inside the Huaca de la Luna

The external wall of the Huaca de la Luna

Ai apaec, the main Moche God. This painting is most likely more than 1500 years old.

After visiting the Huaca we moved to the brand new museum dedicated to Huacas. The ceramics produced by the Moche were very impressive and there were lots of interesting additional bits of information concerning the city and way of life of the Moche. Eventually the Moche left the Huacas and their old God, moved to Chan Chan and decided to adore a new God. Then the Incas arrived and took over the show. But the Incas didn't last long: Mr. Francisco Pizarro (not Claudio, the Peruvian striker) arrived and conquered Peru in the name of the Spanish crown. And the rest is history.

View from the museum

Guy posing in what is supposedly a traditional Moche designer suit...

After visiting the museum we hiked across the desert to the closest restaurant where I tried my first ceviche. Ceviche is a local fish specialty, it is made with raw fish marinated in Lemon/Lime and several spices. It is rather delicious. Peruvians are very proud of their food,and they have reason to be: it is a creative fusion of cooking styles from South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. After eating the ceviche I was wondering why so many gringos have stomach problems... I hadn't had any problems whatsoever and I had been here for over a week eating everything... On Monday night I was going to experience a little punishment.

Our Sunday lunch. Tia Carmen doesn't like pictures as you can see.

After a nice Sunday I decided to head to Huanchaco feeling more upbeat than ever. So on Monday Billy and I headed out in the surf and ended up in the middle of a regional surf contest... oops.
I got pounded in the surf and got washed up on the beach like a drowned rat. Slowly I made my way to Trujillo to teach my English conversation class.

The jetty in Huanchaco

Surfer, the long left

Surfer heading out for the surf at mid tide on the sharp rocks. I look ridiculous when I try to do this.

La playa en Huanchaco

The locals claim that the Caballitos de Totora are the oldest surfboards in the world. Don't tell the Hawaiians.

Struggled to find a combi back to Trujillo and had to take a taxi back instead. My first student was running late so I needn't have worried. We had an interesting class. I finished the class and David was yelling my name in the background and saying that "we are waiting!". I had forgotten that I had promised him, Lola and Carla (two USDA volunteers) that I would give them Italian classes! So I had to improvise. I didn't do too bad, but I'll have to put more effort into the preparation of the classes. I enjoyed teaching Italian and realized how much I love my "other native language". After the class I cooked a variation of spaghetti alla carrettiera for everyone. I went to sleep and this is when the revenge of the Cuys happened. I couldn't sleep, I felt nauseous, the usual cacophony of taxis honking, people shouting, taxis reversing (they play the: LAMBADA), Cuys squeaking and rooster singing (you tell me: in what other country in the world does a rooster sing every five minutes all day and night long???!!!!). The nausea kept on escalating and soon enough I was running to the toilet not quite sure what side to start from if you understand what I mean. Now more then ever I cursed myself for wondering why everyone had stomach problems. I spent most of the night looking like a not so pretty version of the Trevi fountain... and have spent the past three days feeling pretty wretched. Today I am a human being again and thought it was time for me to update everyone back home on the great experiences and the not so great ones that I have been through in the past week.

Yesterday night I ventured out of the house with Billy, who is a nutritionist (as I think I might have mentioned in the past) and we headed to Huanchaco where he held a presentation on healthy eating and I translated into Spanish (!!!!). The purpose of the presentation was to see if it could be suitable for us to replicate it in front of children at a food shelter in one of the poor neighborhoods. Despite my precarious conditions we were a roaring hit and it was unanimously decided that this coming Sunday we will be helping out at the food shelter and doing another presentation for the children, to make sure their parents give them all the nutrients they need.

There is currently a big traditional dance festival going on here in Trujillo, so every couple of hours a large double-decker bus drives by with music glaring and two dancers dressed in the traditional Marinera robes.
I went to the supermarket yesterday and they had two people dancing around in the sports department and the music blaring.

I always thought that Italians had a fascination with all that is loud and colorful... maybe so, but Peruvians like it louder and even more colorful! Yay! Que chévere!

Two things I love about Peru that I forgot to tell you:
-at night it is not rare to see people set up a volleyball net across a busy street and play volleyball. If a car comes by they dismantle the net and promptly reassemble it. How practical!

-some taxis have amazing interior AND exterior lighting systems that make them look like moving discotheques! I wish we had taxis like this back home! Blue, red, green, intermittent, patterns, yellow,orange, pink, blink, blink, blink! Don't think the Swiss Road Vehicle Homologation Office would approve of tampering with the car's electrical system. What a shame.