Back into the Mountains

Well friends. In an hour I will be on the bus back into the mountains. Cajamarca to be precise, in search for more ruinas :-)

Yesterday I had a kind of Egypt feeling while visiting the Moche and Chimu ruins around Trujillo, Las Huecas (5th cent) and Chan Chan (12th cent) respectively. (I will explain more of the ´culturas de Peru´ later). Most of the coast of Peru is desert area with small rivers coming from the mountains to make things a bit more livable.
Anyway, I remember my days alone (after Karin had left) in Egypt, wading through the deserts and oases from temple to temple and pyramid to pyramid. I loved it ! And although the monuments are less impressive, I still got that same ´adventurer in the desert´ feeling here.
And there was hardly anyone else around. I love traveling out of season !
I ended the day at the coast in the seaside resort of Huanchaco, watching the fishermen get their stuff out of the waters as they did in Chimu times.

But Trujillo did not grow on me. Possibly because of the crappy hotel. And I`m too lazy to move hotels, so I`ll move towns. There is some stuff here still to see, but I might do it on the way back from my ´north loop´.

Certainly the most curious thing I have seen here, is Señor Casinelli`s museum. Señor Casinelli spent the last 50 years of his life collecting ancient pottery from the cultures of nothern Peru. He has a little basement behind a petrol station crammed full of the most amazing pottery, from Chavìn to Inca times (1200 bc to 1500 ad). He stands at the door himself, shaking your hand firmly when you come in and guiding you through his collection with tremendous enthusiasm. I think the man is 80 years old. Amazing !

What a contrast to the old man and woman of the shop I pass going back to the hotel every time. They have a small grocery shop which abound in Peru (and across the non-western world), but I have never seen anyone in the shop. I only see them sitting together, not talking, and staring in front of them waiting for death to take them almost.
I can imagine them in better times when they put their savings in the shop and they were the proud focal point of the neighbourhood. But times moved on, new shops opened, more modern shops with more to choose from. The children did not want to take it over and they left town.
The man looks me in the eye every time I pass it, possibly hoping I would come in. There is no pride left in his face. Sad ...

Ok, no more for now. I need to catch the bus. Foggy greetings from Trujillo !