Trujillo is the capital of the region of La Libertad on the northern coast, and is the third largest city in Peru after Lima and Arequipa. This is where the Moche and Chimú civilizations developed between 200B.C. and 700A.D. Its year-round pleasant climate has earned it the title of “Capital of the Eternal Spring”. It has wonderful beaches, including the famous Huanchaco, which are sometimes venues for international surfing competitions. Fishermen still use reed canoes called “Caballitos de Tortora”, made the same way for thousands of years.
Category: "Modern Peru"
San Martín and Peruvian Independence
It was from this balcony in Huaura that in 1820 General Jose de San Martín first declared Peruvian independence from Spain.
Mesa Redonda Fire
The Mesa Redonda fire of the 29th December 2001, just two days before New Year caused deaths in the hundreds. Now, almost six years on, an almost identical tragedy was narrowly avoided, showing that no lessons had been learned.The Mesa Redonda shopping district in downtown Lima was jam-packed full of people, as it normally was, but more so now in the height of shopping season.
Tondero Piurano
The prolonged wait for spring to arrive in Lima has had me thinking of Piura, a sun-drenched paradise rich in creole culture.
The video below is of the famous Tondero dance of Piura.
Poor people, Historic buildings
I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that in Peru the poor are the ones who live in the oldest, most historic and most culturally valuable buildings in the country, and in some cases most of South America.
It’s still strange to me that some of the most run-down, rough and poorest neighbourhoods are also the oldest, and that they are falling apart and no-one seems to care.
What’s strange to Peruvians, especially those who live in these buildings that can be hundreds of years old, is that in most other countries these buildings would be snapped up by the richest of the rich and be worth millions if not tens of million of dollars.
Antioquia
As part of the series Explorando Lima, in which I demonstrate the immense diversity that Peru has to offer without even leaving the region of Lima, I visit Antioquia, a town that brightened its future with a lick of paint.
Earliest Gun Shot Victim in the New World
Puruchuco, the site in Ate I visited not so long ago, has turned up yet more spectacular finds. In the Inca cemetery not far from the ruins in which 2500 mummies have been excavated, archaeologists uncovered what appeared to be a skeleton with a Spanish musket ball hole in the back of its skull. The traces of iron in the skull, from which Spanish muskets balls were made, seems to confirm this.
Dating of artefacts buried alongside the bodies allowed them to date the burials to an extraordinary time – about one year after the Spanish had founded the city of Lima.
Piura
The city of Piura in the region of the same name was a pleasant surprise – I had never been here before. It was clean, vibrant and with all the shops you’d find in Lima and not to mention sunny all year-round. It’s a place I wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time in.
Peru and Ecuador: Border Conflicts
The northern Peruvian border has long been a problem for both countries – from as far back as 1828 when land disputes sparked a war between with what was then Gran Colombia and Peru.
Puruchuco
The Inca palace of Puruchuco is one of the most impressive ruins in Lima and is one of the best restored and the first to have been done so properly. It can be found seated at the foot of a cerro in the district of Ate, at the start of the Andes mountain range.
Electric Train
During Alan García’s first term, in which he destroyed the country’s economy and fled to France with untold millions, his Government began a project to build Lima’s first mass transit system. The project failed and $400 million disappeared into an abyss. Now, with only a few kilometres of the electric train system constructed, there is talk of
finishing it.
Rimac
Cerro San Cristobal overlooks the historic district of Rimac, the other side of the river from the city centre. Never a very wealthy district, it’s first inhabitants were the indigenous from the region, the black population and the poor of the Spanish immigrant community. It became one of the most vibrant parts of the city and the centre for Lima’s entertainment – so much so that the rich of Lima often frequented it’s creole bars and restaurants, not forgetting its bullring. By the 18th it was the bastion of creole culture in Peru and the centre for the arts, music and food. Now with its buildings on the verge of collapse and memories of the Limeños of old fading, it was time to visit this important part of Lima’s history.
![Peru’s Panettone Is Fake, Says Italy [Featured]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2690344520_b3f4aa62c5_m.jpg)
