I have been here for six weeks now, have an apartment, an (unpaid) job, and feel like part of the community, so it is time to share some details about regular life in Hunachaco.
Huanchaco is about 10 km from Trujillo, which is the 3rd largest city in Peru. In order to get to Trujillo, take a combi or bus (either
H, H-corazon, A, or B depending on where you want to go. It costs [posted price 1.50 soles/ legit price 1.20 soles, and sometimes price 1 sol]. With an exchange rate between s/2.75-s/3.25 to $1, it is pretty cheap, and not too intimidating once you figure out which bus goes where. These buses run from about 6am to 10pm. Before of after that you will have to take a taxi [up to s/20 and scarier if traveling alone, in my opinion]. It takes about 30 minutes of so to get to where you want to go in Trujillo on these buses. Luckily for me, the medical center in about a 10 block walk within Huanchaco [no transportation other than my own two feet needed], and I only go to Trujillo on Tuesdays [for cheap movie night], Wednesday and Saturday [for Fairmail] so I save a bit in transport fees.
Between Huanchaco and Trujillo, is Chan-Chan. Chan-Chan is ruins of a civilization [Chimu] older than the Incas. It is kinda neat how everything is made of baked sand [you know, this being the desert and all]. I only went to Chan-Chan for the first time last week. It would have been worse to have been here all this time, and never go.
I also went to Huacas del Sol and Huacas de la Luna with Emily, Emilie,
Corinna, and Cameron. The Huacas are even older than Chan-Chan and were constructed by the Mopiche civilization. They were, at one time, the largest construction projects in Pre-Colombian America [even larger than Chichen Itza or Tikal of the Mayan civilation]. Once again, all of this was built with dirt so while still impressive, it is not as impressive as it once was. [It kinda looks like a giant dirt pile, but with evidence that someone painted walls a really long time ago. [ I once wrote a really long and detailed paper of Pre-Colombian Art and Architecture so I am actually interested in this--I just don't want to get too technical.] The site where the Huacas are is still being excavated so who knows what else they will find there.
But back to Huanchaco. It really in a unique place, and almost every night we have incredible sunset such as this to enjoy. Check out the Huanchaco gallery for other photos of the city including surfing, caballeros, the church, and the old cemetery.
