Trujillo, Peru - Moche and Chimu

From Mancora, we took an 8 hour bus ride to Trujillo, then we visited the Huaca de la Luna and del Sol by the Moche and the Chan Chan by the Chimu, and took a night bus to Huaraz on the same day.

There wasn't much in Trujillo so there was no point in staying overnight.

The Huaca de la Luna and del Sol by the Moche was built around AD600 and the Chan Chan by the Chimu was built around AD1300. To be honest, after seeing all the ruins in Mexico, these ruins in Trujillo were rather disappointing.

Of course, I understand many ruins are reconstructions but for that very same reason, I expected to see...something. Since both the Huaca de la Luna and del Sol and the Chan Chan were built by mud, sand and clay, whenever it rains, everything gets washed away. They looked rather like a huge pile of sand in a construction site to me.

It's heart breaking when you see how big the sites are, they were massive and possibly bigger than Palenque in Mexico. But mother nature hasn't been kind. It made me sad to see that what once was a great empire is now a fallen and destroyed site with nothing but piles of sand.

Mexico City - the City of Surprises

I must admit I was a bit skeptical about Mexico City before we came. We were struggling with what to do with 3 full days as we thought it was a shit hole with lots of theft and kidnapping, we couldn't be more stupid.

Mexico City is surprisingly safe, there were police at almost every corner and the streets were fully lit up. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico which was right next to Zocalo, the heart of Mexico City.

Next to the Zocalo square is the Catedral Metropolitana, a magnificent cathedral built in 1573 and took about 260 years to build, if you are not going anywhere, you must at least visit this incredible cathedral. Then there are the Palacio Nacional (we thought it was really boring but everyone says it's a must see), Temple Mayor where the Aztec thought was the center of the universe and where lots of human sacrifice took place.

Other places such as Plaza Santo Domingo, Alameda Central (created in late 1500), Palacio De Bellas Artes (splendid whit marble building), Palacio Postal and much more were just within walking distance.

Everywhere you go, there is music, people singing or dancing, lovebirds kissing and gorgeous old buildings. We were so surprised at how much Mexico City as to offer.

And of course, you can't visit Mexico City without making a trip to Teotihuacan which houses the Pyramid of the Sun (third largest pyramid in the world) and the Pyramid of the

Moon. From our guidebook it says they were built in AD 100 to 300 but our guide told us the were there at 200 BC, I believe our local guide.

Lastly, we took the metro to Chapultepec, one of the largest urban parks in the world. It houses the National Museum of Anthropology (it's as good as NYC museum, seriously) and the Castillo De Chapultepec which began construction in 1785, it's a beautiful building and I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

Yes, you read it, we took the bloody METRO!!! That's how comfortable it was for us in Mexico City! I think people should give this gorgeous city more credit and I am so glad we spent at least 3 full days here!

I still can't upload photos on my blog via iPad but the photos are on facebook ;)

Gotta go now, we will be heading off to Oaxaca City tomorrow. x