The lost world of ancient civilisations (From The Bolton News)

The lost world of ancient civilisations

4:50pm Saturday 16th January 2010 in

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The Peruvian city of Trujillo was coming to life as we arrived at its main square early in the morning.

It felt vaguely familiar, reminiscent of a southern European plaza. This was no surprise, given the enduring legacy of the Spanish conquistadors more than 180 years on.

The colourful architecture around the Plaza de Armas was distinctly colonial, complete with Spanish balconies and an 18th century cathedral.

While southern Peru attracts a stream of gap-year travellers and package tour groups, the north of the South American country remains unconquered by the mass market.

That’s part of the charm. The relative absence of fellow travellers makes you feel as if you’ve wandered off the beaten track and into the real thing.

If you come straight to Trujillo from Lima (just over an hour’s flight away), the first thing you notice is the change in pace. The busy, noisy capital seems a million miles away from this laid-back city, Peru’s third-most populous.

We checked into the Libertador on the main square, a perfect base for exploring some of the area’s history.

Not colonial history — that’s still comparatively recent — and not Inca history, either. We’re talking pre-Incan, the civilisations you don’t tend to learn about in British schools.

Heard much about the Moche? I hadn’t, and yet they’re every bit as fascinating as the Incas or the Aztecs.

And it was just a few miles outside Trujillo that they left two of their finest pyramids.

The Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna (temples of the sun and moon) lie just off the road on desert-like terrain.

Both were built for ceremonial purposes by the Moche around 500 AD and the one open for public viewing, the Huaca de la Luna, is revelatory.

Walls are covered in intricate friezes whose faded paint tells of a bloodthirsty people big on human sacrifice and in thrall to their god Ai Apaec — a terrifying half-human, half-feline figure. So much remains intact that walking around the inside of the pyramid is like stumbling upon the ruins of a hidden kingdom.

Besides the murals, the many ceramics that the Moche bequeathed to Peru are another tantalising peek into this lost world.

While many examples are on display at the local museums near the archaeological sites in the north, the best collection is probably the one in Lima’s Larco Museum.

This includes a mind-boggling array of erotic pottery, which the Moche excelled at fashioning.

After a morning in the desert, we were ready for a breath of sea air, so we headed to the nearby Huanchaco beach resort.

We ate ceviche and drank pisco sour (the obligatory Peruvian fare) and took a stroll along the beach to see the unusual reed fishing rafts for which the town is famous.

Stacked up against the sea wall, they resembled giant winkle-pickers. The fishermen sit astride these vessels, known as caballitos (little horses), and fling their catch into the hollowed-out part of the boats. The adventurous can accompany a fisherman for the ride during peak season.

After lunch, it was time for more history. We drove across the dry, barren landscape to another crumbling kingdom: Chan Chan, the imperial city built by another Peruvian people, the Chimu.

Succeeding the Moche, this lot built their capital around 850 AD. Chan Chan is the largest adobe city, consisting of a sprawling maze of courtyards and small enclosures. Fringed by the sea on one side and mountains on the other, it stands as the edifice of a civilisation buffered by the elements. Remnants of the decor remain in the form of friezes and moulded motifs on the walls.

There is much more to see in the region in the way of ruins, but the north has other attractions besides history.

Craving some mindless relaxation, we headed up the coast to Mancora, which is already on the backpackers’ trail but the surrounding area remains undeveloped. The town itself is a lively little place, with the action concentrated along a main strip of bars, restaurants and shops. We stayed a few miles away in the Vichayito Bungalows, perched on stilts on white sands amid the palms.

There is plenty of wildlife to enjoy too. On a boat trip around the coast, we were treated to numerous glimpses of a whale breaking through the water’and a large crowd of sea-lions lolling on a scaffold in the water. At the cove of Cabo Blanco, we dived off the boat to swim.

Writer Ernest Hemingway came here in the 1950s, and I don’t imagine it looked very different back then.