Trujillo was different from every other Peruvian city I visited. The streets were quieter, the people in less of a hurry. In place of grand colonial buildings were smaller, brightly colored ones. In the middle of the town square was an odd statue of a man with a torch, his skirt blowing up over his legs like Marilyn Monroe's in that famous photo. (Then again, considering that there was a statue of a mototaxi in the town square of Juliaca and an ear of corn in Machamacha, I don't know why I'm surprised).

    We knew we weren't going to stay long. Liz had to get to Quito for her return flight, and I thought I was making my way back to Chile. We came for the archaelogy. Trujillo has been the capital of several ancient empires, and we wanted to see what remained. The highlight of our visit was the Temple of the Moon, a relic of the Moche civilization (which neither of us had ever heard of). From the outside, it wasn't impressive -- just a pile of sand and bricks slowly sinking into the desert. With a sigh, we trudged up the path. Neither of us had much time to waste, and if this didn't turn out to be cool, we'd be annoyed. We shouldn't have worried. The temple is a working archaeological dig site, and the archaeologists' sense of discovery was contagious. Most of the walls were no more than piles of collapsing bricks, but that only made the few remaining paintings and statues seem more precious. In broken English, our enthusiastic guide pointed out pits where human sacrifice victims had been found. Although we barely understood what he was saying, his excitement brought the whole place to life. Even the dullest piles of bricks had a purpose. He could explain exactly what kind of offerings had been left where and how each wall had been built. Our last image of the temple was a staircase, almost perfectly intact, leading into the sand. Archaeologists hope to excavate that part of the temple soon. I'll have to go back to Trujillo some day to find out where it leads.

~Meredith