Memories of Trujillo (II)

1.- On this scenery, there is a hive of people ready for the daily struggle, to fight in what they call «the informal economy«. Tourists feel safe in the historic center, but they also know perfectly well when they are losing their aura of security. I went with Pedro, a good friend and taxi driver, around the industrial outskirts of the capital. I saw signs of progress in the neat uniforms of those workers handling heavy materials and walking near powerful trucks. Actually, there are few factories compared to the number of warehouses and logistic areas that accumulate the fruits of the green revolution that has taken place in recent years in the region (avocados, blueberries…). There is a bus station -with a strict security barrier- from where trips depart for the whole of Peru. Its name is the “Terminal Terrestre de Trujillo”.

2.-In the universities, a cheerful young crowd is trying to thrive. It is the handful of a popular or middle class that is making its way (there are some big private universities and the public university that is the “mother” of all others). I visited the rich neighborhoods, too. The difference is great, certainly, but not all of them are closed and one could link different worlds by walking around. In a beautiful square, I saw the monument to César Vallejo. A quote from Ciro Alegría about the poet:

            «Remembering him, I always had the impression that he would be making a hard journey as an artist and a man loaded with sorrows and distances».

3.- In terms of tourism, the Trujillo area is focused on the exploitation of the pre-Inca cultures. For example, the impressive site of «Huacas del Sol y de la Luna» explains the Moche culture. The truncated pyramid and its cumulated layers are amazing. Above all, I loved what we could call «the Sistine Chapel of the Moche culture«.

Source:xxx.

They indeed try to exaggerate the story of the human sacrifices, but the truth is that this tragedy only happened approximately every twenty or thirty years, in situations of communal catharsis and rethinking of relations with nature and divinity. In addition to this people, other cultures succeeded one another on the territory, until the superior Inca empire.

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