Devil Dogs in the Desert
We’re finally in Peru. Being the geographically challenged American that I am, I had no idea the north of Peru is mostly desert–serious desert. Arizona may be desert but there is a lot of vegetation compared to here. The bus ride after our border crossing from Ecuador led us through some spectacular barren landscape. Quite a shocking change after the beauty of the Andes.
The bus had the A/C running before we left, but I don’t think the locals expect A/C. As we were tooling along with all the windows open, the driver eventually shut it off so we could soak up the nice super-heated dry dusty desert air. They wouldn’t tell us to please close the windows because the air is running now would they? Not when the driver is in his nice personal frosty box up front and saving gas.
There are some surprising archaeological ruins in the north of Peru. We spent a couple of nights in the city of Chicalyo. Near the town of Chicalyo we toured the site and museum for the “Lord of Sipan.” This is a fairly recent discovery, with excavation of the site only about 20 years old. The museum had a truly incredible collection of gold artifacts. There were some great stories of tomb robbing and smuggling concerning some of the pieces. One particular piece we were shown was recovered by agents in Miami airport in a diplomat’s suitcase worth about $1.8 million. So much for his retirement investment.
We moved on to Trujillo, and decided to bunk down in the nearby beach town of Huanchaco. This is a really interesting “beach” town. The desert shelf drops off into the Pacific and this surf happy community just sits wedged between the desert and ocean.
We arrived during the chaos of the weekend and awoke the next day to what seems to be a ghost town and still is. This makes exploring the nearby ruins of Chan Chan really nice. There are very few tourists here–especially compared to ultra-popular sites like Machu Picchu. Chan Chan is massive and looks like a scene out of Star Wars… See any sand people in there?
Around most of these archaeological sites you can see this:
Never have I seen or heard of such strange looking dogs. Weirder still, I’ve only seen them around the archaeological sites which makes me suspect they were excavated from the tombs. They sure do look old enough. I dubbed them “devil dogs” because of this ingenious conclusion. They are known as “Peruvian hairless dogs” and won’t be winning any “Best of show” awards soon.
When I first saw one I thought it was some kind of very sick stray… like something out of a horror movie or a comic book. Thing is, they are really sweet tranquil dogs and don’t seem to pay you much attention unless you look like you might feed them–much like any dog (or me). Read a little more about them here.
gretchen said:
Very interesting dogs…. It made me think of Seinfeld, maybe the dingo ate your baby. Really I don’t know why, but thats what popped into this head o’ mine. How long are you guys in Peru? My friend Tito originates from there. If you need some hook ups let me know, his family is still there.
Gretch
jlynch319 said:
devil dogs huh?? now i get it! when you saw that first dog it was like you turned into whimpy, you pictured that dog with 2 chocolate buns around him because YOU WERE HUNGRY!! ah……….excuse me miss…………do you know where i can GET SOME KETCHUP??
and as far as the bus ride through northern peru, you just had to take the easy way out huh? most people do that trip by camel!! ……….GEEZ…………..SOME PEOPLE!!
WanderingSean said:
We don’t plan on spending much time in Peru, especially since our visa is up in 3 weeks.
I’m surprised I didn’t see a camel–the whole north coast is as barren as the sands of Arabia… I guess, I’ve never been to Arabia but I here they have good coffee beans… or is that Arabica?
Camels probably cost more than buses and I’m to cheap. I don’t want to have to go back to work sooner than necessary. Sorry to all our fans for taking the easy way out–I blame Dawn.