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Our Peruvian staff prepares three meals a day, six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Breakfast consists of juice, coffee, tea (regular and herb teas), fruit, yogurt, fresh baked bread, jams, and butter. After breakfast, students pack their lunches for the day: sandwiches (meats or cheese with avocado), hard-boiled eggs, fruit, crackers, chips, and cookies. Dinners are typical Peruvian cooking and usually consist of three courses and fruit juice. The first course is either soup or salad. Some common main courses are lomo saltado (stir fried beef and vegetables), aji de gallina (chicken in a cheese and chile sauce), fish in various sauces such as ajo de mojo (a garlic sauce) or chorrillana (a tomato, chile, and onion sauce), and stewed duck (a north coast specialty). For those who wish to give it a try, guinea pig is available. The main course is served with white rice or potatoes or both. Peruvian food is not even remotely like Mexican food, so banish all thoughts of tacos, burritos, and enchiladas. It is similar to Cuban, Puerto Rican, or Spanish cooking. Vegetarian meals are available for those who wish to fight 3 million years of evolution. Dessert is served with dinner a few times a week. The project has a staff washes the dishes. You won’t have housekeeping chores.
Cooks preparing burgers and fires for the 4th of July cookout Brian at the grill
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View of Huanchaco Caballitos de Totora in Huanchaco
FREE TIME
After dinner is free time. Socializing, reading, the beach, music, TV, and night clubs are the main options for after-hours entertainment. Be sure to bring some paperbacks and music. The ocean is too cold for swimming. Some students take surfing lessons, which include the board and body suit. Huanchaco is a quiet beach resort and fishing village with a population of about 20,000. June and July are the off season for tourism; it‘s the Peruvian winter from April through September.
Students at Chan Chan, the Chimu capital, AD 1000 to 1460
On Saturday we have tours of major archaeological sites in the valley. We definitely do NOT leave at 7:00. Rather we generally leave around mid morning and spend a few hours touring a site. We usually eat lunch on the tours. Sunday is free time. Weekends are a good time to check out Trujillo. The city was founded in 1535. Much of early Spanish architecture is still preserved in the center of the city. Mayorista, a sprawling market near the center of town, also is worth a visit. Theaters in Trujillo show current US movies in English with Spanish subtitles, and there are clubs with live music. Buses and colectivos (vans) run every 15 or 20 minutes between Huanchaco. One way fare is about 10 or 20 cents. A taxi ride costs a couple bucks. At the end of the field school we will travel to Cajamarca, a historic town in the mountains, seven hours by bus from Huanchaco.
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End of the field season trip to Cajamarca
Countryside outside of Cajamarca
Students stay at the Hostal Huankarute in Huanchaco. Students share double or triple rooms with private baths and hot showers (Don't expect there to be hot all of the time. It's Peru.). The hotel is on the beach. Meals are prepared and served at the hotel by the field school cooking staff. We also rent a house in Huanchaco for graduate students and lab space. You will NOT need to bring bedding or towels. These are provided by the hotel.
You can make only collect or calling card calls from the hotel. Calls can be very expensive if you don’t have a special rate. For example, the standard rate is over $2.00 per minute. Special calling plans can be arranged in the US. You should be able to get rates as low as 35 cents for collect calls and calling card calls to your home number. You can use the calling card from any phone by dialing the access code. ATT, Sprint and MCI offer special plans. If you will be calling or receiving a lot of calls, these plans will save you a bundle. People who wish to call you in Peru should look into special rate plans.
Buying international phone cards in Peru is the cheapest way of calling home. These pre-paid calling cards sell for as little as 10 cents a minute in Peru.Email is the best way to stay in touch. There are several internet cafés in Huanchaco. Email access is less than a buck for an hour. Yahoo, Hotmail, or other email accounts can be accessed by going to their web sites, just like in the U.S. University email accounts can be difficult to access in Peru. You should have your university email account forwarded to your Yahoo, or whatever, account while you are in Peru. Unfortunately, accessing your UNC web email account in Peru is very slow.
Mail is not recommended. You can have letters sent to Correo Central, Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru (that's general delivery) or the Hostal Huankarute, Huanchaco, La Libertad. However, letters take 10 to 14 days to reach Peru.
The Huanchaco has good, cheap laundry services. They charge by the kilo. Probably 5 to 10 bucks a week should cover you unless you go through a lot of cloths. You should bring enough clothing to go one week without washing cloths. Bring some warm cloths for evenings and nights. Huanchaco is cool and damp in the summer.
The lab house have CD and MP3 players, although the selection of CDs is limited. You should definitely bring down some CDs or MP3s.
Peruvian electric current is 220 volts, not the US 110. You'll need to buy a converter (available at Radio Shack) to run any electrical gadgets you bring down. Batteries are readily available.
The project will provide an abundant supply of purified drinking water; tap water is not safe for drinking. Soft drinks (all the major brands) and beer can be purchased at local stores. The drinking age in Peru is 18.
Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu Empire (A.D. 1000 to 1470) is located between Huanchaco and Trujillo. The urban core covers about 3 square miles. See various articles in "Chan Chan: a Desert Andean City" (edited by Moseley and Day) for information on the site.The site of Moche, the capital of the Moche Sate (A.D. 200 to 700). Huaca del Sol is the largest adobe mound in the New World, constructed from 140 million adobe bricks and Huaca de la Luna has extraordinary painted murals. See Theresa Topic's article in "Chan Chan: a Desert Andean City."
Cerro Oreja, a large pre-Moche urban center with an massive pyramid, located on the steep slopes of a massive hill. It’s a long strenuous climb to the pyramid but you are rewarded with a great view of the valley.
Galindo, the Late Moche phase capital. The site consists of several square kilometers of ceremonial compounds, elite and commoner households. Part of the site is surrounded by massive fortifications.
El Brujo. A Moche urban and ceremonial center in the Chicama Valley, 30 miles to the north. Excavations at El Brujo have exposed elaborate painted abode friezes (molded adobe murals).
