SALAVERRY—CHAN CHAN—CHIMBOTE—THE HUAILAS VALLEY
=Salaverry=, 66 miles from Pacasmayo, is usually reached during the
night. At this port a few tourists may be tempted to disembark, perhaps
with two objects in view; one to visit the ancient city of Chan Chan,
the flourishing city of Trujillo, and the great sugar plantations of the
valley; the other, for the purpose of transferring to the _caletero_
boat, in order to land at Chimbote or Samanco, thence to visit the
Huailas Valley to admire its magnificent scenery, including the peerless
Huascarán. By taking at Panama the Sunday steamer (fortnightly) of the
Peruvian Line, one may land at Chimbote or Samanco without change.
Salaverry, with one or two hundred houses on the desert shore, is a port
merely, near a bold bluff which helps to make a fair harbor. A great
quantity of sugar from the Chicama and Santa Catalina Valleys is the
chief export.
=Trujillo=, eight miles by rail from the harbor, is a pretty city of
10,000 people. Founded by Pizarro in 1535 near the ruined capital of the
Grand Chimu, it is one of the most aristocratic of Peruvian cities.
First among these to proclaim independence, December 22, 1820, the
Department received from Bolívar the name La Libertad. Trujillo
possesses a pretty shaded plaza, fashionable for the evening promenade,
several convents, and interesting churches, one of which, the San
Augustín, is noteworthy on account of the excellent carving and rich
gilding of the pulpit and high altar. It has a hospital, a university, a
club, a hippodrome, a theater, and three daily papers; also, most
important to the traveler, a respectable but far from luxurious hotel
providing rooms, while fair meals may be procured at a Chinese
restaurant close by.
=Sugar Estates.= Well worth a visit are the splendid sugar estates up
the Chicama Valley, _Casa Grande_, _Roma_, _Cartavio_, and others. The
first, an hour by rail from Trujillo, is said to be the largest sugar
plantation in the world, containing a total population of 11,000,
one-fourth of which is engaged in labor in the fields or mills. This
valley, which in the time of the Grand Chimu supported a great
population, was in the last century almost a barren desert up to 1873,
when a German visiting the valley discovered the ancient irrigating
canal, bought up land, and soon made the desert blossom as the rose.
This valley produces more sugar than the entire island of Porto Rico,
sugar of the finest quality. In the temperate, equable climate, the cane
all along the coast matures early, is unusually rich in sugar, and may
be cut all the year around. It may be raised at a profit if sold at 1½
cents a pound. The estates have the best of machinery, and expert
managers who employ the latest and the most approved methods. Churches,
schools, and hospitals are provided. The dwellings of the proprietors
and superintendents contain most of the conveniences and luxuries of
modern life, including telephones. The annual export of sugar from
Salaverry amounts to 50,000 tons, and from Huanchacho near by to half as
much more. Within 30 miles of Salaverry are also rich copper and silver
mines, far more accessible than those on the plateau region above, and
with a more agreeable climate. Their development on a large scale will
not long be delayed.
=Chan Chan.= The tourist who is not a possible investor or looking after
commercial interests may rather turn his attention to the great ruins
north of Trujillo on the road to the small seaport, Huanchacho. Every
one interested in antiquities should visit the ruins of Chan Chan, the
largest and most important of the dead cities on our western coast. For
a good pedestrian it is a moderate walk from Trujillo, though a horse
may well serve the majority. Here the Grand Chimu once ruled over the
twenty northern valleys of the Peruvian coast, from Tumbes on the north
to Supe, well towards the Rimac valley on the south. Here was a
civilization entirely distinct from that of the Incas, unhappily
overthrown by them some four generations before the Conquest by Pizarro.
A fertile plain 90 miles long was watered from three rivers by a
remarkable system of irrigation. An aqueduct tapping the Muchi River
high up in the mountains carried water across the valley on an
embankment 60 feet high. Remains of a great reservoir between Trujillo
and Casa Grande indicate a capacity, of two billion cubic feet of water.
The city itself, open to the sea, was protected on the east from land
invaders by a thick and lofty wall extending for miles along its
borders. That it was at last compelled to succumb to the Incas is
believed to be because these succeeded in diverting the water supply.
The site of Chan Chan, once probably the largest city in the New World,
with an area of fifty or sixty square miles, is now a melancholy
spectacle. What ruthless destruction has been wrought! What loss to the
human race, through the overthrow of ancient civilization, again and
again followed by relapses into partial or complete barbarism and
toilsome progress upward! Will people ever learn to moderate their greed
for wealth and power, and suffer others to dwell in peace after their
own fashion!
For a cursory or careful inspection of the ruins a guide should be
employed, as wandering at random one may miss or fail to understand the
most important remains. In the labyrinth of walls with various
enclosures containing numerous buildings, an immense mound is an
occasional feature. One built of stone and rubble, 150 feet high, called
Obispo, covers an area of 500 square feet. To the casual observer the
design would not be obvious. Originally the mounds were in terraces,
upon which buildings were erected with various passages leading to store
rooms or burial chambers in the interior. With gardens around their base
a splendid effect must have been created. The Spaniards early searched
these mounds for treasure, with great success. From one called the
Toledo three million dollars are said to have been taken; from the
entire city $15,000,000. A broad lower mound proved to be a cemetery,
where in niches were found mummies in elaborate garments of fine cotton
adorned with gold and silver. In the center is a structure doubtless for
the performance of the funeral rites.
The great palace of the Chimu enclosed a large hall 100 by 52½ feet. Its
walls, containing a series of niches, were covered between with stucco
relief work in arabesque patterns. Two structures of unusual form are
believed to be factories. Arranged around a square which had a reservoir
in the center were twenty-two recesses, probably for shops. Opening on
smaller courts and passages were one hundred and eleven rooms, probably
workshops for artificers in gold, silver, and bronze, and for designers,
dyers, potters, and weavers. Wonderful ornaments of gold and silver have
been found, fine textile fabrics, and most remarkable, the pottery,
white, black, and pale red, which in immense quantities has been taken
from the mounds called _huacas_, a name applied also to the objects. On
the various specimens of this ceramic ware is portrayed every kind of
fish, bird, mammal, and fruit, with which they were acquainted, also
human beings, some in portraits, others as caricatures. There are groups
engaged in war dances, in harvesting, and in other occupations. Some
specimens of the pottery are said to be equal to any which has been
fashioned, from the best days of ancient Greece up to the present time.
Near the banks of the river Muchi at the south, stood a temple to the
moon called Si An, where important religious ceremonies and processions
took place.
Evidently the Grand Chimu was a powerful monarch with a magnificent
court, ruling over subjects who lived in comfort. Their language,
Mochica, is little known, as the race is practically extinct. When
conquered by the Incas they were neither destroyed nor robbed of all
their wealth. It was Pizarro and his followers who, though amazed at the
greatness and beauty of the edifices, wantonly robbed and persecuted the
inhabitants until the country was laid waste. The people and their
civilization vanished and were forgotten. The language, wholly different
from the Quichua, gives no hint as to the origin of the people. Neither
does tradition lighten the mystery, nor their art, which relates wholly
to their environment, though betraying some similarity to Mayo works. An
exhaustive study of the language and of the archæological remains is
required to reconstruct the history of this remarkable people whose
ancestors are believed to have dwelt here long before the Christian Era.
_Moche._ Between the city of Trujillo and the port Salaverry is an
Indian town called Moche, the inhabitants of which may be remnants of
this old race. They wear a distinctive dress, are proud of their unmixed
lineage, and do not intermarry with others. The costume of the women,
merely a chemise with a piece of dark blue cloth wrapped around the body
and fastened at the waist, to be seen anywhere in Moche, is not allowed
in Trujillo.
Continuing from Salaverry by express steamer, one arrives the day
following at Callao, a twenty-two hours’ run.
=Chimbote and the Huailas Valley.= The tourist who desires to behold the
wonderful scenery of the Huailas Valley and magnificent Huascarán,
surely repaying a little trouble, at present transfers at Salaverry to
the weekly _caletero_ boat for Chimbote or Samanco, unless he has sailed
in the Sunday Peruvian steamer. With the completion of the railway to
Caráz and beyond, promised within a year or two (as, alas! since 1906),
Chimbote will doubtless become a primary port, receiving calls from the
express steamers. When this happens, no one should omit the delightful
railway journey of 135 miles to Yungay, at the foot of the great
Huascarán. At the moment, the trip may be enjoyed by the robust
traveler, as the three or four days’ horseback ride into the valley
involves no hardship, save fatigue to those unwonted to such journeys.
The harbor of _Chimbote_, by some called the finest on the entire West
Coast below Panama, is practically landlocked by a peninsula and several
islands. It has an area of about 36 square miles, without a single rock
below its placid surface. The usual pier extends from a sandy beach
which affords splendid bathing facilities; but docks, approachable by
the largest ships, could be arranged on one of the islands, which a
bridge across a 200-yard channel would easily connect with the main
land. The American capitalist, Henry Meiggs, the prime mover in the
construction of the South and Central Peruvian Railways, had the
foresight in the early seventies to perceive the great business
possibilities of the Chimbote harbor, and planned the railway from
Chimbote up the valley of the Santa River and along the Huailas Valley
to Huaráz, 167 miles. A beginning was made, the road bed was constructed
for 80 miles, the rails were laid for 60, when the Chilian war broke
out. The invaders, having captured Chimbote, carried off the rolling
stock and supplies, and destroyed whatever could not be removed. After
the close of the war, Peru being bankrupt, the project remained for some
years in abeyance, during which time the road was operated only to
Tablones, a distance of 35 miles. Under recent concessions some work has
been accomplished and the road is now open 30 miles farther. It is
expected that the Peruvian Corporation, at present in control, will soon
complete the line to Recuay, a little beyond Huaráz, when better
accommodations for tourists will surely be provided. At present some of
the towns have no hotels whatever, while in others those existing are
very poor. Happily the residents are most hospitable, and strangers with
letters of introduction, or in some cases without, are agreeably
entertained by some of the best families. Naturally, with better
facilities for travel this pleasant custom will cease. At Chimbote the
small and poor hotel where I stayed in 1906, if not already enlarged and
improved, will doubtless soon be superseded by a more adequate
establishment. Back of the town, together with a mound and walls
remaining from an ancient city, are vestiges of an aqueduct, presumably
constructed in Chimu days. When these are repaired the desert plain near
by, which bears an excellent soil, will be fruitful enough to support
the great city laid out by Meiggs and expected to follow the completion
of the railroad. This project was originally undertaken, not for the
purpose of conducting tourists to the splendid scenery of the Huailas
Valley, nor primarily for the convenience of its present large
population and the export of its agricultural products. The chief value
of the railroad lies in its opening up the immense coal fields of the
region. Along the Santa River are millions of tons of excellent coal,
which some persons believed worthless, because it is chiefly anthracite
and semi-anthracite, therefore non-coking; ignorant of the fact that
except for smelting purposes it is more valuable than soft coal.
This railroad has an advantage over the others leading into the
interior, in being able to follow the Santa River through a cut in the
Coast Range, instead of climbing 15,000 feet over it. Thus by a moderate
grade it will reach the Huailas Valley. A serious impediment to the
construction is the narrow gorge through the mountains, impracticable
even for a pedestrian; yet the difficulty will soon be overcome. After
ten miles on the desert the road passes near sugar plantations and
haciendas. The region of coal deposits follows, extending through the
mountain range and up the two lateral valleys beyond, the north in the
direction of Cajamarca, the south, the Huailas Valley, to Recuay. The
passage of the sombre gorge will be along the side of splendid cliffs
with a foaming stream below, a continuous spectacle of superb grandeur.
Turning south into the Huailas Valley, from one to four miles wide, the
traveler has the White Range on the east, the Black on the west. The
floor of the valley is beautiful with green fields of alfalfa and
vegetables, with vineyards, fig and orange trees, chirimoias, and other
tropical and sub-tropical fruits, and with hedges of fragrant flowers:
above are rounded hillsides bearing the grains, green or golden, of
temperate climes, higher are cliffs either gray or black, and on the
east white peaks of dazzling splendor rising 14,000, 16,000 feet above
the valley, which itself slowly ascends from 4000 to 10,000 feet above
the sea. The lower western wall attains an altitude of from 15,000 to
18,000 feet. Travelers may always disagree as to the finest scenery in
the world, but few visitors to this valley will deny that it is
unsurpassed in the Western Hemisphere. In scenic splendor excelling
Chamonix, in mineral riches it rivals the Klondike; for on both sides,
the mountains are veined with gold, silver, and copper, as well as the
more useful if plebeian coal.
[Illustration:
MT. HUASCARÁN, FROM AN ALTITUDE OF 10,000 FEET
]
[Illustration:
LLANGANUCO GORGE
]
=Huascarán.= _Caráz_, a pretty town with a delightful climate at an
altitude of 6000 feet, is situated at the base of Huandoy, 21,000 feet,
while _Yungay_, at 8300 feet, has a still finer location on the lower
slope of the great _Huascarán_, one of the most beautiful of the world’s
mountains, first climbed by Miss Peck on her sixth attempt, September 2,
1908, in company with two Swiss guides, her earlier efforts being
rendered abortive through inability to provide other assistants than the
inexpensive and incompetent natives. In recognition of this remarkable
ascent to a summit 1500 feet higher than Mt. McKinley, Miss Peck was
presented by the Government of Peru with a very beautiful gold medal. Of
the twin peaks, the north was the summit attained: this, according to
later measurement by French engineers, has an altitude of 21,812 feet;
the south peak, 22,187 feet, pronounced by the guides impossible at the
time, remains for some other mountaineer to conquer. Other snow
mountains a little lower, of varying degrees of difficulty, afford
opportunity for a number of first ascents of 20,000 feet and upwards.
The tourist who is not a mountain climber will find ample reward for his
journey in admiring these peaks from the valley. He should, however,
take a few horseback rides, especially one from Yungay through the
_Llanganuco Gorge_, by which there is a frequented pass between
Huascarán and Huandoy to the mountainous and mineral region east of the
White Range. This splendid excursion may be made in a single day from
Yungay, but the feeble, or the novice in horseback riding may prefer to
spend the night at a ranch house at the east end of the gorge, perhaps
extending the excursion some distance beyond. In any case provisions
should be taken from Yungay.
After a pleasant two hours’ ride over the green foothills, one enters
the narrow gorge four miles long, and a quarter to a half mile wide,
where a sublime spectacle is presented. Practically perpendicular
cliffs, more lofty than those of the Yosemite, rise on either hand,
until at the center of the gorge one gazes at the sheer north wall of
Huascarán towering 10,000 feet above the floor of the cañon which itself
has a height of 12,000 feet. On the left, high up between massive
triangular cliffs, gleam glaciers of the sharper Huandoy, almost as high
as the snowy coverlet peering over the edge of Huascarán. A beautiful
lake half a mile long, near the center occupies the entire floor of the
valley. One rides along the pathway, in places cut out of the solid
rock, in others supported by tree trunks, where a horse’s stumble might
easily precipitate his rider into the so-called fathomless lake 100 feet
below; but the excellent horses climb veritable stairs with ease, and
there is no occasion for disquietude. In the distant foreground a
beautiful snowclad mountain is in brilliant contrast to the somber and
awesome surroundings. A second lake follows; a silvery waterfall on the
left leaps down a few thousand feet in a shimmering shower of spray.
Beyond the lakes are meadows, then the ranch house. To continue thence
to the south to behold the eastern face of Huascarán and other splendid
peaks is well worth the sturdy traveler’s while. At least the Llanganuco
Gorge should be traversed by every visitor to the valley, though many of
the natives of Yungay have never admired its grandeur, as many residents
of Buffalo have never seen Niagara Falls. Several delightful walks or
rides should be taken to the hills back of Yungay, and to a buttress of
the Black Range opposite. From one of the former, a little to the south,
may be had the finest possible view of the mountain. A pleasant ride, of
three hours each way (a whole day should be allowed for the trip), is to
the gold mine Matarao (10,000 feet), above the village of Mancos. From
this point Huascarán may be climbed; or one may walk up to the snow line
and return the same day, if not affected by the altitude.
Before the completion of the railroad the tourist may adventure thither
by riding up over the Black Range. Without letters of introduction to
hospitable hosts, one should write a week or two in advance to the
steamship agent at Samanco requesting him to have horses ready at the
port, since none may be obtained there. One may ride on the day of
arrival 30 miles to Moro where there is a poor hotel. The second day one
may proceed to Pamparomás, where food and lodging of a sort are
provided. A long third day’s ride will bring one at nightfall to Yungay.
From the altitude of 14,700 feet at the top of the pass in the Black
Range, there is a glorious picture of the Cordillera Blanca, a row of
snowclad giants extending north and south as far as the eye can reach;
while a gloomy cañon close in front leads down to the beautiful valley.
A truly hardy traveler may enjoy pursuing his way up the Huailas Valley
to Huaráz and on to Cerro de Pasco, from Yungay a ten days’ journey;
either by way of Huánuco in the _montaña_ section east of the mountains,
or by Chiquián on the plateau near the foot of another splendid peak.
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