Pyramids, an ancient metropolis, and colonial architecture in Peru’s 3rd largest city.
Trujillo is a city with a long and distinguished history. Peru’s third largest metropolitan area, Trujillo was founded in 1534 when the Spaniards arrived in the area. It was the first Peruvian city to declare independence from Spain in 1820, and became Simón Bolivar’s base of operations when he and his troops entered Peru a few years later.
Today, Trujillo is known as the City of Eternal Springtime, and every October it hosts the International Festival of Spring, complete with a grand parade. In January, the city throws the National Marinera Contest, attracting couples from all over Peru for a week-long celebration of this traditional dance. January 2010 marked 50 years of the contest.

Señora Teo’s story was on the surface a cautionary tale about the caprices of mystical creatures, but stories like this one could help explain why a waterfall as tall as Gocta remained unknown to the outside world until 2006. It’s location in a blind ravine in the remote Peruvian province of Amazonas might help, too: Amazonas’ capital, Chachapoyas, was unreachable by paved road until a few years ago, and the airport has been in sporadic operation since 2003. At 771 meters (2,531 feet), however, Gocta Falls ranks among the world’s giants, and since its introduction to the world, a small tourism industry has sprung up.

It was beautiful there so high above the town of Celendín: eucalyptus trees marched in single file as windbreaks edging the fields, their bark peeling off in long strips, their dried leaves crunching underfoot. They smelled fresh and faintly herbal. Some of the fields look recently tilled, but most were still fallow for the winter months. Ghosts of corn stalks rustled like paper in the wind. We were trespassing, cutting through fields on hard-packed footpaths, skirting far from the adobe farmhouses. I was nervous—where I’m from, the reaction to strangers cutting through your field is suspicion at best.

How do you get those Machu Picchu photos with no people in them? It really wasn’t difficult at all, since everyone in the Peruvian government is a fan of Unpaved South America dot com. We arrived early via our private helicopter, thus bypassing all the protesters and lines of tourists who were unable to enter the site. Thanks to everyone out there who helped make this possible!

Founded in 1534, guidebooks call Trujillo one of the most colonial cities in Peru.