The first leg of the drive swings wide of Trujillo following the ocean for several kilometers. Trujillo is the main city in the valley and the third largest in Peru with a population of over 700,00. Mornings are usual cool and overcast in the summer, averaging 55 or 65 degrees. Once past the city, we will turn inland crossing many kilometers of flat sugarcane fields toward the foothills of the Andes where the sites are located. The last few kilometers of the drive we enter the foothills, and the valley narrows to about a mile across.
Hills rise several thousand meters on either side.
The first site we will work at is Ciudad de Dios. Each morning we will park in a cane field and hike about a mile to the site carrying daypacks, field supplies, and mapping equipment. The site is located on several ridgetops about 100 m above the valley floor. The hike to the site begins in lush cane fields. Unirrigated areas on the coast are barren and eroded, virtually devoid of vegetation.