MAY´S FEATURED DOOR OF THE MONTH – TRUJILLO – PERU

May 7, 2018 SouthAmerica

The northern Peru coastal city of Trujillo has a Spanish colonial historic center that includes several blocks surrounding the large plaza de Armas. Many classic wooden doors may be found in this area; however, it is best to view them early Sunday morning because of the heavy traffic found throughout the rest of the week. Trujillo is mainly visited by tourist coming to see the nearby ruins of Chan Chan from the pre-Inca Moche culture. These ruins are a mere 15-minute taxi ride out to the west. In addition, the ruin site of Huaca El Dragon lies within the city of Trujillo on the northern outskirts. While to the southeast outside of Trujillo is another amazing Moche site called La Huaca del Sol, which features well-preserved colorful frescos. Enjoying the city’s historic buildings and doors provides another activity while coming up here to explore the ruins.

southamericatotheworld.com — Chan Chan ruins

Many of the historic doors facing the plaza de armas are massive wooden double doors that may allow passing a horse and carriage. Most of these buildings have been restored, and the doors are in excellent shape. We have featured many of these entrances in our book Doors of South America, but for the month of May we have decided to feature a more humble door found at the top of this post because it comes with a short tale. While photographing this door an elderly Peruvian man stopped to watch us take the picture. Then after a minute asked “Why would take a picture of this door?” We replied because it has character. The muted contrasting colors between the door and the surrounding wall are different, and the peeling paint on the surround wall provides additional texture to the scene. He was probably thinking that it is just an old door. Then maybe was wondering if we were crazy. This interchange had cultural barriers firmly in place. The peeling paint to him meant poor. The door and building was ordinary, not worth a second thought. We see it differently, appreciating what he could not.

Within one hours’ time we had found over ten doors to photograph that were enough varied styles, contrasting colors, and different impressions that were worth including in our book. Trujillo is a nice stop for the door aficionado, and certainly a place worth visiting to see Chan Chan. If you come and see these doors and the ruins, stay within several blocks of the plaza de armas, farther out the city quickly becomes rougher an unsafe. In addition, avoid waving about an expensive camera, see it during the daytime, and go with some friends. Then maybe you too will find that interesting captivating door hiding so much history that the locals walk by every day without giving it a second thought. Taking in the doors of South America is a journey of realization about the wealth of history that is closed like a door to so many people.