Trujillo & Chan Chan - Week 40

20th - 21st June

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Next stop Trujillo. The only real reason to stop here is to go to Chan Chan, the largest adobe (mud brick) city in the world!! Believe it or not Chan Can was one of the things we were looking forward to seeing in South America. We first saw it on a documentary in England, "Around the World in 80 Treasures, with Dan Cruickshank" and wanted to have a look for ourselves. There will be a bit of history on this one so feel free to just look at the pictures - you won´t be tested when we ge back...

The crap weather on the coast of Peru this time of year...

Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimú, a civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km², and was built between 850 a.d. and 1470 a.d. It was the capital until the Chimú were conquered by the Inca in the 15th century. It is thought that 30,000 people lived in the city of Chan Chan, with 8 million people in the Chimu empire in total.

The main ceremonial plaza

The city is made up of 10 citadels (like the one pictured above) with very high walls of up to 25 feet high. Each citadel is thought to have been built by a separate King to form his court. The others citadels are thought to either have been abandoned with each new king due to the the high errosion rates of making your citadel from mud, or because the Kings were buried in tombs in their own citadel abandoned as a mark of respect. We were told though that the Chimu also believed that the deceased kings still had an earthly presence and so they were wheeled out, mummified, each time there were important guests or it was ceremony time!!

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Examples of the intricate designs made onto the face of the adobe

Huaca Arco Iris

An hairless Andean dog, with fetching pink t-shirt and blond mohican!

We also visted another important archaelogical site, Huaca de la Luna, the main temple of the capital of the Moche empire. If you read above the Moche were the pre-runners of the Chimu empire, and this was there main temple of worship. Although the temple is made of adobe brick again it would have been an impressive sight at the height of the Moche empire. It was completely covered with intricate designs again and fully painted. One of the strange things about the temple is that it was built up gradually over many years with a new ruler or changes in the religious culture requiring changes in the temple. The temple has 5 levels, each being built overlapping the last, burying murials inside the temple.

Murials on the 5 levels of the temple

Well preserved murials buried as the temple was made higher

The Moche god Ayapec

The Moche were keen on sacrificing. There is a large area at the back of the temple dedicated to sacrificing prisioners as an offer to there gods. Some were killed by clubbing to death, some by slitting their throats, and then left to the vultures!!

Chan Chan and Trujillo are close to the beach so we visited the beach to have a look at the reed boats the local fishermen use. They looked like they would fall in everytime they went out, not exactly ocean going craft. They seem to work as they have been using them for almos a thousand years...

A fishermen getting his fish gut bait ready for the crabs and lobsters