Huanchaco, Peru

Chan Chan

Temple of the Moon

We left Punta Sal and headed South on the Pan Americano Highway through a very dry and barren landscape. It was a long day and we arrived in the coastal town of Huanchaco in time to go out for tea which was an experience as it's low season so not much is open resulting in a very long wait (1.5 hours) for our food.

The next morning we awoke to sea views and suprisingly cool temperature as we headed out with the truck and a guide to visit the pre Inca ruins of Chan Chan and the Temple of the Moon. The Chan Chan complex was built by the Chimu as an Imperial city in and is the largest Adobe (type of clay brick) city in the world. There are 10 palaces and we had a look around one of them. It was huge! The palace has 12m high surrounding walls and each new king had a new palace. When a king died he was buried in his palace next to all his women who were sacrificed and his treasure. The décor inside the palace was linked to the fishing trade with reliefs of fish, pelicans and nets. The Incas attacked and the Chimu's surrended around 1471 after all their irrigation canals were cut off. The city was left deserted after the Inca's didn't fancy it. It was nice to have a wander around, but the city has been heavily conserved with the reliefs actually being completely covered by a modern replica which made the place look like a cheaply made film set. I couldn't see the point in conserving the place if you couldn't see what you were conserving.

After lunch we went to have a look at a much older site, the pyramid shaped, Temple of the Moon. The temple was build in 300AD by the Moche people who were keen on ceramics. The temple had 7 levels and the preservation of the reliefs was amazing as the temple had been buried in sands since its abandonment. The original colours were still visible on the reliefs which showed, priests, prisoners, fisherman and animals. The temple built up into layers as after a priest died he was buried and then a new level added for the next priest.

The day was very interesting an a great introduction to Peruvian ruins. Next we head up into the Andes to Huaraz at 3700m.