52. Chan Chan, Peru

Moche Valley + Chan Chan, Peru                          77F (25C)

The ship docked at Salaverry, Peru, just outside the town of Trujillo and we got off the ship early for our booked tour.

From the Bus Window

We had booked this excursion with the Ship. It would have been too cumbersome to do it any other way.

I want to take you back in history in this blog, way back… before Ice Cream and Television. You know there were people living in Rome, Italy before the Romans took over, right?  (We call these old civilizations the Etruscans).

There were also people and Empires in S. America before the Incas or the Aztecs. 

Two Minutes Later From the Bus Window

Well this area we are in now was the land of the Moche and they left some ruins and relics lying around that even the Spanish Conquistadors just shrugged their shoulders at; well, AFTER they pillaged and ransacked the remaining buildings and graves and temples, that is! They were such nice people, those Catholic Spaniards. God gave them the right to do that. Kind of reminds me of how the ISIS people look at Islam today. Ah, but I digress!  No politics in this blog, Hans!

Lots of Walking At the Temple of the Moon

We took the bus to a pyramid-shaped temple, built totally out of adobe brick. Millions of those bricks piled up. The Moche called this pile of mud the “Temple of the Moon”.

Some of the Adobe Brick Is Crumbling - Temple of the Moon

The Moche believed that the moon god was more powerful than the sun god, because one can see the moon during the day AND at night. Well, that belief lasted for a while but then some shaman convinced them that the sun was a more powerful god and they built an even bigger, higher pyramid, the Temple of the Sun. (Huaca Del Sol). Huaca is an Inca word meaning ‘holy place”. All this happened right after Christ.

Huge Adobe Structures

I am talking about the years 100 to 700 AD; The dark ages in Europe; or the end of the Roman Empire, really.

Then some other tribe, the Chimu, took over the ‘Valley of the Moche’. They had their own belief system. Now we are talking from about 800 to 1450 AD; the ‘Middle Ages’ in Europe.

Now those Chimu built a large city, today it is called Chan Chan. Again they built the whole of the city of Chan Chan using adobe bricks; mud bricks. Those adobe bricks were baked in the sun; they were not fired like the European bricks are. When it rains hard, those adobe bricks dissolve.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but all of this is important.

Reed Roof - Waterproof and Shade - Temple of the Moon

The Incas conquered the Chimu, just before the Spanish arrived. The Incas subdued the Chimu, forcibly took their best people, artists to Cusco and made them work just for the Inca. The Chimu became slave labor.

The Chimu were terrific metal artists, were great in weaving clothes. Were very productive people but did not have a strong enough army to withstand the marauding Incas. The Chimu lost to the Incas when the Incas arrived in about AD 1500 or so.

Part of the Sacrificial Hall - Temple of the Moon

And then… the Spanish came, The Spanish came from far away… to face the Incas. Diplomacy was tried but the Incas had just too many gold, silver and fine jewel treasures to be left alone. The Incas were not ‘believers’ in the Christian God, and the priests of the Spanish said it’s ok to subdue all of the Incas. 

A Prisoner Being Sacrificed - Temple of the Moon

 

You know the rest………conquest… Conquistadors….  murdering, pillaging and destroying a culture that had been around for Millennia.


We visited Chan Chan or what was left of it after the Spanish had their way. The Spanish diverted the Moche River to swamp Chan Chan, to dissolve the adobe bricks.

Huge Site At Chan Chan

Inside the Large Complex at Chan Chan

Murals - Chan Chan

You cannot imagine how large this place Chan Chan is. We walked for hours but only saw a small part of it. About 40,000 people lived here during the height of the Chimu era. Oh, those Chimu were no holy men either. The offerings to their gods were human sacrifices. The Chimu sprayed human blood all over; they drank it, too. The Chimu pictures and their art depict monsters, holding beheaded human heads. The Chimu, like the Incas, had ‘holy’ knifes that were venerated for their efficiency in cutting through human necks with ease. 

Religion is a strange thing, what people do to each other or what they do in the name of religion has always puzzled me.

And then my old question arose, why here? Why this spot on earth, why was the village built here, the temples built here? What made this a ‘holy’ place?

Murals - Chan Chan

The Moche River running into the Pacific Ocean, in an otherwise dry area might have been a reason. The Moche used the river water for irrigation, the Chimu did, too. I am sure the Incas followed suit, because when the Incas took over from the Chimu the area was established already by previous occupation. Still, why this spot?

I asked one of the guides and he explained something to me I never thought about.

More Murals - Chan Chan

According to the latest studies for Chan Chan, it was at this spot that the priests of the Chimu decided the golden egg arrived on earth:

Many Niches - Unknown Purpose - Chan Chan

The traditional founding ruler of the Chimu was Taycanamo who was considered to have been born from a golden egg and then arrived from the sea.

Not only that, but I learned that the most important part of any being or creature on earth are the fluids that are within that being or creature. The blood so to speak is the extension of the waters the golden egg came from. And the spot where the golden egg

Intricate Design Underneath the Niches - Chan Chan

rolled ashore is Chan Chan. 

Far out!

Trujillo, the city nearby was founded by Pizarro (the Spaniard who conquered the Incas), who just used the easy way out and added his town close to where Chan Chan was; a no-brainer for Pizarro.

I told you, I like mysterious history… I could go on and on but I will stop here. 

Reed Boats

Reed Boats Are Straddled and Cargo Is Put In the Opening

I had a good time on this tour. We walked our tails off; we went back to the Plaza des Armas in Trujillo after we visited Chan Chan but then took the bus to Huanchaco and a beach place where people still fish using the reed boats of the ‘Incas’, some of which  were stacked along the shore to dry out. Those boats have been used in this area for nearly 4000 years, some plaque told us. So again, we have not even touched on what happened here BC.

But This Was Carol's Lunch - Yum!

 

I had ceviche for lunch, a Peruvian delicacy. It was part of the tour.  

 

Daniel and Kimberly

 The entertainment at night was a man and wife acrobatic team, Daniel and Kimberly, and he was on a kind of large hula hoop wheel.

She Is a Former Canadian Figure Skater

Judge yourself on the video (highlighted names above) if it’s something for you.

Daniel In the Wheel