Welsh David's South America: 5 to 7 March 2017 – Huaraz to Huanchaco with Chan Chan and the Temple of the Sun and Moon, Trujillo (Peru)

The journey was from the cold and wet mountains to the stinking hot and humid coast. I did very little to do in Huanchaco until the second day when we all went in the truck, with a local guide, to Chan Chan and the Temple of the Sun and Moon.

Chan Chan is the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America and was the capital of the historical empire of the Chimor from 900 to 1470 when they were defeated and incorporated into the Inca Empire.It has an external wall one and a half kilometre long with only one opening so that access to the complex, possibly a temple, could be controlled.Where there are no steps in the complex they do not lead anywhere and were not for walking on, ramps were built for walking from one level to another. The city of Chan Chan spanned 20 km² and had a dense urban center of 6 km² which contained extravagant ciudadelas. Ciudadelas were large architectural masterpieces which housed plazas, storerooms, and burial platforms for the royals.The splendor of these ciudadelas suggests their association with the royal class. Housing for the lower classes of Chan Chan's hierarchical society are known as small, irregular agglutinated rooms. Because the lower classes were often artisans whose role in the empire was to produce crafts, many of these small rooms were used as workshops. The complex was believed to have been built around 850 AD by the Chimu and used for ritual, ceremonial activities and as a royal residence and burial chambers. It was the Chimor empire capital city with an estimated population of 40,000-60,000 people. It was built completely of mud bricks plastered with mud into which elaborate and beautiful and various designs were cut. The complex is said to be the largest mud brick building in the world.

Views of Chan Chan

The side wall

Main and only entrance in the outer wall

I'm waiting for the sacrifice

The Temple of the Sun and Moon was built is an adobe brick temple built by the Moche civilization (100 to 800 AD) and called the City of Moche. It is a fairly new archeological find (1920's, 1930's and then the 1970's) and although built of mud brick and plastered with mud it had alo had the internal walls painted in very vibrant colours. This was the only place I have been to on this trip where I was told that human sacrifice was carried out here by throwing people down to their death from the top of the temple. Bodies were found at the bottom of the slope but there were no burials carried out as far as have been found out to the present time.

Views of the Temple of the Sun and Moon in Trujillo