Finally, a good night’s sleep and am feeling much better. Today we explored Chan Chan the capital of the Chimu, an ancient Peruvian civilization which followed the Moche. Technically, the Chimu were descendants of the Moche people but were far more warlike.
Chan Chan is located north, along the coast, some 20 minutes from Trujillo. The Chimu existed in this area for 3 centuries (1100 AD – 1400 AD). The Chan Chan complex is collection of nine palaces, only one of which is open to the public. The Chimu had a paternalistic line of succession and as one king died, his oldest son, would build his own palace. Each king was buried at his own palace. When the current king died, his wife and concubines were poisoned and buried with him to join him in the afterlife, the oldest son would occupy his own palace and any siblings were considered part of the elite guard.
The palace we are visiting is considered a ‘medium’ sized place. It is quite extensive with areas for public ceremonies, private ceremonies and a vast area for the collection of various taxes and storerooms to store the inventory. In addition, the site has several aquafers for water collection as well as a burial platform and burial tomb area for the king and related wife/concubines.
After touring the ruins, we drive to the town of Huanchaco, a pretty fishing village. Natives still use reed boats depicted in Chimu pottery and murals for dropping and pulling the fishing nets twice a day. We had lunch at ‘El Sombrero’ overlooking the ocean. Ceviche to start and Sea Bass for lunch, awesome.
Later, we returned to Trujillo and do a walk about town. On our walk, we run into a procession celebrating ‘Senior de los Milagros, Lord of Miracles’ that lasts for several hours. A painting of his was said to have saved a church from earthquake damage. Processions and festivities are held yearly in his honor. A Pisco Sour wraps things up and then we’re off to pack as we move on tomorrow.
M.
Today’s visit is to the much-anticipated ‘Chan Chan’, capital city of the Chimu empire. The complex is massive and covered some 20 square kilometers and is said to have had a population of up to 40,000 at its peak.
Like the Moche, Chimú architecture is characterised by monumental adobe brick buildings. Nine royal palaces or compounds were constructed over the centuries in a rectangular layout, each with 10-meter high exterior walls, labyrinthine interiors, and a single entrance. The walls of the compounds, built to restrict access by commoners, were decorated on the inside with relief designs, typically repeated geometric shapes, animals, and sea life, especially fish.
Structures within each compound include administrative and storage buildings accessed by ramps which contained mummified leaders. Over time the newer palaces became larger – the biggest covers an area of 220,000 square meters. Unreal.
Our timing was great. Only one of the palaces is open for visit and while there only saw a few folk. As we left the complex, at least a hundred students had queued up for entry. Whew!
After Chan Chan we took a short drive to Huanchaco, a small village on the coast noted for fishing, big-time surfing, and ‘reed boats’. The boats date back to pre-Christ time and are still used as depicted in Chimu art. Pretty amazing.
D.
One thought on “Chan Chan, Trujillo”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Very nice. Food looks excellent! The Administrative Zone is really interesting with those “holey walls.” It is cool that the people still make the reed boats for daily use.