Chan Chan to Lima

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29 December 2008

After getting out of bed, Javier and I took a car back to Trujillo where we bought another overnight bus ticket for the evening, and decided to spend the day exploring the town. This city was significantly bigger, and offered us quite a bit to do. First we walked around a bit and saw some of the city, then we headed off to the fascinating ruins called Chan Chan. Chan Chan is, I believe, the largest adobe city ruin preserved in the world. While the part that has been excavated is quite enormous, surrounding the area you can tell there is a really huge portion of the city yet to be uncovered, and Chan Chan was in fact enormous. Chan Chan existed for a long time before the Incans, and lived in Trujillo getting food from the nearby sea and water which came from the nearby mountains. On the walls of Chan Chan you can see their religious devotion to the sea in the paintings of seagulls and fish, and some of the walls built to represent nets used for fishing. The walls sometimes reached 6 meters tall, and we were able to see the vastly complex network of pathways and rooms, and stand in the rooms used for ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices. The Chan Chan were eventually overcome by the Incans who, from the mountains, cut off the supply of water to the city allowing Chan Chan to be defeated.

After Chan Chan, Javier and I went to the beach and spent the rest of the day lounging around, people watching, and touched the pacific a bit with feet. Some of the indigenous people who originally were in the area are still there, and we were able to see paddling in their boats in the ocean fishing. The boats, which seem to be made out of some reed-like grass or something, are bundled together with ropes and are flat towards the back and pointy in the front. The boys sit on top of the bundle on their knees and paddle with a very thin oar. It looks like it takes a lot of practice and a lot of balance.
That evening, while by the ocean, we had some delicious seafood and headed back to the bus station for our journey to Lima.

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