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Published: February 2nd 2011
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Huaca de Sol y Luna, Trujillo
We were impressed by Chan Chan and its history but before we left Trujillo we felt we had to investigate Huaca de Sol y Luna, (translated by some as sacred place of the sun and moon or Temples of the sun and moon).
A friendly police officer directed us the few blocks to where we should catch a collectivo that takes you directly to the ruins, another happy chappy copper stopped the correct vehicle for us to board.
The route takes you through about 20 minutes of agricultural land with once again a complicated irrigation system, Acres of Tomatoes, Corn, Alpha Alpha, Cabbage, and Peppers line the roadway, bearing in mind you are in a desert they produce a serious amount of fresh produce, thanks to their clever forefathers who worked out how to bring water here and use it to grow the food needed to feed the population.
When you reach the site you are greeted by a neatly kept parking area and uniformed guards and guides, pretty gardens surround the entrance area and signs in several language remind you immediately of expected protocol indeed they watch you and you
are not allowed to enter the site unsupervised unlike Chan Chan where a guide was optional and outside its citadel you could basically go where you wanted.
The site of the Huaca de luna sits directly under a small mountain called the Sierra del Negro and in the distance is the sierra del Blanca under which sits Hauca del Sol, You can see the Huaca del Sol rising from the earth in the distance.
The whole site is roughly 1 square mile, which includes the 2 temples.
Huaca del Sol is is said to have taken hundreds of thousands of adobe sun dried brick to build, It is the larger of the two temples, badly damaged by looters (indeed the Spanish hired people to go in and loot these places, paying them to do so, Ironically they were known as "miners" )and weather phenomenons over the centuries, erected by the Moche Empire (100bc-650ad) one side is visibly destroyed, some of the bricks have letters and symbols on them, Its thought this was to differentiate the manufacturers and therefore collect the relevant taxes from them, The temple has not been excavated and it is hoped the money will
be found to do so one day soon, No-one knows what hidden treasures and cultural discoveries it will yield when the time comes to open it up.
A large expanse of desert lies between the two temples and this is believed to be where the metal/brick/ and ceramic workers lived. This was also a trade route along the Moche river where the Andean mountain peoples would have traded grain and the Moche people in return traded metalwork and ceramics.
Hauca del Luna is open to the public and it is strictly forbidden to anywhere but here on the whole site. 11 soles buys you a ticket and you must take a guide which is included in the price, Guides speak, English/Spanish/German and I think there was a french speaking guide available also. The guides are well versed and educated in their field.
The complex is layered, 5 temples built on top of one another. Approximately every 100 years the complex was filled in with further adobe bricks, covering the complete temple including it's artifacts and colorful wall engravings, being that the temple measures 940mx650m building must have been ongoing through each century with the new level emerging
above, this process was for spiritual reasons (possibly for fear of the regular El Nino)and as a gift to the gods (the most important deity Ai Apaec's image is seen on many of the exposed engravings)
Large boulders were found in one of the plazas and the remains of 34 young males, forensics revealed they were victims of ritual sacrifice. The first 3 levels are partially exposed and it is truly amazing the richness of the colours of the ancient engravings that the archeologists have uncovered, they continue their painstakingly slow work even as the tours take place. An special place and an archeology enthusiasts dream. We concluded our tour.
About 500 m from the site is a small museum containing some of the artifacts discovered on the site, it's very new and its contents sparce as most of the treasures found are in the University museum in Trujillo, The guards warned us that we could not take photos which in most museums here is allowed (Though they discourage the use of flash photography). We wandered along the water channels heading back towards Trujillo and once again saw the somewhat ugly bald Peruvian dogs (Peruvian Inka Orchid breed)
until a collectivo came along and we got back to town.
We stopped of at the aforementioned Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad Nacional de Trujillo situated in the 17th century mansion known as Casa Risco and viewed more of the artifacts, Here there are Pre Columbian finds dating back a staggering 12 000bc. The mansion itself has been refurbished and is very beautiful. We headed back to the beach after what was a very interesting day.
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