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Published: June 20th 2010
Huacas del Sol and del la Luna
The bricks were used for building and included the markings of the person who made them. Whilst in Trujillo, I booked day trips to Chan Chan, Huacas del Sol and de la Luna and also El Brujo which were all worth the money and well organised.
Huacas del Sol and de la Luna - Temple of the sun and temple of the moon. This is 5km south of Trujillo the site has two pyramids built next to a hill called Cerro Blanco - White Hill. The pyramids were built by the Moche. Only a small part of the pyramids have been uncovered. There are 7 pyramids in total. As each king died, he would be buried in the pyramid, the pyramid would be sealed and a new one built on top of the last.
The parts of the wall which have been uncovered show the paintings/reliefs made on the side of each pyramid. At the top of the wall of the pyramid, the relief shows a serpent which stretches the length of the wall. Below this, there are reliefs showing felines holding the heads of warriors, fishermen holding fish with a blue background and one of spiders. The bottom two levels show victorious warriors with their captives and another level showing dancers. We were able to
see one section of the pyramids which showed the part of the side of the 7 different pyramids.
The surrounding countryside has been developed for agriculture which makes for a stark contrast between the desert area of the pyramids and the green lush farmland around the site.
There is a new museum being built which will show a large proportion of the artefacts recovered.
Chan Chan - This was the capital of the Chimu empire and covers approx 7 sq miles. The tour was spread over a couple of sites. The first site was only about 5 mins drive from the centre of the city. Some of the city will never be recovered as it´s been built on.
The city is surrounded by a 9m wall which is made of adobe blocks a lot of which is still standing. In the city we saw remains of palaces, temples, workshops, streets and a canal which had been engineered for irrigation.
This tour finished with a trip to the fishing village of Huanchaco.
El Brujo - A complex of pyramids collectively known as El Brujo, about 1hr 50mins drive from Trujillo. There´s only one pyramid open for
viewing - Huaca Cao Viejo in which the mummy of a tattooed woman was discovered.
Similar to Huacas I´d seen the day before, we saw coloured reliefs on the side of the pyramids which were up to 90m long. Much of the pyramid has not been uncovered/restored and some of the pyramid has been damaged over time thanks to looting of the artefacts of the burial chambers.
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