Huanchaco

---

Travelling north along the coast from Lima we stopped in a couple of beachside towns for some more history lessons and some beach chilling (including more surfing!)
First stop was Huanchaco, a beach town close to the bigger city of Trujillo. Here the traditional rotara (reed boats) are used by the fisherman to paddle out beyond the waves to fish and then surf back in with their catch. I used a more traditional surfboard for my lesson, and can now add Peru to my list of surfing experience! Huanchaco was also the point from where we visited Chan Chan, the massive capital complex of the Chimu people. It is the largest adobe city in the world, covering 28 sq km and built around 1300 AD - it is thought to have housed around 60,000 people at its height of power. The Incas later conquered Chan Chan and incorporated the Chimu culture into their own. Close to Chan Chan are the temples of the Sun and the Moon (Huacas del Sol y de la Luna). They were built by the Moche tribe in about 600 AD. These are massive constructions; we visited the Moon Temple and saw amazingly preserved murals and friezes; some depicting the sacrifice of military prisoners...blood being an important component in the worship by the Moche people. Gruesome stuff.
Travelling north again we stopped for several days at Punta Sal, a tiny beachside village, 25 km from the closest town, Mancora. Here the sun was blazing and the sea warm, so sunbathing, swimming and more volleyball was the main entertainment, along with playing cards and campfire marshmallow toasting.

---

Photos

Wall frieze
Squirrel?

Wall frieze
Definately a fish and pelican/frigate bird

Original wall decoration in the Huaca de la Luna
The figure has bird of prey eyes, tentacles of hair representing the octopus, and jaguar teeth. These animals, and others, are consistently used in decoration by pre-Colombian peoples and have important spiritual significance.

Comments

[niki]

Blimey Liz! I've just recieved about 8 blogs together in a row (dunno why. Thought you'd gone a bit quiet. Thought perhaps you were so off the beaten track that you were sans-web, but obv just my computer playing up). It all looks so amazing (sorry. Keep gushing when I respond to your blogs). That mountain bike trip looked horrendous. Are you trying to kill your parents with stress? Dan's moutain biking round Mont Blanc at the moment, so you've got me feeling a bit worried! When are you home? Must be soon. In fact, I have an idea it's this week. Hurray! Can't wait to see you on the 29th. Love Niki x