Doing the Chan Chan
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2009
1
30
49
Trip End
Dec 24, 2009
Trujillo, Peru
Sunday, October 11, 2009
We checked into a hostel and headed into the city centre for a look around and some food. Trujillo is the 3rd largest city in Peru and was the first city that the conquistadors arrived at when hitting Peru. Again the city has an amazing town square with beautiful historical buildings and a massive catherdral surrounding the centre. The main reason for coming to Trujillo is to see the many archaeological sites scattered around the area and the following day we decided to visit some of the sites. We decided to do this by ourselves and take one of the many combi vans in the city out to our first stop Chan Chan. We stood on the side of the road watching all these combi´s go pass with a local hanging out the side screaming the location the combi was heading too (which we could not comprehend in the slightest). We finally managed to get a combi that was heading to Chan Chan, we jumped on and in a little under 15 minutes we made it out to the ruins.
Chan Chan is the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America and covers an area of approximately 20 km˛. Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor people (kingdom of Chimu), and was built around AD850 and lasted until the conquest by the Inca Empire in AD1470 when it was believed the city was abandoned. It was estimated that around 30,000 people lived in the city of Chan Chan. The area Chan Chan covers is massive but you can only visit the one place. the Tschudi Complex, believed to be one of the later areas to be built in the city.
The complex we visited was amazing and is surrounded by huge walls. Chan Chan is in the middle of the desert which makes it hugely dusty (again we ask why a civilisation chose to live here rather than the lush areas of the Andes). The walls seem to have been made out of a clay like substance where intricate designs were carved. Careful restoration lets you see the designs such as fish, birds and fishing nets. They are still restoring the area and are undertaking conservation work at other sites around Chan Chan. You get to see people working on the walls carefully dabbing what looks like water on the stones no doubt to see whether the carved designs survived. Chan Chan's pyramids and palaces were put on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 1986 because they are threatened by erosion. Apparently over the past 2 decades the site has deteriorated steadily and they have erected huge tent like structures to prevent any harm from rain. We really enjoyed Chan Chan and it was great walking around seeing the huge squares and ceremonial areas, the designs contained on the walls were just amazing.
Our ticket to Chan Chan covered the museum and another sight called the Dragon temple. We decided to visit these both and after careful bargaining with a taxi driver (Eugene like a Spanish speaking professional took the price from 25 Soles to 30 Soles but we recovered back to 20!). We were taken to the museum which would show artifacts discovered in the area of Chan Chan (not taken by grave robbers) but when we pulled up we found in true South American style that the museum wasn´t open on Mondays! We hopped back in our taxi and headed to the Dragons Temple (or Rainbow temple). This place was similar to Chan Chan, and was a square like building with one entrance. The walls inside again were again covered in intricate designs, the name of the temple come from the friezes on the walls, some of which are in the shape of rainbows and another which is thought to be a dragon. It is really amazing how well preserved the carvings are.
Our taxi driver took us back into town where we had lunch and prepared for our (hopefully last) overnight bus ride to Chachapoyas, the last town in Peru before hitting Ecuador!
Till next time xxx
