Peru

Boarding the plane in DC we set out on our first stop - Peru. Most of my fellow travelers would continue on to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We had been there in June so we opted for the alternative trip to Trujillo.

That proved to be a good addition to our knowledge about Peru. On our previous trip it was Inca, Inca, Inca. Here the Incas were regarded as a flash in the pan (the empire existed for less than 100 years and only 50 here). Now we were going to learn about the previous 2,000 years of history.

The main stories were the Moche civilization that was dominant from about 100 AD to about 700 AD and the Chimú culture that dominated from about 900 AD until the Incas conquest in 1470 AD.

A more complete un-curated collection of photos is here

The first structure we visited was the Temple of the Moon Huaca de la Luna. This and the nearby Temple of the Sun were the centers of the Moche civilization.

The temples were sustained by a large village between them along the river.

The temples were constructed out of unfired Adobe bricks. While stable in the generally dry climate of northern Peru, the area is also subject to flooding rains. This had two effects.

• The building melted (for lack of a better word) during heavy rain events and the town flooded. After a number of these events the temple needed to be renovated. They did this by adding another layer on the existing building. At the end of the Moche time there were 5 layers.
• Rains were bad. Thus the culture devised a method to end them. When the rains came a competition was held where the losers were sacrificed. The rains always stopped. Thus the method worked (ignoring a more precise examination of cause and effect). Much of the religion was based on this belief since depictions of this were the dominate decoration on the temples.

The last area we visited on Nov 2 was the ruins of Chan Chan. These were from the later Chimú culture. This was a series of self contained walled structures that reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Most of the structures are in ruins. The one we visited had been partially restored. Like the Temple of the Moon this was constructed from un fired adobe so it was dissolving.

Again more pictures are in the un curated pages.

These are some photos from the city. Our hotel was on one of the main squares.

About a 1.5 hour drive north of Trujillo was the major site El Brujo. This is in the middle of nowhere but during Moche times was important. While this site was well explored by grave robbers, they missed the nearly intact remains of the Lady Cao and her party.

Like the Temple of the Moon this was a ceremonial site for the Moche. The wall art depicted the same ritual sacrifice.

After visiting El Bujo we had a 3 hour bus ride north, had a quick lunch, and then did an accelerated visit to Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán. It was then back on a plane to Lima.

The morning of the 4th we did a quick city tour waiting for the folks from Cuzco to catch up with us and reboard our jet.

Time to board our plane for the 5hr, 45min flight to Easter Island.