The ancient site of Chan Chan
We arrived to the sleepy beach resort of Huanchaco, with little but surf to impress with, just a short drive away the impressive archeological site of Chan Chan has been excavated. So far only 3% of the entire site, which ones belonged to the Chimu Empire has been excavated and Chan Chan is one of the few sites that are open for tourists.
We walked the 2km long dark road through the desert from the main road to the entry of the palace of Chan Chan where we met up with our guide Maritsa, who during just over an hour took us through the site and explained it's importance.
She took us to the main square and explained that this site had been used for ceremonial sacrifices of young children to their gods, the moon, the ocean and mother earth. It is not known how or who they chose for this because their religion and customs were never written down - only spoken.
Perhaps, and in my opinion, the best part of the site was that of the temples. In one large room, which now has been covered with a modern roof, to protect the few remaining original parts, there stood 17 temples. Each had it's own purpose and object of worship and therefore also their own priest, who lived and worked in that one specific temple.
Finally we stopped at the cementary at the edge of the palace grounds. When the ruler of Chan Chan died it was believed that around 200 people were sacrificed to go with the ruler to the after life. The palace would also become uninhabited and a new ruler would be choosen and new palace erected hence why there are 9 temples in the region - each representing and belonging to an individual ruler of the Chimu Empire.
We spent a bit more time walking around the site, trying to takein the magnitude and power of this place and not being able to capture the impressiveness of this in a shot. We set back to Huanchaco where we finished the day with watching one of the most beautiful sunsets with a cocktail or two in our hands. Which in turn lead us to get a bit lost and ended up crashing a birthday party and joined in on the salsa dancing.
We walked the 2km long dark road through the desert from the main road to the entry of the palace of Chan Chan where we met up with our guide Maritsa, who during just over an hour took us through the site and explained it's importance.
She took us to the main square and explained that this site had been used for ceremonial sacrifices of young children to their gods, the moon, the ocean and mother earth. It is not known how or who they chose for this because their religion and customs were never written down - only spoken.
Perhaps, and in my opinion, the best part of the site was that of the temples. In one large room, which now has been covered with a modern roof, to protect the few remaining original parts, there stood 17 temples. Each had it's own purpose and object of worship and therefore also their own priest, who lived and worked in that one specific temple.
Finally we stopped at the cementary at the edge of the palace grounds. When the ruler of Chan Chan died it was believed that around 200 people were sacrificed to go with the ruler to the after life. The palace would also become uninhabited and a new ruler would be choosen and new palace erected hence why there are 9 temples in the region - each representing and belonging to an individual ruler of the Chimu Empire.
We spent a bit more time walking around the site, trying to takein the magnitude and power of this place and not being able to capture the impressiveness of this in a shot. We set back to Huanchaco where we finished the day with watching one of the most beautiful sunsets with a cocktail or two in our hands. Which in turn lead us to get a bit lost and ended up crashing a birthday party and joined in on the salsa dancing.
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