What a good nights sleep! I hauled myself out of bed for a breakfast at the hostel then readied myself to be taken to some ruins - my first real taste of south american history pre the Spanish conquest.

Our guide Maritza drove us to the ancient ruins of Chan Chan, about 10 mins drive out of Huanchaco. They are over 1000 years old, making them older than the Inca ruins. As it turns out, the Incas actually conquered Chan Chan centuries later. The ruins were pretty amazing, as they had been built from sandstone so were heavily eroded by many huge storms (el niño) and multiple earthquakes. The structures were built "earthquake" proof, by keeping a gap in between each brick to allow movement and flexibility and walls with a wide base narrowing as it got higher to add stability, and they have all stood up to thousands of earthquakes. Where modern buildings have fallen, these ancient walls stand.

Next up was Huaca de la Luna, which means sacred temple of the moon. It was named after the moon because of its location so close to the sea, the Moche people relied heavily on the moon for fishing and tides. Maritza showed us the different levels of temples within the one big temple, with alot of the original colours still on the bricks. Huaca de la Luna is over 2000 years old and much more detailed in terms of design than chan chan. Interestingly enough, the Moche people who constructed huaca de la Luna actually conquered Chan Chan before the incas. Unfortunately alot of both ruins were destroyed by grave robbers, but they are being well conserved by locals and the government. Having been to Pompeii, I was skeptical about how amazing these ruins would be, and I have to say, huaca de la luna is up there with Pompeii. Check the photos out for more explanations. Finally we visited the museum that displayed original artefacts from both Chan Chan and Huaca de la Luna. Amazingly enough, another ancient temple was discovered recently called Huaca de la Sol (sacred temple of the sun) so I'll definitely be coming back in a few years once it has been more uncovered.

After we got back, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around town, I went to the post office (which was pretty much the size of a shoe box) to send a post card and we had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the water. We also checked out the reed boats (see pic) that is a local fishing custom in Huanchaco, I wasn't too keen to paddle them out though! After an early dinner it was off to bed, as we have ANOTHER long trek tomorrow in the bus to Lima, the capital of Peru