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Chan Chan and Moche culture.
Again, up for breakfast ready to be picked up for our full day tour of two ancient cultures of Peru, the Moche culture and temples and the great city of Chan Chan in the afternoon. As we got on and headed into the city, the driver informed us that large parts of the city were closed as it was Peru's independence day two days later. Forty minute drive later and we arrive in town, this only took 20 minutes to walk yesterday.
We changed busses, we imagined onto the English speaking bus, to find out it was only us for the tour in English. Oh great we thought, we have been done again and the reviews read that guides don't really speak English. We were very happily surprised when our guide told us in great english he was our private guide and the Spanish guide for the two busses was on the other bus.
We arrive at the museum ready to buy our tickets and look around when they tell us there is no power, and Sarah returns from the bathroom to explain there is also no water. Thinking like we were in Australia I asked the guide how many minutes does he think it will be out for and he answers with a laugh and shrugs, few days, maybe a week. Therefore the museum was shut.
A change of plans means a closer look at the sun temple, 11 layers thick as I will explain soon. It has only recently that it is being excavated. We then walk 'over' the town to the moon temple. In between these two giant temples were where the middle class lived. These houses are still preserved as the city was buried very quickly and the sand/mud is currently at the level of the roof. This means some houses have been dug out but the others are still as they were. We saw an excavated area of houses with some containing pots, other ceramics and one containing large pots used to make Chicha ( a corn based alcoholic drink).
We left the 'city' and headed up to the moon temple, but not before we came across the Peruvian hairless dog. This dog is (ugly) famous as it has a very high body temperature. It is used as a hot water bottle and as a treatment for the arthritis!
The Moon temple, we walk up the massive adobe side to find out it is 5 temples built one over the other. The first evidence we see is where, in one section, the painted exterior wall was removed and the exterior layers of 4 and 3 were visible on the inside. Each successive wall contained the same face of the mountain god, built one on top of the other every 100 years. every 100 year they fill the temple up with adobe bricks (obtained as tax) and, believe it or not, burry the priest, leader and associated hierarchy, everyone inside!
We moved to an area on top of the temple where the human sacrifices occurred. People in the middle or upperclass fought to find out who would be sacrificed. The goal was to capture the other person, not kill them. You had to bind up your opponent and take his weapon. These people were lead through the plaza to show everyone before being locked away for purification.... 2 weeks of the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus. After this they were sacrificed on a rock alter in the shape of the mountain behind. The messenger to the gods, a vulture would take the body to the world of the gods.
We then moved to the huge outside entrance, an amazing entrance and the only part available to the public. This is a huge painted wall in the pictures. The murals depict the happenings of the time, with some insights into the lover layers. I'd like to add that this temple is undercover as to preserve it for later generations.
Back to town again for an amazing salad and pizza for lunch followed by our tour of the rainbow temple, Chan Chan and the reed horses located on the beach. We started at the open air Rainbow (or dragon) temple which was partially destroyed by rain, visited one of the few remaining Chan Chan temples. This 20km square city was mostly destroyed by rains, with few parts remaining, protected from a river of water by the other temples. The worst of the destruction was in 1998, and little is being done to stop the total destruction.
We arrived at the grand structure and entered the maze. The structure is the burial area for one emperor, similar to the Egyptian pyramids. The only entrance opens into a large plaza where the mummified body would be placed on show for two weeks when the emperor died and also a year later. This is the only part people would see each year as they bring gifts to pay homage to the emperor.
The next area was a huge oasis, a sunken fresh water source in the desert. It was a truly beautiful and amazing place, full of water and bird life, you can only imagine how impressive it would have been.
All the next sections are storage for the gifts, where some exclusive people could pay homage, along with a storage room in each area to store the booty. These areas were a maze, with pelicans signifying the exits. As the engraved pelican moves from standing, to walking one way and finally to flying, the exit is between the converging flying pelicans.
The next part was more permanent storage for the booty, until the the son and new emperor could use it.
To get to the final part we walked a narrow high ledge to the burial site of the emperor and his 27 closest concubines. His wife and others were in a different structure nearby in this section of the temple.
As the day progressed i realized how the English couple we were doing this tour with were like mum and dad (Sue and John), Just in appearance and dress sense. I mentioned it to Sarah and she was thinking the same thing.
We boarded the minibus again and headed to the famous reed horses. These are boats made from reeds which the locals still use for fishing. We took some photos, paid to walk the pier and left.
We went out for dinner and I was excited by a set menu which included a hamburger. It came out as just a patty, not what I had planned. We finished the day at the bus station, I was heading to Lima and Sarah to Guyaquil. I bought Sarah a special goodbye, a required one of toilet paper for the bus and travels north. Who ever said romance is dead hasn't met me!!
the only thing left to do was board our busses going in different directions.
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