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We were staying in a hostel outside of Trujillo, in a beachside town called Huanchaco. After another case of cab driver not having a clue about the roads on his home turf we got to our hostel right on the beachfront and went looking for dinner. It was a quiet night as we wanted to pack in various ruins the following day. We first set off for Chan Chan, just a few kilometres away. This is the largest pre-Colombian city in South America and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was constructed by the Chimu, a civilisation that pre-dates the Incas. Chan Chan itself spanned a total of around twenty square kilometres, but the sight we were at was significant because it was where major ceremonial activities took place. It was fascinating to see some of the restored engraving in the ruin walls, as well as the reservoir which was crucial to population growth for the Chimu. It boggles the mind to think what these people were capable of 1,200 years ago. We spent the next couple of hours at a museum dedicated to Chimu culture and a couple of other ruins, before grabbing some lunch and heading into a local market. Daniel and Kiran bargained for some flip flops while I bagged a couple of pairs of socks in anticipation of my upcoming Inca Trail hike. High rollers...... Chiclayo and Trujillo provided some interesting insight into pre-Incan Peru. It was fascinating to see the intricacies in both architecture and ornaments/jewellery, as well as the fanatical nature of these people when it came to religion (the religious parts of the ruins were always the biggest, the religious ornaments were always the most intricate etc). There is also no doubt that their ability to construct was phenomenal, given the expansive nature of Chan Chan. At the time, I wasn't sure that these two towns had been worth the visit, and part of me wishes I'd moved straight through to Lima, but in hindsight, it was valuable to understand the story of Pre-Incan Peru before my trip to Cusco.
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