Chan Chan

On the road between Trujillo and Huanchaco is the huge ancient ruins of Chan Chan. A bit like the pyramids in Mexico, or the volcanoes in Central America, visiting lots of ancient ruins makes me become a little blasé and under whelmed at the thought of seeing another. In fact, I was tempted not to go to Chan Chan, but to break up our lazy beach days, we did. And I’m so glad we did. After all, it’s the largest adobe city in the world – to quote another statistic from our book – so it is bound to be good.

It is pre-Inca ruin, that was built and belonged to the Chimu, before the Incas kicked them out and copied there building style in Cuzco. Chan Chan is in great shape. It is not a group of stone foundations where walls used to be, it still has proper high walls meaning you can walk around inside an ancient city. Not bad, hey? And if you don’t want to take a guide, you can buy a leaflet, which describes what you are seeing each plaza and courtyard, and what they got up to in each place.

The walls have engraved pictures of birds and fishes that are in excellent condition - they´ve done a good job of restoring them. The whole site is under restoration at the moment as they are trying to protect and strengthen the walls and paths. And it is so vast. The city walls once contained palaces, temples and houses, plus rows of storerooms stretching 1000km up the coast where they kept their agricultural wealth. It certainly beats another day on the beach!