The pre-columbian city Chan Chan was built around 800-850 AD. The Incas conquired this city too in 1470. About 30 000 people lived here and it's about 20 square kilometers wide. There are about 9 different areas very near each other and I visited one of them. The others are closed due to on-going research and they constructions are also a lot weaker. Maybe in the future the sites will be opened to the tourists.
In Trujillo I took a bus to this site and first the bus left me in the middle of the desert and I was confused. Where is this historical city?! I asked a old local man sitting by the road and he told me to "start walking that way". After abut 20 minutes of walking in the heat I started to see big walls and inside of them was one of the temples of Chan Chan. I was alone with my tour guide. The walls were carved full of pictures of fish, pelicans and fishing net. The city had a traditional big main plaza were the Chimu leader held ceremonies and shows by musicians, priest, singers... Behind the last wall of this city is the Pacific Ocean. That is why the people in Chan Chan mostly ate marine wildlife. Chan Chan was never used as a religious center so the Chimu-people usually travelled to other cities like Pachamac to practise their religion.
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| Main Plaza. |
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| Fishnet carves. |
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| Long corridors to the Main Plaza, so the Chimu leaders could follow what is going on there. |
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| They had also acces to water inside the walls. |
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| Chimu people looked something like this. |
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