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The Chimu Ruins and Cabillitos Boats

When I arrived at Casa del Clara, Clara nor Michael were there, so I went ahead and hired a taxi to go see the Chimu culture ruins of Chan Chan, La Huaca Esmeralda (temple of
the sea), and La Huaca Arco Iris (temple of the rainbow).  These are temples or palaces from the pre-Columbian times (850-1500).  Chan Chan is one of 9 palaces at this location.  Each ruler would build their own palace upon the death of their predecessor who was usually their father (oldest son took over as ruler).  The ruler was entombed in their palace.  Chan Chan was just one such palace and was one of the later ones built.  It is the largest pre-Columbian city in America and the largest adobe city.  At its prime, it housed approx. 60,000 people.  They were a rich culture with lots of gold, silver and ceramics, but most of these were lost to grave robbers and rain, flood, wind, and sand damage of El Ninos and earthquakes. 

Each palace had high walls (3-4 meters high) protecting the inhabitants.  These walls enclosed huge ceremonial courtyards, walk-in wells or cisterns, mazes of corridors, ramps (no stairs), administration areas, food storage areas and a funerary/mausoleum.  The walls were covered with color pictures depicting their lives and the elements important to their survival - pelicans, fish, gods, sea otters, fish nets, waves etc.  The rooms had were huge, open spaces with no furniture - only mud benches used for everything (sleeping, sitting...)  The rooms were engineered to have straight, thick walls (used sugar canes to create a straight line) and incredible acoustics.  They were pretty advanced in some of their techniques. 

The Chimu culture did believe in some human and animal sacrifice.  When the ruler died, all his wives and concubines were killed and buried with him.  He was mummified in an up right sitting position - different than the other cultures around here.

As part of this tour, I also visited 2 other temples - the La Huaca Esmeralda and the La Huaca Arco Iris (temple to the sea and temple to the rainbow, respectively).  These were just small pyrimid structures, not huge complexes like Chan Chan.  Still very interesting.

After getting my fill of ruins, I took the taxi to the beach community of Huanchaco - a quaint little European settled town.  This beach community is known for its fisherman who use ancient,  traditional cabillitos boats and nets to fish.  The cabillitos are made out of totora reeds and are high-ended, cigar-shaped vehicles. They look like and elve's  shoe!  Really unusual.  The fishermen paddle out to fish and then use the boat to surf in to shore.  They were fishing for crab when I was out there.  Heard later you could take a ride on the boats - which would have been fun. 

The town is also a big surfing town, so after school, all the kids came out to surf!  

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