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Huacas del Sol y de la Luna

I took a tour with Michael today to the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna  - temples of the sun and moon - from the Moche civilization.  These are older ruins than Chan Chan and are from the Moche period - AD 600. 

I ended up with a private tour since no one else wanted to go.  Since it was just me, we rode a local combi colectivos to get there.  Colectivos are what old VW buses become after they die in the US.  They are old, delapidated VW buses that they pack riders in like sardines.  They have one guy driving and another hanging out the door yelling to everyone on the street the destination.  It was rather smelly and worn out, but very cheap!  Another cultural experience!  

Since Michael and Clara have watched these sites be found and excavated, they are the best tour guides in the area.  I had a great tour which Michael enhanced with all his personal observations and stories.  We could only tour the Huaca del Luna since the other one has not been excavated yet for visitors.  This ruin had beautiful polychrome friezes on the walls.  All the ruins during this period were completely re-built around the existing structure every time a new ruler came in.  So these ruins were like peeling an onion with friezes being found underneath other ones.   There were 6 different layers to this huaca.  This ruin has had lots of damage from the El Nino rains as well as sand. It is at the base of a mountain and when the rains came, they flooded most of the ruins.  They have covered several finds again with sand to keep them preserved.

Michael remembered seeing a basket laying in one hole unattended at the ruins for several months.  The next time he saw it, it was in the Sipan Museum with 20 armed guards around it.  When they finally opened up the basket, they found lots of gold and other relics that were part of a royal tomb.  It is odd to see how the excavations are sometimes very haphazard!  Lots of ruins have been damaged due to improper excavation (i.e. no cover, so paintings got bleached in the full sun). 

This civilization made their ceramics using molds which has been replicated by artisans.  In addition, the huaca was made out of mud bricks.  The workers could make/lay 1,000 bricks a day.  Each group would have a special mark they would mark each brick with, so you would always know who made it.  Michael thought it was their try at quality control!!!  Many of the fields around town are still depressed in the ground due to all the brick making.

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