Chan Chan

After exploring Huanchaco, we took the bus to Chan Chan, an archeological site that was inhabited by the Chimú people from 850 AD to 1470 AD when it was conquered by the Incan Empire. It is considered the largest adobe city in the world and was extremely impressive because of the detailed architecture and decorative carvings. When the bus dropped us off at the entrance to the site, when found ourselves on a long winding road in the middle of a giant dessert with huge adobe walls towering over us. There were no signs or markers, so we began to think that were lost in the giant ruins with no signs of life anywhere around us. However, shortly we saw some European tourists walking towards us and we let out a sigh of relief! It turns out that Chan Chan has many enclosed adobe palaces that were each constructed by a different ruler each generation. We took a tour of the best preserved palace with a guide and learned a lot about the city! The funniest thing that happened was that about 5 minutes after we started the tour, someone came over and asked if we would be willing to be interviewed for a TV program about Chan Chan! We said yes, but when they asked us what we liked and what we had learned...we didn't have much to say! There is no way of knowing if we were actually on TV but it was our little moment of fame! Anyways, the walls of the adobe city are covered in carvings of squirrels, fish, birds and other natural symbols that were important to the Chimu people. The fish design was particularly interesting because archeologists think that the pattern of the fish swimming on the wall is supposed to depict the ocean currents in the pacific ocean by Chan Chan.

Other walls of the building were constructed in the design of a fish net with diamond shaped windows. Many of these walls have been worn down by weather over hundreds of years, but it is incredible to see how this delicate design has survived.

Inside this city, there is a main plaza, storage rooms for grains and other products, special rooms for the priests and rulers as well as tombs. Very tall walls- once all about around 15 feet tall surrounded and protected the city. The biggest surprise was that right in the middle of the fortress was a marsh with green plants growing, water and ducks!

What a surprise to find life in the middle of this dessert city! This is where the Chimu dug for a freshwater well and performed rituals. As in all of the other pre-colombian ruins that I have visited, the life and culture of Chan Chan circled around appeasing the gods and therefore the cycles of nature. What I really liked about this site was how it the streets and rooms inside the fortress felt maze like; it really felt like a miniature city. Furthermore, the carvings were so beautiful and distinctive; the repetition of the patterns almost has a modern aesthetic to it. The incredible thing about this site is that it is so massive; I can't imagine what other treasures lie beneath the desert sand.