Day 59 - 63 The Northern Peruvian Coast & its treasures

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After 3 days in a big smoke with grey skies, and one with dungeons, it's time to move out.

We had an early morning start, in the chilly and stubbornly grey sky.  It had been grey for the entire time of our stay in Lima.  Not that we really needed the sun for city lives, just that it may help liven up the dreariness of big cities in general.

Finally, we left the crowds behind, and clamored on to the desert flanked highways up the coast of northern Peru.

The sand dunes are there to be marveled.

Along the way, we'd encountered quite a few areas of sugar cane plantations....I am no agricultural expert, but sugar canes and desert ?..where do they get the water from.  Otherwise it seems, that it would be difficult for the natives to live on the land.

Late in the afternoon, we settled into our campsite at a quiet location just behind the beaches of Huanchaco.

After seeing the rubbished strewn beaches, I decided to stick to wifi at the campsite, and planned the menu for the next day’s dinner, it was our group’s turn to cook, and it was my challenge of cooking a quinoa dinner, my first time.  Every cook worth his salt, would have to cook quinoa once !

So the next morning, whilst on our trip to explore the two local ancient ruins, the “Moche Ruins: Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun” and the Chan Chan Ruin, I did pray to the gods there for their blessing of a non-ruined dinner....

The Sun Temple...no excavation yet.

Excavation of the Temple of the Moon now underway.

The Moche Ruins, comprised of two temples flanking a small city, the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Sun, both are relatively new discoveries.  So much of it are still under excavations, and they are painstaking works, just small brushes, sand by sand.

The city between the two Temples, under painstaking excavation.

What we've been able to see in some details is mainly the Temple of the Moon ( Luna ).

So far what have been revealed, are some ceremonial sites, sacrificial remains of  human and/or animals, and many treasures ( taken away for safe keeping ).

What is interesting is, like the Aztec Ruins in Mexico, 6 or 7 layers of the temples were exposed, like a Russian doll.  It’s human nature, it seems, when they become better off, they spend more and more resources in worshiping, to hopefully, get more from some mythical being....until one day, when that wasn’t sustainable, then the death of another civilization.   So the different layers represent their efforts to please the God in a bigger way as time progressed, bigger and better than ever before.

Layers built in different era. Average about 250 years a layer.

Much the same happened here, much the same happened on Easter Island and many others, only the ruins are left as a reminder of that stupidity.

It’s greed, greed, and more greed !

The bricks used have marks on them, which indicate which family or tribe manufactured the bricks.  It seems that there was contribution from a large collection of groups.

Bricks with codes showing its origin or maker.

Brick marking map.

Peruvian Dogs are just cute....their body temperature is about 41 Deg.

Not far away, about 10 Km or so, is the Chan Chan Ruin, another UNESCO listed World Heritage site.

The Chan Chan Ruin, was another grandiose idea of a King who wanted to built a masoleum for his family.  It was basically a grand tomb, never lived in.

The high outer walls.

The Grand Entrance and its courtyard.

Front court yard

With its grand entrance square, it has high mud walls throughout the site with many long passages.

And then there are the tombs. the King's mother, the Queen etc.

The King's tomb.

The Queen's and her servants.

Tombs of other family members.

And there was even a private pool/pond inside the compound.

However, all these, left another beautiful ruin for future generations to ponder, and for us tourist to marvel.  But will we learn much from this, other than its curiosity value ?

And we had the best dinner for a long long time, look what I've done ( it's actually a team effort by my two other beautiful teamates !)

All the fresh ingredients ready for a 12 person Quinoa Dinner !

And the Quinoa ready to be boiled, a little like rice cooking.

Cooked.

Cooked Quinoa.

No one was complaining, I can brag that much !  And there were satisfying faces ALL around, I think!  Actually, I was quite proud of myself.

Someone tried to dry his clothes on a moving truck.

More sands ahead.

As we continue our journey northwards....and stopped by at the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum .

QUOTE, The Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum is considered as one of the biggest museum in Latin America dedicated to a single archaeological discovery and contains a fabulous treasures found at the tomb of the Lord of Sipan.”  UNQUOTE.

The exhibits are quite extensive, showing the life and history of the people and their culture, unfortunately, NO photos were allowed, but this Youtube video may shed some light of its inside, Sipan Museum on Youtube.

We had a lost day, finally. Originally we were expecting to sit down and watch our sunset after settling into our new destination....but we had to see it through our moving truck !

The camping ground that night was a new location for both Will and Nienka,  and the address wasn't really specific. Just the name of beach, Punta Sal.

They kept searching and driving. We finally thought we had Punta Sal, after seeing an arch bearing that name.  The truck barely scrapped through the arch, and did the same again after discovering that we are still another 30 Km or so back on the highway.

Finally, we were there, after the owner of the place stood on the highway to wave us down. And it was well after the evening had settled in.

We camped on a white sand beach for the next two days.  It was time to wind down and reset, in almost absolute isolation.  No TV ( not that I cared ! ) and no Internet.  And no hot water, and barely function flushing toilets.

And finally the sun came out after the last few grey days, I nearly thought the Peruian gods had hidden the sun since before Lima, 4 days ago.

And I was too lazy to close the tent, after a windy day, inside was full of sand.  But the days were relaxing otherwise, catching up on some contemplation and writings.

And there were more glorious Pacific sunsets to enjoy.

This is to be our last stop before we cross over to Ecuador.

Next Post:  Cuenca & her Panama Hats

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