Doing the Chan Chan

Once in Trujillo we took a bus to Huanchaco, a village by the sea which we presumed was going to be quiet and basically untouched. However this wasn't the case and we quickly realised that it is a popular spot with surfers from around the world which disappointed us a little bit. Nevertheless we found a hostel with ease, and a deserted beach wasn't our only reason for coming. We also wanted to visit Chan Chan., a vast compound containing the unusually decorated crumbling ruins of the imperial city of the Chimu people who surrendered to the Incas in 1471. Chan Chan is the largest adobe city in the world.

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So after some lunch we took a taxi to Chan Chan and were quite surprised by what we found. It is situated down an unsealed track which apparently you shouldn't walk along as there is a high chance of getting mugged. Arriving at the entrance unscathed we saw the 9m high walls which surround the compound and were already intrigued.

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The whole place was buzzing with busy, busy people, most of whom were restoring the ruins to their former glory. For this reason it was quite hard to establish what was original and what reconstructed.

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Which actually made a nice change as it allowed us to see how things would really have been rather than having to mentally fill in the gaps from the ruins alone.

We followed the little wooden fish markers and firstly came to a massive courtyard where religious festivals would have been held, including sacrifices to the gods. Everything was this warm sandy, yellow which with the heat made you feel like you were in the middle of the desert but this was nicely balanced by sense of the sea being so close by. We enjoyed looking at all the intricate details which were used to decorate walls such as fish, birds and fishing nets.

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I think almost all of these must have been reproduced because they were in such good condition. It took almost an hour for us to walk round the imperial city as I tried to translate the Spanish guide we'd been given, I think we got a good sense of how the Chimu people lived.

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Back at the entrance there were a few taxi drivers waiting to take people back to Trujillo or Huanchaco. Due to the remote location they decided they could ask for ridiculous fares which we didn't appreciate. Knowing that at the end of the unsealed road we would be able to catch a bus was even more annoying. Thankfully just at that moment two security guards started walking in that direction and after a little convincing from Adam we tagged along behind them. Our own personal armed escort, sort of. No one was going to be robbing us! Back in Huanchaco we relaxed at the hostel for a while before heading out for some dinner. We both had a massive piece of meat off the bbq and felt pretty stuffed by the end, although we still had enough room for an ice cream. A tasty treat before bedtime.

The following morning we decided to move on, conscious now that time was ticking by. Neither of us could face a really long bus trip though so we just moved a little further up the coast to a town called Chiclayo which in hindsight would prove to be a bad decision. We needed to get ourselves to to the town of Tumbes and from there we would cross in to Ecuador. When we arrived in Chiclayo we first found a hotel and then had the lovely job of going to several different bus companies around town to find out if they went to Tumbes. Only one did and we explained to them we wanted to go the following evening. They then said there was no night bus that day, so we booked to go the day after. As it stood we would have two days in Chiclayo.

On the first day we did very little except move hotels to one which gave us better value for money. It was actually really nice, we had a great room and we both enjoyed just lolling about. Chiclayo itself has quite a nice feel about it, the main plaza is pretty but there is not an awful lot to see or do. The next day we were due to leave in the evening which I managed to explain to the hotel staff and they said we could pay half the room rate to keep it for the day. Our bus was due to depart at 9pm so we left the hotel at 8:30pm and walked the short distance to the bus company's offices. As we got close we realised the lights were off, the doors shut and basically it didn't look very open. Just as we got to the building a bus was leaving and it turned out to be the last bus for the next 24 hours. Through a couple of sources we came to understand that there was to be a one or two day strike. We were told to return the following day at midday to find out if our bus would be leaving in the evening. Annoyed at the hold up we returned to the hotel and were given a different, better room. A small silver lining.

The following day was very frustrating as we went along at midday but the office was closed and there seemed to be some kind of meeting going on inside. There was a rabble of taxi drivers outside all trying to offer us rides but it was too expensive and we had paid for our bus ticket and had no way to get our money back. We went back to the hotel and although we were fairly resigned to another night in Chiclayo we still went back later in the day to see if anything had changed, it hadn't. The next morning we went along to the office early and thankfully everything was up and running. We confirmed our seats on the bus for that evening and were pleased that we would finally be on the move again.

More Soon,

Laura & Adam