Peru Guide
The North
The Chan Chan complex
The ruined city of CHAN CHAN, once the capital city of the Chimu Empire, stretches across a large sector of the Moche Valley, beginning almost as soon as you leave Trujillo on the Huanchaco road, and ending just a couple of kilometres from Huanchaco. A huge complex even today, its main focus and museum site is the Tschudi sector, which needs only a little imagination to raise its weathered mud walls to their original grandeur, and picture the surprisingly complex, rule-bound society, where slaves carried produce back and forth while artisans and courtiers walked the streets slowly, stopping only to give orders or chat with people of similar status.
Of the three main sectors specifically opened up for exploration, the Tschudi temple-citadel is the largest and most frequently visited. Not far from Tschudi, Huaca La Esmeralda displays different features, being a ceremonial or ritual pyramid rather than a citadel. The third sector, the Huaca Arco Iris (or El Dragon), on the other side of this enormous ruined city, was similar in function to Esmeralda but has a unique design which has been restored with relish, if not historical perfection. Entrance to these three archaeological sites of the wider Chan Chan complex and the Museo de Sitio (daily 9am–4pm, closed Christmas week; $3.50, or $1.75 for students with ID cards) is included on the same ticket, called the Talon Visitante, which is valid for only two days (but you can try asking for an extension if you need more time). Although you can visit each sector separately, there are only two ticket offices, at the entrance to the Museo de Sitio, located a few hundred metres before the entrance to the Tschudi temple-citadel, and at the entrance to the Tschudi temple-citadel. There's a small interpretive centre at the Tschudi complex entrance, as well as toilets, a cafeteria and souvenirs, plus a full-size model of a Chimu warrior in full regalia. Guided tours are easily arranged (around $3 for the museum); guides for the Tschudi complex ($6 an hour) usually hang around at the Tschudi entrance, and, if you want, will also take you round the huacas. The Museo de Sitio, has an interesting eight-minute multimedia show in Spanish, but not much else of note. The museum uses models, ceramics and other archaeological finds to reconstruct life in the hot but irrigated desert before Trujillo was built.