Visit to Chan Chan

Today we went to Chan Chan. Built around AD 1300. As you drive along the Panamericana you can not miss the vast area of crumbling mud walls. The site used to be the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas and the largest adobe city in the world. At the height of the Chimu empire, Chan Chan contained about 10,000 structures from royal palaces to huge burrial grounds. The city was first conquered by the Incas, but it was the Spanish that looted it for gold. We also visited two other main sites, Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna. There were many Peruvian hairless dogs wandering around. Their body temperature is much higher than normal dogs and they have been used traditionally as body warmers for people with arthritis. I am petting one in the above picture. Mary is standing in the centre of Chan Chan.