Without Machu Picchu you’ll enjoy the trip of a lifetime

SPECIAL: PERU WITHOUT MACHU PICCHU – Machu Picchu is closed. It will stay that way through all of February at the very least. Do you have your flights booked and are wondering what to do next? Should you cancel or put off your trip to Cuzco?

February 4, 2010 | Travel and Places

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Volunteer at ancient Chan Chan

Does toiling under the hot desert sun heaving bricks up a ladder to rebuild collapsing walls interest you? What if the walls were many hundreds and hundreds of years old and part of the world’s largest adobe city, one of the largest cities of any kind in the ancient world? A city home to the rulers of the Peruvian desert coast, the Chimú imperial heart of Chan Chan. Does a couple of days of hands-on archaeology at one of the world’s most important archaeological sites interest YOU?

January 12, 2010 | Archaeology, Culture & History, La Libertad & Trujillo Guide, News

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School kids attack Chan Chan’s finest huaca

Terrible news for lovers of Peru’s ancient history and archaeology enthusiasts: Peruvian school children viciously attack one of the greatest works of their ancestors.

The group filmed themselves throw rocks, kick and scratch the ancient friezes of the Huaca Arco Iris, also known as the Huaca del Dragón, to later post on You Tube to show off to friends. One, putting on a Spanish accent, films them saying “kick it, kick it, this is how you love your Peru, no?”.

January 9, 2010 | Archaeology, News, Opinion

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Ñain An sculptures: New secrets revealed at ancient Chan Chan

The discovery of 17 wooden statues at Chan Chan are enough to change our understanding of the Chan Chan urban centre. Embedded in the walls of the later Ñain An complex, also known as Bandelier, the figures are thought to have bid farewell to the deceased leaders.

October 20, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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Housewives restore walls of ancient Chan Chan

The ancient capital of the Chimor Kingdom, the grand city of Chan Chan, has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. After 500 years of abandonment in the desert outside Trujillo, it has been damaged by 500 yearly rains that have washed away large parts of the walls of the adobe city. Restoration has been under way for years, but with limited resources it is a slow process. The site needs all the help it can get to avoid deteriorating more – that’s where the housewives come in.

September 3, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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Chan Chan under constant threat

Only 5 of the 134 projects of the nine-year-old so called “master plan” have been executed to date, Repeated illegal land invasions by locals one of the principle problems for the ancient site. Chan Chan, the ancient capital city of the Chimú, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986 because of its extraordinary architectural and historical importance. Unfortunately, the list World Heritage sites isn’t the only UNESCO list it is on.

July 6, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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Application submitted to destroy ancient Chan Chan ruins

It almost defies belief that a mining company would summit an application to mine for iron ore in the ruins of the capital of the once powerful Chimu kingdom. The sprawling archaeological zone of Chan Chan is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the largest adobe constructions on earth.

Thankfully, Peru’s geological authority in charge of granting permission (INGEMMET) has no plans to approve this particular application.

June 28, 2009 | Archaeology, News

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The Nazca Civilisation

Descended from the older Paracas civilisation, the Nazca are of course most famous for their countless mysterious lines draw in the rocky desert plains in which they lived. They were also great water engineers, creating a series of complex aqueducts.

December 3, 2008 | Culture & History

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Treasures of Peru video

Join Dan Cruickshank in a journey across Peru in which he discovers what he considers to be some of the world’s greatest treasures.

February 26, 2008 | Opinion

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Chan Chan

It was the largest city that had existed in South America and remained that way even when it lay in ruins during part of the Spanish colonial period. At 18km2 by some measurements and more than 20km2 including its surrounding agricultural districts, this gigantic city formed the capital of the Chimor kingdom of the Chimú civilisation.

December 15, 2007 | Archaeology, La Libertad & Trujillo Guide

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The Chimú and the Kingdom of Chimor

In the aftermath of the collapse of the the Moche civilisation in the late 700s A.D. a new civilisation was born. In the late 800s until the early 1000s the Chimú culture began to establish itself, reaching it’s peak in the 1200s and lasting until the 1490s when they were conquered by the Incas.

December 14, 2007 | Archaeology, Culture & History, La Libertad & Trujillo Guide

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Colonial Trujillo

Trujillo is the capital of the region of La Libertad on the northern coast, and is the third largest city in Peru after Lima and Arequipa. This is where the Moche and Chimú civilizations developed between 200B.C. and 700A.D. Its year-round pleasant climate has earned it the title of “Capital of the Eternal Spring”. It has wonderful beaches, including the famous Huanchaco, which are sometimes venues for international surfing competitions. Fishermen still use reed canoes called “Caballitos de Tortora”, made the same way for thousands of years.

December 6, 2007 | Culture & History, La Libertad & Trujillo Guide

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