Tuesday

For all of you wondering where the pictures are, they will be posted once I get back to the states. I did not bring my laptop to process the pictures (make them a good size for web viewing) because I did not want to lug it around, especially since the last time I took it to a foreign country and went to high altitude the hard drive crashed. I have been taking lots of pictures and will certainly revise the posts once I get home.

Today we went to two incredible sites, Huaca de la Luna and Chan Chan. Huaca de la Luna is part of the Moche civilization and is being excavated by one of the local Peruvian beer brewerys. It is a very big temple and you wander around until you get to the back side where there is this incredible wall with six or seven steps, each with repeating images. Each step, about 6 feet high, was of one image such as bird, snake, feline, warrior, and lords holding hands. They were made of mud plastered over adobe bricks and then molded into the shapes and painted with up to 8 colors. We saw some of the restorers working and it appeared they were trying to remove the grime from the painted surfaces. It was spectacular.

We went to lunch in Huanchaco on the beach where the locals fish from the reed boats about the size of surf boards they call caballitos or little horses. We had lunch in a great restaurant overlooking the waves and the surfers. The ocean temperature is about what it is off the coast in Ventura, so the surfers had wet suits. The temperature was just beautiful and I felt so comfortable, just as in Ventura. Walking the beach we encountered a man making tiny replicas of the boats there on the beach for 3 soles, about $1. I bought one (it was about 8 inches long) and we also received a souvenier one from the restaurant only 3 inches long.

After lunch we went to Chan Chan, the largest adobe complex in the Americas. The complex included 9 palaces and numerous residential areas. We saw one of the smallest palaces and it probably covers a 2 block by 3 block area. The complex was many square miles. There were not a lot of artifacts found on the site because the Spanish had already looted the graves. Just amazing how big and complicated these places were. This is a Chimu civilization site.

Tomorrow is the grandaddy of all sites - Sipan, the only unlooted royal tomb discovered in Peru. I saw the exhibit when it was at UCLA in 1994 and I am anxious to see the new museum that has been built for this discovery. After tomorrow we leave the north coast of Peru and head to Cusco and Inca country. But tomorrow, Moche and Sipan. I am excited.