My Travels In Peru

The Land of the Chimu

Our imaginary journey in time continues. 

We sailed north until we reached the city of Chan Chan (City of the sun in the Chimu language). Although we traveled less than ten kilometres up the coast, we arrived at the end of the thirteenth century, just before the Incas conquered it. The city was so large it beckoned us from far away. When we got there, we encountered a lot of boat traffic, as was the norm outside large cities. It took a while to find an available place to dock. And as soon as we did, the authorities came over to collect the port tax. When they found no commercial goods on board they left disappointed, but they had treated us courteously. They had been well trained for their job.

From the shore we could only see the immense outer wall that surrounded the city, and, at the entrance, it was at least three metres thick, decorated in bas-relief. Bigger than life stone statues stood guard on both sides. Their faces were reminiscent of the Easter Island stone statues. Everything we saw, even before entering, spoke to us of opulence. The entrance was well guarded and everything had to be inspected to ensure that the city's lord received his rightful share of all commercial goods brought into it. No sooner we entered the main gate, there was another big wall. We turned right and followed a long hallway. When we reached the end we found another entranceway that led us to a spectacular city square.

We didn't know it then, but when we entered the outer wall, we entered a city of cities. There were ten altogether, and each one had a population of at least ten thousand. The original founder was Tacaynamo, whose dynasty ruled until the Incas arrived. When he died, the city that he built continued to be ruled by his family, in his name. The new ruler, his son, was obliged to build his own city, which forced him to go out and conquer other people to pay for it. And this continued with each subsequent ruler. There were ten in all, which means that they had conquered a lot of territory. However, this policy of conquest pitted them against another rising power – the Incas – that put an end to their dynasty.

Each city was more or less planned the same way, with three sectors and each had its own water supplies, food stores, houses, and of course, artisan's shops. The north sector contained a large square with a short surrounding wall that was used for sitting. From there one climbed a ramp to the central sector, which contained buildings for food storage and public administration, and the cemetery, which was constructed in the form of a truncated pyramid. The third sector was largely residential.

In the city of Nik An, we found hard-working people, producing textiles, gold and silver jewellery, and ceramics. It was the wealthiest and most industrialized of the cities we had seen on our journey. Textiles and pottery were two of the major products. They imported cotton and wool and exported garments of all types for the rich and the working classes. Metalworking was also important. They bought the raw materials and sold the finished products, mostly jewellery, but also kitchen utensils such as spoons, forks, and knives.

Their wealth was evident by the luxurious houses people lived in, the upscale restaurants and the nightly concerts that were held in the city square. While they worked hard by day they enjoyed themselves by night. There was no shortage of entertainment: the sound of music permeated the entire city. We sat on the wall surrounding the main square, along with others, sipping a cup of chicha and enjoying the music coming from the centre. Various musical groups took their places at playing their unique instruments. One group used sets of two ceramic bottles joined together, filled with water to different levels. One bottle had an open mouth and the other a closed one. They blew over the bottle's open mouth and, by manipulating its orientation they controlled the musical tones. They harmonized really well. Another group used ceramic flutes individually and in a pack, similar to a harmonica.

Chan Chan's fine architecture was one notch above the others. Although they built with adobe, everything was given a smooth mud finish, painted and decorated with bas-reliefs of birds, fish, and other animals as well as geometric shapes reminiscent of ancient Egypt. Surprisingly, they did not reach the same level of artistry in pottery as the Moche before them. Their ceramics, although of good quality, lacked the refinement, artistic detail, and realism of their predecessors.

After finding a not-so-comfortable boat to take us farther north, we continued our journey. I must admit that Chan Chan's luxury had softened us a bit. However, it was good to be back on the open sea, where the fresh air cleared our nostrils of all the smoke we had inhaled in the big city. We had eaten well there, but all the cooking, done over open fires, filled the city with smoke and fumes, to the point of being uncomfortable and irritating to the eyes. The smoke generated by the metal foundries exacerbated the problem.

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimu civilization, which spread along the entire north coast and almost as far south as Lima. Its next big centre was at the mouth of the Chicama River, in a beautiful lush valley only sixty kilometres north. Cao is Peru's longest continuously inhabited place. From the boat we could see a large city with two truncated pyramids of significant size, reminiscent of the Moche City we had seen earlier on our journey (see previous chapter), where a large square was flanked by two pyramids, one dedicated to the sun and the other to the moon. Fields of corn surrounded the city as far as the eye could see, but we later learned that they also grew potatoes and cassava, as well as various fruits such as chirimoya (custard apple), and guanábana (soursop). They were being sold in the marketplace.

When we got to the bigger of the two pyramids, we were in for some surprises. Firstly, we found almost all citizens gathered in the big walled courtyard of the royal palace awaiting a big announcement from their lord. There was a lot of excitement: everyone expected good news. And it was. But the biggest surprise was that the city's governor was a woman! What we had seen up to that point had made us conclude that all city rulers were male. This one clearly invalidated that conclusion.

Eventually, as the level of anticipation and excitement grew, La Señora de Cao came out from her palace. She emerged on the ceremonial platform with a loose-fitting dress, a large golden headpiece, two golden necklaces, one bigger than the other, and a golden rod in each hand. Her dress, appearance, and demeanour made it clear that she was royalty. As soon as she appeared, everyone cheered; and when she broadcasted that she was expecting a child everyone was jubilant. She invited everyone to stay for dinner and an evening of celebration right there in the courtyard. The cheering and applause went up a few octaves. The party started as soon as she went back in, when her servants began serving chicha to the multitudes.

She was in her mid twenties, full of life, and clearly happy that the dynasty would continue, but we knew that it wouldn't. She would die giving birth. In any case, despite her charm and youthful appearance, there was something sinister about her. Her fingers, forearms, and lower legs were tattooed with images of spiders and snakes. In addition to being the ruler, she was the leader of the religious cult of the decapitator god.

The wall surrounding the courtyard was made of adobe and plastered with mud to a smooth finish, then painted and decorated with images of prisoners, chained together one to the other, walking into the city, where some would have been decapitated so that their blood would fertilize the earth: a tribute to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth).

The most striking figure painted on the palace wall was unquestionably Ai Apaec, the decapitator god. There were many representations of this deity, most of them of his angry face, with fangs, surrounded by spiders and snakes, and when the entire body was shown, one hand held a long knife and the other a severed head. The governess of Cao was also the head priestess of the Ai Apaec cult.

In contrast to Chan Chan, Cao was my type of city. Although it had many artisans, it wasn't as industrialized and polluted. Agriculture and fishing were more important here than in the capital. We could have easily spent more time, but we had other places to visit, so we continued our northward journey. We left at the same time as the fishermen were setting out with their Caballitos de Totora (small reed boats) to bring in the day's catch. There were so many, it looked like a fleet.