Travel to Peru, Cusco and Machu Picchu.

In the heart of the Moche Valley and near the Valley of Trujillo lie the ruins of the largest mud city of pre-Hispanic Peru: Chan Chan. Capital city of the Chimú kingdom, the citadel is without a doubt the most valuable heritage of what was one of the principal pre-Inca civilizations that flourished eight centuries ago on the north coast.
Chan Chan, which sprawled across an estimated 18 square kilometers at the peak of its glory in around the year 1200, probably housed some 100,000 inhabitants.
While the mud used to build the city was far from solid, it was preserved by the desert climate. Chan Chan must have been the grandest city of its era. Even today, one can make out a variety of chambers surrounded by high walls. Surrounding these constructions which have defied the ravages of time are a dozen smaller buildings that have been used as housing by inhabitants of varying social classes.
The Chimú built a host of palaces and temples, raising shrines to their gods, all of them pyramid-shaped. The civilization's concept of architecture was based on adobe mud bricks made by hand, traditional construction material on the Peruvian coast.
The Chimú preferred rectangular shapes, and their buildings rose higher than the earlier constructions of the Mochica, skilled city-builders who pre-dated the Chimú. The Chimú were to inherit their construction techniques from the Mochica and Tiahuanaco civilizations. Agriculture was all-important during that era, and the Chimú drew up a vast number of irrigation works which featured advanced techniques of hydraulic engineering. Some of these works stood out for their size and planning, such as the 113 kilometer-long Ascope aqueduct in the Chicama Valley; the 150 kilometer-long Alto Piura canal in the Sechura desert, and the La Cumbre canal, which is still used today.
The Chimú had studied practically all the domestic plants of ancient Peru, like the sweet potato, the olluco tuber, the manioc root and fruits like grenadine, cherimoya (custard apple) and guanábana.
The culture bred animals like the guinea pig, dogs and a species of short-necked llama, today extint, which was used for transport and cargo.
The most striking characteristic of Chan Chan is its total dedication to the sea. Their worship of the ocean was reflected in each and every one of the adobe mud-brick constructions where one can make out traces of murals, niches and recesses, as well as bas-relief stucco figures in the shape of sea animals, fishing tools and sailing scenes. The figures come hard on the heels of others, giving the sensation of the eternal swell of the waves; fish swimming in the same direction; sea mammals resembling the sea otter; full moons portraying the celestial body's influence on the wind and the sea; sea birds like pelicans carved into geometric designs and walls etched into rhomboid figures representing fishing nets, the most important tool used by the men of the sea.
The ancient Peruvians held the sea -which they called Ni- to be the origin of life. Thanks to their sea-faring skills, the Chimú were able to survive between the desert and the sea. The sea was everything to them: an endless supply of food and source of inspiration of the most imaginative myths and legends.

In contrast with the hostile desert environment which theChimú had to work hard to make fertile, the sea was filled with edible species that they found easy to fish out. That was why the inhabitants of the coast found the sea to be their primary source of food, and learned to take advantage of it early on. They knew the currents, tides and winds to perfection, and discovered where the safe ports and islands lay along the coast.
Skillful fishermen, the Chimú used the picturesque reed rafts known as Caballitos de Totora, called horses by the Spaniards after watching the one-man boats appear to gallop over the waves. The rafts are still used to this day by the fishermen of the villages of Huanchaco, Pimentel and Santa Rosa on the north Peruvian coast.
Their deities included fish, sea mammals and shellfish. Proof of this stems from a valuable piece of Chimú treasure found in Trujillo in the sixteenth century. The idol, shaped like a fish, was crafted from precious metals and studded with encrustations. However, the worship of sea birds was also especially significant among the Chimú, as they doted them with a vital resource: guano, which fueled the culture's agriculture as a fertilizer.
The whale was sacred, as was the sea otter, a first-rate swimmer and fisherman. The Chimú felt special admiration for sea lions, which they believed accompanied the souls of the dead on their voyage to the afterlife. The men also enjoyed a friendly relationship with the sleek mammals as they always accompanied fishermen out at sea.
Friends of the otters, sea lions and whales, species which modern Man has almost exterminated, the Chimú have bequeathed mankind the priceless expression of their apirit in their carvings and colorful paintings. The growing

appreciation of aboriginal art has become a gateway to enter the imaginary world of the Chimú, in a cosmic universe with incomprehensible aspects to Western eyes, perhaps, but undeniably doted with balance and respect for an environment that today seems like Eden.
There is still much to be learned from the walls of Chan Chan today. The ruins hold a valuable lesson in harmony, beauty and history.