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To the Peruvian desert coastline, where dunes fill everything with sand.
The landscape is almost stifling making me yearn for the Red Sea and its coral reef.
And to think that thousands of years ago this place was a flower and fruit garden!
It was the Chimú who through irrigation channels founded the city of Chanchán,
the largest one at the time with around 100,000 inhabitants.
I get lost in these corridors that connect the different rooms to the main ceremonial plaza,
the largest one in the world back then,
a 7.72 mi2 courtyard with nine walled enclosures.
Some of the walls have crumbled but, in general, Chanchán is well preserved.
It was a very hierarchical society. The Gran Chimú was above everything else
Everybody else came after him.
They were great metal workers.
The numerous artifacts found are made of gold and of a religious nature.
The Chimú worshiped the sun and the moon
And their royal mummies, which they took out of their tombs on marked occasions.
They were not only passionate about their metal work and taking their mummies out on walks
they also liked pottery and most of all, setting sail in their caballitos de totora,
pointy fishing rafts made of reeds.
Adobe was used in most of their construction,
something you see often in the desert.
There are sea references everywhere
like these bas-relieves representing fishnets,
typical of a city whose inhabitants spent their lives fishing