Huaca de la Luna
by Scott KloosIt is the heart I am trying to awaken in the aesthetic response to the world. The anima mundi is simply not perceived if the organ of this perception remains unconscious by being conceived only as a physical pump or a personal chamber of feelings...Awakening the imaging, sensing heart...cannot be accomplished without moving as well the seat of the soul from brain to heart.
-James Hillman
-James Hillman
I enter the stream of pedestrians, stopping to purchase sunblock en route to food and coffee confusion. There are interesting herb stalls in the market and a lively night scene but for me Trujillo is just a place to stay while I visit the archeological sites of Chan Chan and the Huacas del Sol y Luna. I have to keep moving. Already the jungle is calling my name.
The unexcavated Huaca del Sol, the largest adobe structure in the Americas, made up of between 50-140 million bricks, stands as a beacon across the Moche Valley mimicking the sacred mountains in the distance. The Huaca de la Luna which is almost completely excavated is surprisingly interesting and beautiful. The complex is actually a series of six temples, each built upon the preceding one and decorated with increasingly disturbing iconography. Happy scenes of fishermen holding hands give way to ominous manta rays and other worldly monsters with many condor-headed tentacles and large menacing mouths filled with sharp fangs ready to devour the being in its clutches. Here I come face to face with the master of life and death, Ai-Apaec, who keeps order in the human world and is linked with human sacrifice. Recently 42 skeletons were found in a mound just outside the walls of the Temple. There is evidence that the apparently healthy young men were killed during an El Nino year when resources may have been scarce. The guide seems to be fascinated with the notion of sacrifice.
-From here the priest carry the cup fill with 'blowed' and show to people down there, she carefully says in stilted English pointing to the plaza below. He drink from the cup and pour out on ground. The people go wild.
I wonder how this information has been received. Most of the things you hear are pure conjecture-the truth shifts depending on the archeologist in residence or whatever is more spectacular and will interest the visitors. In any case the guide doesn't seem too thrilled with us: a Swedish couple and myself. We don't react correctly to her performance. It is late afternoon, and she is tired. Her face is splotched white with excess sunblock. I would prefer to explore without a guide so I can feel the place and create my own story, but they don't allow unescorted visits. I suppose they are worried that someone will damage the fragile painted adobe. I try to hang back and take pictures but the Swedish woman keeps asking questions in poor English that the guide cannot understand. I find myself translating for her and becoming increasingly annoyed.
The next day I pack up and move to Huanchaco, a beach town near the ruins of Chan Chan, the capitol of the Chimu empire which was built in 1100 C.E. and, according to legend, was inspired by the original creator deity, a dragon who made the sun and moon and whose earthly manifestation is the rainbow, symbol of life and energy. At its height it was one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in the Americas. It was conquered by the Incas in the 1470's.
The colectivo drops me off by the side of the highway. I walk the short way down the dirt road towards the ruins. Taxis slow and offer rides.
-No, I want to walk.
The sun feels good on my body. Vultures perch on old adobe walls. I am the first to arrive at the entrance. I disappoint the many guides waiting for clients. It is so much nicer to be able to walk at my own pace through the netted adobe walls and wander through the large plaza imagining the scene of adherents gathered for ritual. Detailed carvings on the walls depict pelicans and fish, stingrays, and what appear to be sea otters. Meek little sentinels of wood stand guard. I have trouble relating to this cuteness. Give me monstrous beings to contend with. Let me lie with devouring deities who will rip out and devour my heart. Perhaps I am missing something.
I return to Huanchaco to gather my things and catch a bus back to Trujillo where I will leave for Cajamarca.
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