SALAVERRY, PERU

On tour during a drive through the countryside we stopped at the home of a typical Moche family. They warmly welcomed us and proudly showed us their crops - corn, caigua, chili peppers, fruit and others.  We heard about the techniques used to grow these products and how they irrigated their crops. They are close to the Moche river and they piped it and dripped it over their rows just as they have done for centuries.

We went to the Temple of the Moon which was built as a Pyramid just like in Egypt. The Moche people were in power from 250 - 800 AD.  This ancient city was the site of pilgrimages made by the people of the coast and of the northern mountains, sacred space of communication with the gods.  Its impressive architecture is decorated in polychrome murals, many of them one of a kind, that transports us to the world of the Moche, of their deities, of the battles, of their sacrifices.

The end of this civilization came when a rain spell came, one we would call an El Niño. It rained so long it ruined the crops and the people thought their gods were angry with them.  They decided to move away.  Before they did they covered up the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun with mud bricks and cover it all even the ancient city.  It was not discovered until 1991 and it is slowly being uncovered. They have not even started to uncover the Pyramid of the Sun.

The Moche people moved to the coast and dissolved as group of people as they integrated with others.

                                                       Farmer's House

                                                   Moche children

                                                         Wall Art - Picture of their god

                                            Sandy and Tom against back wall of Temple