Desert Life: Exploring the Ancient Cities of Northern Peru Machu
Picchu draws tens of thousands of tourists to Andean Peru each
year to marvel at the skill of the Inca who built the city and
the natural beauty of the mountains that surround it. It is far
and away the most famous pre-Columbian city built by South
America's indigenous people. But Machu Picchu is just a part of
what Peru has to offer. Far away from the snow-capped Andes, the
country's northern coast was home to great cities that rose from
the desert. Both the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the
Moon, built by the Moche civilization, and the adobe city of
Chan Chan, built by the Chimu civilization, still stand in
testament to the art and ingenuity of these peoples. The temples
and Chan Chan are easily reached from the charming city of
Trujillo, Peru, whose brightly painted houses and warm-but-not-
sweltering climate make it a pleasure to visit. The Temple of
the Sun and the Temple of the Moon were built by the Moche
culture between 100 and 800