THE BEACH TOWN OF HUAN-CHACO.

Huan-chaco is a beach town of Mochica origin and a popular vacation spot. It is the most visited beach of Trujillo in Peru. It is situated 12kms North West of Trujillo city, in a bay, on a terrace at the foot of Campana Mountain.
Huanchaco is notable for its surf breaks and its Little Reed Horses (caballitos de Totora), and its ceviche.
Totora Horses are reed watercrafts used by Peruvian fishermen for the past 3,000 years. they transported their nets and collected the fish in their inner cavity. They are made from the same reed, Scirpus Californicus, used by the Uros in the Lake Titicaca region. Currently Huanchaco fishermen still use these vessels, riding the waves back into the shore, suggesting the origin of the first forms of wave riding.
Huanchaco was approved as a World Surfing Reserve by the organization 'Save the Waves Coalition' in 2012. This designation is the first awarded to a Latin America Town and the 5th in the world.
Huanchaco is visited by tourists all over the world, particularly Surfers. Several surf events are held and one of the most important each year in January is the Huan-Chaco Longboard. It has taken place since 2010 at the El Elio Beach bringing together leading surfers of several countries of the world.
The Swamps of Huanchaco, also known as Wetlands of Huanchaco is an ecological Chimu Reserve (natural interactions among organisms and their environment), located about 14kms North West of Trujillo city. From this ecological Reserve the ancient Mochica extracted the raw material for the manufacture of the ancient Little Reed Horses. The Little Reed Horses of Huanchaco beach still are being made from the Swamp's material and being used as ships of work.
The Moche civilization flourished in Northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche and Trujillo. Their cultural sphere was centered on several Valleys on the North Coast of Peru in the Regions La Libertad, Lambayeque, Jequetepeque, Chicama, Viru, Chao, Santa, and Nepena, occupying 250 miles of Desert Coastline and up to 50 miles inland.
The Moche society was agriculturally based, with a significant level of investment in the contruction of irrigation canals for the diversion of River water  to supply their crops. The culture was very sophisticated and their artifacts express their lives, with detailed scenes of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice, sexual encounters in the spiritual world manifested in the physical realm, and elaborate ceremonies. They are particularly noted for their painted ceramics with so much details of the everyday life, gold work, monumental constructions (Huacas=Sources of Spiritual Energy) and their superb designs of irrigation systems.
Huan-chaco is near the Ruin of Chan Chan, the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America. It is located 5 kms West of Trujillo, in the mouth of the Moche Valley, in La Libertad Region. It is a particular arid section of the Coastal Desert. Due to the lack of rain in this area, the major source of water is in the form of Rivers carrying runoff from the Andes Mountains, allowing the control of land and water through irrigation systems. Chan Chan spanned 20 square kilometers having a dense urban center of 6 square kilometers and an extravagant citadels. The citadels were large architectural master-pieces which housed plazas, storerooms, and burial platforms for the high religious class. The splendor of this citadels suggests their association with the high rank levels of religious authorities. The housing for the artisans and people working in the citadels are small , irregular and all connected. The workshops and the place for boarding were the same showing a multipurpose use for the same area.
Huan-chaco's original population were fishermen. They worshipped the moon and the golden fish named Huaca Tasca. It was the main port Moche, Chimu, and the preferred port of the Incas.
In the colonial era, Huan-Chaco continued to be the main port of Trujillo city, but the port closed in 1870. Twenty years later was rebuilt exclusively for exporting sugar from businesses in neighboring Chicama Valley, one of the most important areas of sugar production in the country.
Huan-Chaco is the birthplace of the popular Peruvian "Ceviche."Oral stories says that "Ceviche" was prepared fresh using the raw fish freshly caught from the sea and marinating it with fresh lemons from Simbal (Yunga Village nearby), and chili from the Moche River Valley, and the final touch was the seaweed extracted from the sea.