From the ruins of the former settlements of the Inca and Tiahuanaco cultures on Lake Titicaca, the Kayawaya priests worshiped Tata Indi, the Sun God. At dawn, to bring good luck, they burned amulets and llama fetuses, and the smoke rose carrying the invocation to Vida Kocha, who created the world from this Island of the Sun. This enigmatic god ordered men to go forth and multiply, then disappeared into the west and was never seen again.

According to the eminent archaeologist Federico Kaufman, the figure worshipped at the Gate of the Sun in Tiwanaku represents Vida Kocha, the creator of the Andean world, surrounded by mythical beings with condor-like heads. The colossal monoliths in Tiwanaku seem to want to speak to us of these secrets, which this mysterious culture of Titicaca still hides. Some writers have even described them as gods from other planets and have come up with elaborate theories. What is certainly true, however, is that these stone sculptures continue to astound even the most distinguished archaeologists and specialists.

The Tiwanaku culture appeared around the 4th century AD on the Bolivian plateau, just a few kilometers from the shores of Lake Titicaca. From there, it spread south where it merged with the Uwari heirs to a different tradition, the Parakas Nazca culture. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America and one of the highest in the world. It lies at 3,820 meters above sea level, covers 9,000 square kilometers, is about 230 kilometers long by almost 100 wide, and has a maximum depth of 457 meters.

The Tiwanaku culture went through a number of different phases: the Early Phase, the Classical Age, and the Post-Tiwanaco Culture. It was a society profoundly marked by its religious beliefs. The inhabitants of the Island of the Sun to this day retain reminders of this religion in the liturgy of their rituals. Before undertaking any action, they call upon their gods, especially Pachamama, the Earth Goddess.

On the Islands of the Sun and Moon, we find numerous ruins of Tiwanaku origin, which were later occupied by the Incas. These are sacred places for the peoples of the Andes. All around, offerings can be seen in the shape of piles of stones, looking toward the snow-capped peaks believed to be the home of the gods.

The ancient mystical observatories are still used by the shaman in their ceremonies of invocation and meditation. The monumental city of Tiwanaku was built during the Classical Age. The famous Barbados monolith presides over the semi-subterranean temple. Were the builders of this colossal city guards or giants? The transport of the enormous stones and the manner in which they're expertly fitted together have given rise to numerous theories, but none of these is universally accepted, and Tiwanaku remains an enigma.

According to legend, the Earth was inhabited by giants called Tulpas who had become powerful and wise, but their culture degenerated into violence, and so the god Viracocha punished them by sending a devastating flood, killing them all. The first land to emerge from the waters was the Island of the Sun, and there Viracocha created Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, the first human couple, and gave them a scepter of gold. Manco Capac threw it with all his strength, and where it fell, that is where the Inca Empire was born.

The majority of the coast of Peru is dry desert land. Vast expanses of dunes bury everything in their relentless advance. The air becomes gray and excruciating, visibility reduced to almost nothing. Nonetheless, this inhospitable land was the birthplace of great civilizations, which constructed irrigation channels and created gardens in the desert. With their advanced techniques, they developed agricultural societies capable of supporting large numbers of inhabitants. This is the case of the Chimú, which, from the year 1000 to 1470 AD, ruled over 700 kilometers of coast and built cities like this one, Chan Chan, perhaps the largest city in the world at the time, with around 100,000 inhabitants. It covers an area of twenty square kilometers and is composed of nine distinct areas separated by trapezoidal walls from six to nine meters high. Each one corresponded to a different Chimú monarch. A network of passages led from these districts of the city to the great ceremonial square. All the buildings are of clay, the material used by all the cultures of the Peruvian desert.

Around the ceremonial altars, the walls were decorated with bas-reliefs which represented fishing nets. Chan Chan lived in close contact with the sea.

In this region available during the past century, a number of storms have destroyed and disfigured the city's fragile walls. It was a very hierarchical society; power was held by the great Chimú. Below him were the chiefs who governed the different valleys. Then came the professionals and the tax collectors who lived in the cities, and finally the peasants, farmers, and fishermen.

This culture was highly skilled in the working of gold, and many objects made of this metal have been discovered. The majority of these are clearly of religious nature. The Chimú worshiped the Moon and the Sun, as well as the mummies of their monarchs, which they would remove from their tombs on special occasions. The masks with blind eyes were funeral masks and were placed on the faces of the mummies. Their pottery has also provided many valuable clues about the daily lives of the Chimú. It is decorated with depictions of many of their habits and customs, like this pot which shows a fisherman with his caballito de totora. Still today, the fishermen along the coast of northern Peru use these boats, called caballitos de totora, to work the fishing grounds close to the shore. The totora is a type of reed or bulrush which grows in the marshlands. Once it is cut and dried in the sun, it becomes tough and flexible, very resistant and waterproof. At dawn, the fishermen set out to sea, expertly maintaining their balance as they ride the waves, using the most ancient of all surfing techniques.

The anthropomorphic face of the slitter of men's throats at the tomb of Wari Kakan introduces us to the Moche culture, which flourished along these same coastal valleys before the Chimú Empire, from 200 BC to 700 AD. From here, we can see the tomb of the sun. Between these two pyramids lay the capital of the Moche Empire. Inside the tomb of the moon, we can see the different levels that have been excavated. Each one corresponds to a different ruler, who, when he died, was buried along with all his belongings, including his wives and servants. Once they had been buried, they were sealed in with adobe bricks, and on top of these, the temple of the new ruler was built. Six different levels have been discovered, to which access was gained by means of a ramp. Society was also very hierarchical, and there was clearly specialization of labor. They appear to have instituted a system of tributed work called mita. Some writers define it as a theocratic society, while others speak of a secular society. We know that they worshiped the Moon and the deity Ai-Apaec, a god with a bird's face and the horns of a snail, a priestly god who accompanied the dead to the afterlife.

This civilization reached the height of its power during the reign of a great chief, whom the historians call the Lord of Sipán. It was during his reign that the tomb was built, although in fact, the entire temple belonged to him, while the entire country was dedicated to worshiping the sun. Inside the adobe pyramid, we found a wealth of jewels, emeralds from Colombia, amber from the Mexican desert, coral from the Philippines, turquoise from Iran, and shells from the seashores of Ecuador. Every conceivable type of good was made available to the Lord of Sipán in his tomb. We found a magnificent crown, a mask, a pectoral, an ornament of the Lord of Sipán, and an extraordinary necklace, which is more than a meter long. This magnificence cannot be explained by the riches of his domain. His subjects could not possibly have possessed all these treasures, nor could they have been brought here as tribute. Some authors propose that they might have been obtained through trade.

Nonetheless, the scope and opulence of the treasures are difficult to understand. Although this civilization has long disappeared, in the valleys of the northern coast of Peru, it left its mark on all subsequent cultures, and on the present-day inhabitants. The gold and silver works from the great Panaman Empire, for example, bear unmistakable witness to the work of the Moche.