The desert north coast of Peru is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east. Here, the Moche, or Mochica, people flourished from before the beginning of our era until the seventh century. The cold Peru Current, running in a deep trough offshore, is normally one of the world’s richest fishing grounds. Using rafts formed of bundles of totora reeds, the Moche acquired from the ocean food and probably fertilizer—bird guano from offshore islands, as well as fish for this use.