Second stop on the Summer Beach-Hopping tour is Huanchaco (juan-CHA-co) and all I can say is "Eureka!" I was giving up on Peru's desert coastline. Literally, most of Peru's coast is desert and while at first it's quite stunning, after awhile, I found myself longing for palm trees. Both Mollendo, where I spent New Years, and Paracas, are small, dusty towns without much beauty to be found. I mean, I can almost always relax at the beach, don't get me wrong. But the surrounding environs left me wanting more. Huanchaco is a different story. By Peruvian standards, it is very well maintained. The beaches are clean. The beachfront has a very lovely boardwalk and some of the properties are nicer than beachfront properties in shadier parts of San Diego. It's high season and yet the town
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