Final thoughts from Peru.

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As hard as it was to leave Huanchaco, and believe me it was hard, I had to go. It was time. I was missing the traveling. For what ever reason I was even missing the long, cramped, hot, bus rides. My feet were itching for some new ground and my eyes were becoming bored of the daily sites of nothing but sand and surf. (Although, every now-and-again rejuvinated by a passing chica) Living on the beach was amazing/cheap/and fun, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Not to mention I still have a comittment to an English guy up in Ecuador for a months worth of work in his hostel...on the beach in Montanita. It seems my variety has been quite limited as of late, but I no longer care. Why should I spend my last month bouncing from city to city, ruins to ruins, when I can enjoy myself just as much in one location? (It will also help in the unrelenting battle against expenses)

Most guide books will tell you that you can travel comfortably in most South American countries for about $20 US a day. While I was in Huanchaco I tried to keep track of how much on average I was spending a day and found that if I cooked all my own meals and bought the food from the local´s market that I could live happily on less than $10. It seems most travel advice is based of the assumption that the traveler will eat every meal at a restaurant or cafe. I¨m not sure where I am going with this, except that in the last hand-full of weeks I have been trying to spend as little as possible so that I will have plenty of money for my time spent in California and Oregon coming up the coast.

New Years in Trujillo/Huanchaco was quite an event. Although the fireworks were quite limited the locals made up for it by burning anything and everything they could get their hands on. The beach was lit almost like day from over a hundred huge bon fires, a car fire, and countless smaller fires that were in general random objects covered in gasoline and set to flame. Looking down from our hostel on the hill, it was a beautiful site, a perfect way to bring in the new year.
The beach was much less beautiful the next day when we could see how completely covered in trash it was. (To counteract this the city of Trujillo hires a huge force of people every New Year´s to come in and clean up the mess. It was back to normal by the end of new years day)

My next post will hopefully include lots of pictures. The computer I am sitting at right now would take half a day to upload even ten pictures so I´ll wait it out for a better connection.

Hope you all had a great new years.

Brendan

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