Blogs from Huanchaco, La Libertad, Peru, South America

The busses here are an experience, that's for sure. I don't mean the busses to get from one city to the next, but the ones within a city. I've only taken them a few times, and every time I'm enormously proud of myself. Somehow I always end up on these little busses (which may be called collectivos.. half the time it seems they are called that, the other half a collectivo is seemingly just a taxi that fills with people all going to the same place.. who knows!) So don't picture a real bus. Picture a van. Just a van with seats. Filled to the brim. Sometimes people have to stand and literally their heads are horizontal, there's just no room! Today I took one to Trujillo, which is the city about half an hour away ... read more

Last night I arrived in my tropical paradise. I've been waiting all trip to get here. Ya, I know I've only been travelling two weeks but still.. this is what I've been waiting for. So last night I arrived and set up my new tent (thanks Scott!) for the first time in the dark. No problem. Then I set up my hammock for the first time ever, with a little help from a new Swedish friend (who I found out just turned 45. Ok he may eventually read this but fuck if he wasn't the hottest 45 year old I've seen in my life!) I met a guy from the states, named Jake (though he first told me his middle name, as people down here have trouble pronouncing Jake.. it was Rafael. Ya, I just instantly ... read more

On Thursday, we had one last lunch at the California Kitchen and headed over to the Cuenca bus station. To get to the North Coast of Peru, the quickest way is to cross at the coast... however, this crossing is notable for its sketchiness. So, we decided to cross into Peru at the mountain crossing, near Macara, for caution's sake (in literature, this would be called foreshadowing). This also gave us a chance to spend our last night in Ecuador in Loja, other than Cuenca our favorite place in the country. We had some tamales and empanadas at url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador/the-southern-highlands/loja/restaurants/south-american/el-tamal-lojanoEl Tamal Lojano, and a couple of drinks at url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador/the-southern-highlands/loja/entertainment-nightlife/pub/el-viejo-mineroEl Viejo Minero. Friday morning, we headed out early for the long bu... read more

Nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit erreichen wir nach einer langen Busreise Trujillo. Trotzdem fahren wir gleich weiter nach Huanchaco. Huanchaco ist nur 20 Autominuten von Trujillo entfernt, ist viel kleiner und liegt direkt am Meer. Wir bevorzugen diesen kleineren und ruhigeren Ort, um von hier aus die Chan Chan Ruinen zu besichtigen. Bei Dunkelheit erscheint uns Huanchaco ausgestorben und unfreundlich. Nachdem wir aber am naechsten Morgen auch noch das Hotel gewechselt haben, sieht alles anders aus. Von Zimmer und Terrasse aus haben wir eine tolle Sicht aufs Meer. Ein breiter Sandstrand erstreckt sich entlang der ganzen Bucht von Huanchaco und laedt zum Spazieren, des kuehlen Wetters wegen aber nicht zum Baden ein. Ueberall stehen Schilfboote am Strand, sogenannte „Caballitos“ (Pferdchen), welche noch heute zum Fischen benutzt werden. Sie sind besonders wendig und erlauben ein einfac... read more

I thought I would leave Trujillo in its own little blog entry rather than combine it with Huanchaco as they are both such different places, and the Santa Cruz trek was a long old read before that! So we arrived at Casa Suiza, which is a really nice, sociable hostel with a cool little roof terrace. We checked-in, dumped our backpacks in our dorm and swiftly changed into bikinis (well, not James, obviously) and hit the beach. It was so nice to enjoy some relaxing beach time after the trek, and Huanchaco is good for surfing, so we chilled out on the beach watching the surfers and enjoying the rays. That night we met up with some Aussies that Tristan (who was now in Lima) knew in Huanchaco, but were quite tired after the night of ... read more

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 ... read more

Huanchaco and Trujillo - 9th to 12th of Feb. We finally got to Piura and it was noisy, hot and generally not so nice. There is no main bus station, just lots of individual ones for each bus company so we wandered around trying to find one that was going to Trujillo any time soon. We were in our warm clothes and carrying our heavy backpacks in Piura's hot and humid weather. On top of this, I hadn't been feeling well for a few days so while Richard went in search of a bathroom, I fainted in the middle of a bus station, backpacks, bags and all. I awoke to find Richard saying "Esta bien" (she/it's okay) and some nice Peruvian women throwing various liquids on me. They even came over a few minutes later with ... read more