Birthday on the beach

---

Tahlei
Oh the beach, how I miss it. Not just any beach though- a beach with waves, with cool clear water and nice clean sand. It’s been a while since we’ve had one of those. We lived two years in landlocked Madrid and since our week on the Caribbean at the beginning of this trip we haven’t returned to the South American coast, until now. You might say I was excited at the prospect of a swim in the Pacific again, and maybe even having a go at surfing, but in the end I we didn’t even dip our toes. Still, we spent a good few days on the Peruvian coast.

After leaving Ecuador we basically took back to back buses to get down the coast of Peru to the city of Trujillo, spending one night in Piura where the hotel may or may not have doubled as a brothel. Our journey took us through the coastal desert. I don’t think I’ve seen such a deserty desert before. At times in was flat, featureless sand, as far as you could see, other times rolling dunes stretching to the brown mountains of the Andes, or little mounds of sand covered in multicoloured grasses. I didn’t realize there was so much variety in a desert landscape. There were quite a few townships lining the Pan-American highway- low concrete and mud brick buildings in neat rows, plastered in election campaign slogans. It’s a deadly dry place, and I don’t know how the straggly cows rooting around in their sand-filled pens manage to survive.

Once in Trujillo we headed out to the nearby village of Huanchaco. It is known for being a popular surfing town, but upon our arrival it seemed to be more aptly described as a ghost town. This is the first time we’ve had to consider the seasons, as we move away from the equator; prior to this the weather has been all down to altitude. On the Peruvian coast though, it’s winter, with cold winds and dreary grey skies. We stayed right on the beach at a lovely place called Naylamp, which had a cool courtyard with hammocks and probably the best shower of our trip, but the lack of other guests made it seem a little spooky. The two big turtles they had wandering around the garden helped compensate for that.

We had a full day in Huanchaco with nothing to do but catch up on chores like washing our clothes (it comes around so quickly!) and organising our post-travel life for next year. Happily we ran into Mindy and Joel who we went horse riding with in Ecuador so we had a nice meal with them and sampled some pisco sours, the signature drink of Peru. They certainly are sour. While in Huanchaco we also tried some typical dishes like lomo saltado and cebiche - they usually spell it with a b here. Peruvian cuisine has much more variety than Ecuadorian, which makes a nice change.

In a repeat of my birthday at a shopping mall in Bogotá, we spent the following day at Trujillo’s Aventura Plaza shopping for Kyle’s birthday, which was the following day. I must say his shopping mall beat mine by a mile, and he had a very successful shopping day. He bought a Billabong hoodie and managed to find two nice shirts to replace the one he ripped when he flew from his horse. It would have been nice to top the afternoon off by seeing a movie at the cinema there, but the only version original movie they were showing was some crappy Adam Sandler comedy that didn’t look to even be worth the $2 ticket price. We had ice cream instead, and of course, as soon as we were away from the beach, the sun came out.

The next day Kyle turned 26 and now he can’t rip me off for being an old fart. We were up bright and early to meet Kyle’s friend Joe from Newcastle and his girlfriend Fiona who were arriving on an overnight bus from Lima at 7.30. Well that was the plan anyway. We were a bit worried when we arrived at the terminal to find it closed, but soon found out that buses from Lima were arriving a couple of hours late due to road works so we settled into a nearby café to wait for their arrival. The delay just added to the suspense - it’s very exciting to meet up with friends you haven’t seen for so long, especially in another country. Finally they arrived and there was much catching up to be done, so we went back to Huanchaco and checked into a different place, much closer to what little action there was in town. My Friend hostel was also dirt cheap at 10 soles per person for a private room with bathroom. Granted it wasn’t the most luxurious room and the electric shower gave us a few shocks, but it did the job and the restaurant downstairs was really good.

There were two for one cocktails between 8 and 10 pm every night, and they only cost about three bucks anyway, so we went through quite a few of them. We met Jess from Switzerland and Alex from the states and local Walter who worked at the hostel and we all went out together once happy hour was over. Based on a recommendation from the staff we took a taxi to Ama, a huge club inside a shopping centre, which I thought was a bit weird. As soon as we arrived and got a table they played “Land Downunder”, that Men at Work classic, and didn’t we love it! It certainly got Kyle pumped- the dancefloor was empty until he “started a dance revolution”. Once we were out there it soon filled up -I’m sure there was much amusement at these drunken gringos who thought they could dance.

It must have been a good night because we were certainly feeling the effects the next day. I emerged from bed at about 4pm, and Kyle didn’t manage it until around 7.30 when the rest of us had gone out for dinner. He had to run around the town trying to find us. Yes, I’d say Kyle had a successful birthday.

We had to back up the next night for the one thing that Huanchaco has got going on - reggae night. Not that we hadn’t heard enough reggae in the last few days, it’s nearly all they play, but they just can’t get enough of it. Of course we had to check it out though, so we sat around on the roof terrace with some of the staff killing time until about midnight. I am a great lover of language barriers and miscommunication - it creates some hilarious stories, and Joe had a winner that he shared that night. He quite innocently asked the local guys if cabrón is an insult. He had read a book once he said in which it was used like mate, so he tried it out on a taxi driver in Lima, as in muy bien, cabrón. He mustn’t have got the reaction he was expecting which led him to question the implications of the word. Maybe in Mexico it can be friendly, lot’s of words are different in Mexico, and indeed between each South American country, but unfortunately here in Peru it’s not a nice word, and Joe inadvertently called his taxi driver a c***. Walter found this story hysterical.

Finally it was time to see what this much-hyped reggae night was all about. We went down to a hut on the beach, where they had a stage out the back with a live band swathed in the Jamaican flag, an open fire, and a big screen showing surfing movies, as we danced in the sand. Could they get any more “laid back surfing village”? We didn’t stick around too long, just enough to hear our hundredth Bob Marley song in two days. We left Walter dancing away at about 3am, even though he had to work at 7.

The next day was our last day on the coast, and the weather didn’t come through for us, continuing with the grey skies, grey water and wind. Our bus didn’t leave for the mountains until 9.30 that night so we went into Trujillo to take a look around and kill some time. We tried sitting in the main plaza for a while but in the space of thirty minute we had multiple tour touts approach us, were given a little magazine in Spanish each covering “The Truth about Jehovah’s Witness” and were accosted by a crazy lady with no teeth. She was the last straw - she wanted money and when we wouldn’t give her any she said she would take one of our bags, then she made Joe remove his glasses so she could swoon over his pretty eyes, and Kyle’s too. Finally the boys got a hug each before we grabbed our stuff and ran away, taking refuge in a café for a couple of hours.

Eventually it was time to board our semi-cama bus for the overnight trip to the mountains of the Cordillera Blanca, and so ended our brief stint on the coast. We didn’t get a swim in but we caught up with old friends and met some great new people and just generally had a good time. Next stop - 3,000 metres above sea level!

---

Photos

Huanchaco beach
With the caballitos de totora - reed boats used by fishermen

Monkey
An English guy bought a monkey for 20 soles (about 8 bucks) and was planning to take it back to London. Good luck with that.

Argentinian folk dance troupe
in Huanchaco. They were great.

Comments

[Niki]

Ahhh yes the beach, Newcastle's one redeeming feature. Looking forward to seeing you guys! But Kyle, that mo' is seriously hideous!