The last Peruvian sunset....

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Seen from the upper deck of Naylamp Hostel, almost the perfect place for such an event.

It is my last night in Peru, I just watched my last Peruvian sunset over the south Pacific Ocean with a gentle off shore breeze, the weather is perfect as I sip my beer and listen to the tales of several other travellers and spin some of my own. The little town of Huanchaco, just up the coast from Trujillo, has provided the perfect place to decompress from a busy trip. The town sits along a crescent on the coastline and is turning into a bit of a surfing destination due to the two breaks along the coast here. More importantly, it is just the beach, which is always the place to end a trip.

I arrived after an overnight bus ride from Huaraz that was uneventful and I made my way to Huanchaco by 7 am and was greeted by a sleeping town in the grey chill that I’m so used to seeing from my own bedroom at home on a regular basis. After a few hours of needed sleep I awoke to more grey skies but the town was now wide awake. This Thursday of my arrival is Peruvian Independence Day, a national holiday and I’m in a beach town. Perfect. And there is a surfing contest all weekend too. My first course of action is to secure some cerviche, a craving I’ve had for over a month and then explore the town by foot. As I arc along the coast towards the pier I see the famous reed boats that the local fisherman use, still to this day, lined up along the beach and as I head south I begin to see the boats out beyond the breakers while surfers slip into the faces and foam in front of them. Every now and then a reed boat turns towards shore and a fisherman grabs a wave past some surfers with a wave of his hand and he is back at the beach in a few seconds, these boats are pretty quick and employ a kneeling down, kayaking paddle type of propulsion. There are lots of families and surfers from Peru and many international surfers and spectators as well but the town never feels crowded. I spend the day just eating food, drinking beer on the beach and watching the people and the surfers. I am the most relaxed I’ve have been in months. The weather reminds me of San Diego in June as I make my way past the 50 or so craft tables spread out along the two to three mile stretch of sand and boardwalk back to the hostel. The hostel is wonderful and beautifully laid out with hammocks hanging in a central area around tables where all the young and old (me) guests gather for conversation and the food and coffee are just fine. Dinner is some tasty grilled fish with some fried bread apps just down the street beforehand from the local outdoor market. I retire after one of the best days of the trip.

My second day finds me deciding to head to Trujillo for the day. After a casual morning at the hostel I grab a bus into the third largest city here in Peru and suddenly I am totally lost and can’t make out where the central part of city is. As I ask my driver he tells me I stayed on the bus way too long and in super busy traffic he stops the bus, flags down another bus heading in the other direction, exchanges a few quick words with the other driver while the traffic behind him is going ballistic, and then drags me onto the other bus. The new driver then stops his bus 10 minutes later , gets out and walks a block with me until I can see the square and runs back to his bus,. This is what has become my perception of most Peruvians, so helpful and patient. They are loud and stand a little too close and cut you off in line and drive like the afterlife is a given and it’s going to be better but they have been so wonderful in so many ways. I can’t help but wonder what impressions I have made on them, if any, and it gets me to thinking about the littlest things I’ve tried to do to leave a positive impression on the people I meet.

I am so shocked when I begin to enter the heart of Trujillo as I pass by some truly amazing homes and buildings but once I reach the Plaza I see an array of brightly colored buildings around the granite-tiled square and there are loads of holiday visitors eating lunch and enjoying the now sunny weather. After an hour of just taking in the Plaza and the cathedral, which is another amazing building, I wander the side streets and find more of the same. The city is in great shape, clean and simple but bright with lots of shops, café’s and homes. You get the sense that people really care about their city, there are groups of students walking around with brooms and bags cleaning up the square and shop keepers are sweeping the sidewalks not into the street but into garbage bags. This quickly becomes my favourite place in all of Peru so far, just based on the quality of life and the sense of pride.

I wander over to the Café’ Mueso, a famous lunch spot that artists and poets used to spend time at during the literary renaissance here in Peru, I think during the 40's and 50’s here, an era that sparked some political advances for the country as well. When I walk in I can instantly feel the history of the place. There is a tall wall behind the bar with shelves of books and liquors and an ancient espresso machine that still works and photos of musicians, painter and poets who have spent time here, as well as some good art on the walls. The café now houses and helps support a museum upstairs. Unfortunately, it is dead in the place and the food is not very good but I enjoy my coffee and the feel of the tall ceilings, dark wood walls and the gently swinging fans, I feel like I should be writing prose or arguing about socialism but I have neither a pen, inspiration nor a political advisory at my disposal.

Back out on the streets I go further a field from the Plaza and begin to find that the outskirts resemble most other Peruvian cities as cinder blocks and trash replace bright yellows and blues. I make my way back to the square to just read for a while before heading back to Huanchaco and as I read I meet Fernando (what did Fernando see in that ABBA song?) a local English teacher at the high school nearby and a fisherman in his spare time. After a nice long chat he invites me to go fishing tomorrow but I am planning on heading to Tucume' for the next two days. We exchange emails and vow to write and share stories when we can. As darks descends on Trujillo, I make my way back to Huanchaco on the bus and once back at the hostel begin chatting with about 8 people, who eventually invite me to dinner and a birthday party that night.


After some brief introductions over exchanges of information about the places we have been and are going to, we head over to one of many restaurants specializing in fish. I meet Jeff from San Francisco, a surfer and then meet Harriet and Eleanor from Wales, who have been traveling for several months and have just begun their Peru stretch. Little do I know that to my right at dinner was the esteemed woman’s body board champ from the afternoon completion, Bennie, and on my left her boyfriend Alan. More surfers arrive for dinner and one climber shows up eventually. Pressed for reasons why I am not in the mountains still climbing I admit that I need a rest from the mountains, I love the beach but more importantly, surfers are better conversationalist and a lot mellow than all he self obsessed climbers I was running into in Huaraz (Patrick, Chris and Kelly excluded of course) I didn’t here a single thing all night about waves or breaks and even Bernie, our champ, plays down her triumphant victory with humble self-deprecating fashion and quickly changes the subject to other matters. Finally, the birthday girl, Heather arrives and the crowd heads over to Sabes, the local watering hole to begin the celebration. After some good cake, I retire to my room for a 6 am start to Tucume tomorrow, the plan is to stay the night at what looks like an amazing lodge just outside the ruins and get home sometime on Sunday after visiting the Sipan sites and museums.

At 3 am there is a knocking on my door, no wait, that is my stomach making that pounding noise. I sit up and am hit with the first of 4 waves of the most serious nausea I have ever known. Every hour on the hour for the next 4 hours you can find me imitating a humble pre Inca Chimu peasant offer penance to the gods, the main difference is my god is a bit less glorious and I can hug my god and feel its uncomforting porcelain coldness. By the 4th hour, the trip to Tucume is canceled along with anything else I might want to try today. I sleep until three. Surprisingly, several others are also illing from the night before, but these are libation injuries (that term is now in WFR book) So, I have not missed much of the group activity that day either. I skulk around the hostel until 6 drinking tea and coke and ice cream (it was all I could handle) and then make the big effort to as least head down the beach for some fresh air. Back at the hostel, everyone is staying in for the night so we gather for pizza where Bernie teaches me how to officially play dominos, it is way more fun that I expected. As we all nurse our suffering heads and stomachs, the waves gently lull us to sleep as the town becomes very quiet tonight.

Sunday I find I’m still in a bit of recovery but I’m mobile enough to make it to Chan Chan, the local Chimu ruin and once capital of their pre Inca empire. Half way between Huanchaco and Trujillo in the middle of a low-lying coastal desert (and I mean a desert like your mind sees the desert when you think of the desert, not when you remember the desert you have seen) I walk down a dirt road in the blowing wind towards low crumbling walls in the distance. When I enter the official site once again I am surprised at what I find. The first main area is a huge square ceremonial courtyard surrounded by 20-foot walls on all sides. Carved into the walls are images of sea otters all the way around the courtyard on the bottom of the walls with perfect straight lines above the otters. At the far end there is a stage or throne with two very interesting statues on either side. What surprises me again is the scale but also, in this case, the repetitive patterns in the courtyards, surrounding housing areas and even the burial grounds. The art is simple but directly reflects life as it was in this city as scenes on walls depict fish and fisherman and some hints at royal ceremonies and burials. The whole place is made of earth and when I accidentally bump into a wall, it crumbles at my touch, then I run away from the scene of the crime (I’m not kidding, I’ve just committed my first crime here in Peru and I’m scared shitless!) as fast as I can. Chan Chan has that forever baked by the sun blown by the wind worn by the rains of El Nino feel you would expect to find in a place with such a climate and I did not expect to find a large football field sized well/lake in the middle of the complex. I can’t seem to get an answer to the source of the water but it is fresh water and we are only a few 100 meters from the ocean. I head out via the same road and the same wind and what seems to be the same combi back to Huanchaco for a nap, followed by some pizza and beer up on the Naylamp deck with Jeff, Harriet and Elle. Once again, a true feeling of peace is present here as we watch the sun set on Huanchaco, Peru and my travels. I spend the night again at he hostel playing cards and getting to bed early.

My last day in Peru finds me packing up in the morning and heading to Trujillo for some fall clothes shopping, but I strike out due to laziness and head back to Huanchaco (and my last combi ride, my eyes begin to water) for lunch, which is still a problem since my GI problems persisted again at 7 am this morning and this is not a pleasant fact, I have three flights in the next 24 hours! I say goodbye to most of the folks at Naylamp, it was a great time meeting everyone and spending time sharing adventures and giving and getting info about where we are all going next.

Well, it is time to run back, pay my bill and get on a plane. Thanks everyone for listening in on my adventures and following my stories. As Joni Mitchell says;

People will tell you where to go, they’ll tell you where they’ve been,
But until you get there yourself, you never really know….

This is why we travel, so we can know.

Ciao amigos y familia

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Comments

[Uncle Bernie]

Joe, Your pictures and detail discription made me feel as if I were there with you, and it was a wonderful journey. You'll have beautiful memories. Great Job.