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Published: August 13th 2006
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Us in Trujillo
Captured during one of the rare moments we weren´t being harassed in the square. First Things First. I need to catch you all up on our time in Huanchaco, a little beach town just north of Trujillo in the North of Peru.
We arrived in Trujillo at about 730 am after an over night bus from Lima, the worst overnight we´ve had. In addition to the cell phone symphony ringing all night, the guy behind us had his watch alarm set for 6am and let it ring at 5 minute intervals instead of just turning it off. Last I heard it was when we were getting off the bus and hour and a half later.
Tired, nauseated, miserable we went in search of a place to stay for one night before we headed up to Huanchaco, since we had no idea how to get there and thought seeing Trujillo would be nice as well. We quickly discovered that Trujillo is nothing like arequipa in terms of accomodations. we settled for the first place we found that didn´t smell, seemed to have all its walls and hot water. We even had a TV. IT wasn´t until after that we realized the place didn´t have a window. Four cement walls painted institutional colors, and an
The Hostal El Sueño
More like Hostal of Nightmares. ick ick ick, the picture does not do the filth justice, and of course it lacks sound (CHIRP!) open slatted vent above the door to allow air from the lobby area to the room. luckily we had a fan. At least it was quiet we thought, without windows to let in the sounds of the traffic. That is what we thought until people arrived for work in the teeny tiny lobby outside our slatted opening. Apparently this lobby is used for all kinds of things, including what seemed to be the two-way nextel buying and selling of soap. So as we tried to nap after our sleepless night we heard the following:
"CHIRP!"
"Jabon! blah blah words I don´t know... Tres Soles!"
"CHIRP!"
"garblegarblegarblereallyloudgarblegarblestatic"
"CHIRP!"
"words words words JABON!"
"CHIRP!"
....and so on.
We got up to find breakfast. I admit I was falling into a bit of despair. The sky was as grey and heavy as it was in Lima, though the air was warmer (Trujillo is about 8 degrees south of the equator but the Humboldt Current keeps the ocean cold and the climate temperate... FYI) We had hoped to escape Lima´s perpetual grey by heading north, we knew it was risky but we had hoped. I was so tired I couldn´t think straight
Hostal Naylamp
Ahhh... much better. This terrace offered wonderful views of the sunset. We watched every one. and now we had to find our way to Huanchaco. The bus system here is a series of minivans and larger school bus kind of things that drive around and you kind of hail them like taxis... so you have to know where they´re going. These made me nervous because supposedly they are havens for thieves and all that kind of thing. Second choice was taxi, but how much better is that when even Lonely Planet says that there are dangerous areas between Trujillo and Huanchaco and everyone keeps telling us that taxis are dangerous... Add to that I have this ominous feeling the whole time that we´ve been so lucky so far and that Trujillo is like our last mission of the tour. I had visions of Memphis Belle or that old show Tour of Duty (dad I know you remember Zeke). I know I´m a drama queen and superstitious you don´t have to say it. Anyway we finally decided to just suck it up and get on the damn bus. We´ve done harder things than this. And guess what? the bus was fine. No one killed us, no one stole our passports and used them to export drugs,
This is the other Naylamp Terrace closer to the beach
This is where we were relaxing when I wrote the last entry. no one even bothered looking at us twice unless they were curious children. So we got to Huanchaco, fell in love, saw the sun, sat on the beach, talked to some strangers, and generally became convinced we´d found where we would spend the rest of our time in the North. And we did. That night we went back, grudgingly, to the hole we´d chosen in the delirious morning, got some really phenomenal dinner down the street, donned our sleep sheets (no way was I getting in that bed) and watched enough tv in english to distract us for a while. When finally we decided to sleep, whoever ran the place decided that was a good time to start building something in the lobby with hammers and nails and god knows what. yay for the unclosable little vent above the door. finally they stopped around midnight and we got some sleep. First thing in the morning we were packed up and headed on the bus to Huanchaco.
After our experience in Trujillo, Huanchaco was heaven. We stayed there for 10 days in a wonderful hostal called Naylamp. If you´re heading this way, definitely think about making a stop for rest
Rocky the Ultracool Dog
Blurry, yes, but aren´t we adorable? Shut up Amy, I know you´re wheels are turning. and relaxation in Huanchaco, and regardless of the way Lonely Planet makes it out, Casa Suiza is not the way to go. For 5 soles more per day (roughly US$1.66) we got our own bathroom, ocean view, gorgeous terrace, good food, free filtered water, cool playful dog and a very friendly staff. Naylamp. I can´t say enough about it. Also, if you are inclined to rent surfboards in Huanchaco, go to Indigen Surf School to rent. The prices are roughly the same but the attitude and the people are much better there. It´s a little up the hill but if you follow our recommendation on the hostal they´ll point you in the right direction.
ok travel recommendations out of the way, we pretty much did a whole lot of nothing much in Huanchaco. Surfed, ran, played cards, ate, had a lot of sun. It was exactly what we needed to relax and take a break from traveling and sight seeing. Sounds silly I know, but we were running out of steam... well I was a bit I can´t speak for masa.
We did one day of sight seeing to take in the extensive ruins around Trujillo namely the
Rocky II
cute wittle fleabag... the dog. not masa. ha ha. pre-incan city of "chan chan" (megan, only you will probably fully understand my compulsion to put quotes around "chan chan" but I´ll do it anyway) The tour was a full day and it was completely in spanish. The guide was nice enough to ask if we understood everything, and actually we got most of the gist, but whenever we did have a question, she had no clue what we were asking and explained in broken english something completely different. We stopped asking questions. The sites were amazing. Frankly, though, I´ve had kind of enough of the ruins. I feel guilty even saying that, but enough is enough for now. Even so it was incredible and I´m glad we did go.
We visited Trujillo a couple times during our stay and it turned out to be a really nice town after all. The hotels leave much to be desired, especially when we had such a great place in Huanchaco, but the food is excellent. Eat at Oviedo Cafe on Pizzaro if you´re ever there. so so good.
We finally left our post in Huanchaco on Thursday the 10th and spent the night at the Colonial House in Trujillo. Despite
Sunset
We saw every sunset in Huanchaco. They almost wouldn´t let you look away until the last hint of violent orange light was lost in the fog bank or the sea. being a bit more polished and a bit more expensive this place was also a dump, as were all the other places we checked out before choosing it. I HIGHLY recommend staying in Huanchaco and paying the US$0.33 to get to Trujillo and back on the bus. Again we ate at Oviedo, broke out the sleep sheets and watched TV in English.
The bus to Lima left at 830am the next morning and arrived around 6pm (no more overnighters for us!). We also recommend taking the day bus for this trip because the views are AMAZING. The coast line is completely deserted both by people and in that it´s all a big desert. Huge perfect sand dunes stretch down to gigantic cliffs of sand into the ocean. It rivals Big Sur in immensity and drama. Definitely worth seeing. I only wish we´d been able to stop and look around, take some photos.
And so we got back to Lima... On to the next segment.
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MIRTHA
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I"m from Trujillo
I'm glad to people visit Trujillo... I'm living in MIami now but there is not better place like my Trujillo It is the best thing that you do... visit Trujillo MIRTHA LEON