Blogs from Trujillo, Peru, South America

Máncora (21/05/2018 - 21/05/2018) Máncora: a tiny, rustic beach town on Peru's northern coastline, and my first stop in this beautiful country. This quiet, seaside village boasts epic surfing, excellent ceviche, and all-year-round, sun-drenched skies. It was far less touristic than Montañita, and had far more character: I liked it immediately. Seeing as I had just gone from beach town to beach town, I thought just 1 day here would be perfecto. It was also the ideal pit-stop as it was so close to the Ecuador border. My first night bus (I am getting braver) to cross the Ecuador-Peru border (at 3am) went smoothly. Although it was so sad seeing hundreds of Venezuelan families wrapped in blankets huddled everywhere I looked. Political corruption, food shortages, and unemployment are all contributing to the worsening crisis there; and ... read more

Jana and I took the night bus from Huaraz to Trujillo. I had a feeling she wanted me, but I was emotionally damaged at the time. Such a waste. I think she would have been a good fling. Jana decided to stay in Trujillo for a couple of days. I only wanted to do a day trip to Chan Chan. There was nothing in Trujillo that was appealing to me other than that. The vibe of the city was off to me. Chan Chan was nice. Unlike Machu Picchu, Chan Chan was more low key, but it didn't lack in historical content.... read more

Bienvenido en Peru ! Après quelques 20h de voyage, nous arrivons à Lima au petit matin. Le rythme effréné de la capitale nous dépayse déjà. Ici, ça grouille de monde de partout, les températures sont douces (adieu les vestes polaires!) et le code de la route s'apparente plutôt à celui du klaxon (il faut se faire entendre et ne pas avoir peur de jouer du pare choc pour se frailler chemin). Malgré une rapide escale à Lima, nous prenons le temps d'aller nous balader dans les quartiers de Miraflores et Barranco, plutôt connus pour être les quartiers "bobo" et branchés de Lima. Noël approche, les spectacles d'école transforment les parcs en salles de spectacles et les guirlandes musicales s'installent au fur et à mesure aux balcons des appartements. Chicama - PUERTO MALABRIGO : la ola izquierda ... read more

The last week of building was very busy as we had been building 3 blades plus two test ones, and we had to finish the rest of the structure for the installation. It involved a lot of metal work and painting and finishing late but it's all good fun to do anyway! We had to pack two full turbines and one extra blade for a replacement, that's a lot to take on the bus ! The weekend before that final week, I met Catherine through a family friend, thank you Arthur Perin, she is here to work for 6 months helping co-operatives in the region to be more environmentally friendly. We went to visit the Chan Chan ruins together which are very interesting but less well preserved than the Huacas de la Luna that I saw ... read more

Week 3 was surprisingly relaxed because we managed to be ahead of schedule and actually finished building the turbine on Thursday. Monday to Wednesday we did the final touches on the turbine and built the structure that will hold it together, that involves "metal work" if I can dare call it that, basically some grinding, drilling holes and welding pieces together! Never imagined myself doing that in my lifetime so it is very satisfying to succeed when on the first day here it terrified me. On Thursday, we put together a testing system to check that the controller ( box that converts the electricity made by the turbine into electricity used in the house). This is a whole system imagined by one of the permanent staff here so he finally put it to work, exciting days! ... read more