Hola Huanchaco

Travel days are often the most difficult for the solo wanderer. Walking down the street carrying all of your belongings on your back with no goodbye, no "see you later" and no company for the dusty walk to the bus station. But the squalid conditions of my lodging at Chicama were something I was glad to have in my rearview mirror. Besides, today was different. Mema and Maria Julia were there to send me off with a hug and a kiss the cheek, giving today's departure a much warmer feel. I had befriended the two chatty eighty year old women over the last several days as I bought a banana, homemade cookie and bottled water at their "bodega" each morning for breakfast.

The day was also different as I felt something I had never felt before and probably never will again; I was bored with surfing perfect waves all day, every day.

Sink falling off the wall, no shower head, cracked mirror, filthy floor and no shower curtain to keep the place from getting soaked every time you "hosed off" it was easy to say goodbye to this gem of a place...

Fortunately, my next stop in Huanchaco is on the well-worn gringo trail and despite my hostel being 50 feet from the ocean, I did not get wet once in four days. It was refreshing to meet other young backpackers and swap stories from the road over a few beers.

Besides tourism, the town's economy is also fueled by fishing and many locals still use the same boat technology that was perfected thousands of years ago. Each afternoon, a dozen of these rafts would take off beyond the surf, fishing for corvina, octopus, shrimp, and squid before riding the waves back into shore. Some argue that the first surfers were not actually Hawaiians but the Huanchacans standing on their reed rafts.

While in Huanchaco, there was also some sort of celebration that wasn't explained very well but nonetheless it was pretty cool seeing this group of military academy cadets parading down the street. A local school teacher handed me a Peruvian flag and I joined the patriotic fervor, not having the slightest idea why.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been working on growing a mustache the last couple weeks. Here's my best "blue steel" before I shave it off...