PERU (PART II)

 Hello everyone, I am typing up this post in Cuzco, Peru (3,400 meters or 11,200 feet), where less than 36 hours ago I was at sea level (0 ft)... Big change!

My last blog entry was written in Lobitos, where I ended up staying 5 days. The hostal I was staying at called La Casona, was really fun and had a good atmosphere. Most of the staff working there was from Argentina and the hostal has some interesting history. The Lobitos area has lots of off shore oil drilling as can be seen by the oil platforms out at sea. The hostal used to be the oil company’s management staff offices/sleeping quarters. The Peruvian army then bought it along with most of the other beach front property in Lobitos. Now the manager of the hostal rents the place from the Peruvian army.

View from the hostal in Lobitos

Although the surf conditions had deteriorated a bit since my arrival, I still ended up surfing twice a day most days. The afternoons would get really windy so it was fun watching the kite surfers ripping it up out there in the water.

Since Lobitos is such a small town, the restaurant choices were very limited. We ended up going to a restaurant (a couple chairs and tables set up outside a family’s home) called Ola Loa between 2-3 times a day. By my last day most of the menu choices had been bumped up price wise by 1-2 Peruvian Sols ($0.35-$0.70), due to Ola Loa’s restaurant monopoly in Lobitos!

With an English friend from the hostal, we wanted to check out some waves south of Lobitos. A 10 hour night bus got us to a popular beach town called Huanchaco. We stayed at a hostal a 3 min walk to the beach called Hostal My Friend, owned by two Peruvian brothers. Since it was a Sunday, the city was packed with Peruvian tourists spending the day at the beach. I was on a mission that day to try to find somebody interested in buying my surfboard as I planned to leave the coast and travel inlands towards the Andes at the end of the following week. I went to various surf schools / hostals trying to find someone interested. Due to traveling without a board bag (or using taped up grocery bags as my “bag”) it had gotten pretty beat up. Most surf instructors said they would buy it for very little but recommended I put a “Se Vende / For Sale” paper sign taped to the board and set it up on the beach.  That’s what I ended up doing and after a few glances at the board from various surfers, an Italian guy decided he wanted to buy it. I told him I would only be able to sell it at the end of the upcoming week which he was fine with and we exchanged phone numbers.

Huanchaco Pier

Pelicans by day

Pelicans by night

Later that evening the English guy Rossa and I were hanging out near Huanchaco’s main pier and all of a sudden a big double decker party bus with music blasting rolled in near the main square. A bunch of people got off the bus and a bunch of people got on. We talked to a local who told us that it was the first day of spring (Sept 21) and thus the local beer (Pilsen Trujillo) was sponsoring an event to welcome the Primavera (spring). We decided to wait in line while the bus did its 20 minute round around the city with the other passengers. When the bus came back we were first in line and greeted with a free t-shirt and beer before getting on. The music was blasting on the open air bus and the 20 other Peruvians along with us had a great time. 

The Pilsen Trujillo bus

 I got to surf a few times while at the main beach in Huanchaco. The local fishermen here use canoes made out of straw to go fishing. They are really well crafted and onlookers can occasionally see them catching waves with their straw canoes. Since we were well south of Lobitos, the water was colder but it wasn’t as windy. I was happy nevertheless to have a wetsuit. 

Pelicans guarding the straw canoes

One side of the bay

The other side of the bay

The following night Rossa took another night bus into the mountains, while I headed to Chicama the day after he left. Chicama is a surf spot two hours north of Huanchaco and has the reputation as being the longest left handed wave in the world. Being goofy footed, I knew I had to check out this wave. I arrived mid afternoon and stayed at the famous surf hostal in town: El Hombre.  It was right near the cliff and had a great view of the waves. 

Tasty Peruvian breakfast

Sunset in Chicama

 The next morning I got into the cold water and was able to catch some fun 30+ second rides. That week the forecast was not living up to its reputation as the longest wave in the world, but it was still fun getting some long rides in. I was able to surf again that afternoon and the following day, along with two beach runs! There were two vans parked in front of the hostal and I got to talk with the owners of both. One of the vans had some interesting artwork all over it and was nicknamed the Sabor Latina. It was a few Australians that had bought the van and were traveling through Ecuador and Peru with it. The other van was a lot more plain from the outside but had a solar panel setup on its roof, along with a small kitchen and sleeping setup inside. It was a German guy who was touring through South America with it for several months.

Sabor Latina (Latina Flavor)

I was back in Huanchaco at the end of the week since I would be selling my surfboard to the Italian guy there and my flight to Cuzco was leaving from the nearby airport that Friday night. I stayed at Hostal My Friend again since the vibe was great and there was a live band playing that night in the hostal’s bar. Part of Friday morning was spent at the post office mailing my wetsuit to my brother in the US since I wouldn’t use it again on my South America trip. To mail my 2 kg wetsuit back to the States consisted of sticking a total of 40 stamps on the cardboard box, each valued at $1.38 for a grand total of $56 (160 Sols). The post office lady said it would take 3 weeks. Since the wetsuit was still a tad wet from my surf session the afternoon before, my brother is going to be in for a stinky treat (hopefully not moldy!) when he opens that box up in 3 weeks! 

The stamps continued on the other side of the box

That afternoon I was supposed to meet up with the Italian guy since he had confirmed the day before he was still interested in the board. Despite 6 calls to him along with 3 text messages, he never responded, finding myself with no buyer for my board 4 hours before getting on my flight. Before taking a taxi to the airport I decided to walk around town a bit more with my board in hopes of finding a buyer. With no luck, on my way back to the hostal I saw a little boy hanging out with his mom on a street corner. The mom was a street food vendor cooking up some beef skewers on her little BBQ grill. I talked to her for a few minutes and she was saying her son, Dani, was 7 years old, and had recently learned to swim. I asked her if he had ever surfed and she said he’d like to but they couldn’t afford a surfboard. I knew at this point it was too late to find a buyer for the surfboard, so I decided to give the board to Dani as a present. 

The little guy and his new (used) board

 The smile on his face was priceless and I gave him a few tips on how to stand up on the board and how to position himself. Dani’s mom told me next time I was in Huanchaco I could get free beef skewers and grilled veggies as a thank you…Stoked! I walked back to the hostal feeling happy with my decision before making my way to the airport for my flight to Lima and then Cuzco.  

Snow covered Andean peaks

I arrived in Cuzco Saturday morning and made my way to a hostal that had advertised it had a pool table, ping pong table, and a bunch of hammocks / bean bag chairs. I started off the day with a free walking tour of the city organized by the hostal. Since Cuzco is at 3,400 meters, I could feel the high altitude, especially compared to where I was the night before (sea level – 0 meters). 

View of Cuzco during breakfast

The meat market

That afternoon I started feeling dizzy and nauseous and although I won’t go into details, it was a pretty rough afternoon/evening spent shuttling between my bed and the bathroom. 

I’ll be in the Cuzco / Machu Picchu area for a few days since there is lots of history and things to do before heading towards Bolivia. I’ll update you in the next post!