Day Tripper

With my limited access to the internet I feel like I am not able to do an adequate job of filling you guys in on my life down here. I have to pick the most exciting, or interesting thing that has happened in the last week or two and try to put it into words that can describe it. Trying to describe feelings and sights is hard enough, but then having to pick one thing makes it even harder! I am trying to keep up a personal journal so I don’t forget things and can fill you all in better when I return in a short 9 months or so.

This week I was able to take a day trip to a nearby fishing village called Huacho. It is about a 2 hour bus ride north and goes right up the coastline. Eduardo, my host dad had to go there for his job and took me and his wife along since it was my day off. He said we would leave at 9, but since this is Peru, we left shortly after 10, and by shortly, I mean like 10:30. We flag down a bus on a very busy “interstate” and are on our way. It costs about 2 dollars for the bus ride which did include a bad 80’s movie in Spanish.

About 30 minutes outside of Lima we met up with the coastline and followed it pretty much the rest of the way. The coastline here is not like what I am used to in the great state of North Carolina where everything is flat and then you get to the ocean. Here there are mountains, and then the ocean. Our highway ran alongside the ocean, but there was quite a bit of a drop off between the road and the water. It was a beautiful ride. All along the way there were small fishing boats dotting the coast. We stopped in a small town about half way to drop some people off and there lots of street vendors would come up beside the bus and sell drinks and snacks through the windows.

We arrived in Huacho at about the lunchtime, but first had time to go and take a stroll along the beach. We took a taxi from the bus station to the beach and then walked along the sidewalk overlooking the beach. It was a bit chilly with the wind blowing, but it was again, a beautiful site. There were kids playing soccer, women doing laundry, a man bathing, and even cows grazing. Not quite what I expected to see at the beach, but great none the less.

I will now pause to describe my lunch. It is something that has become one of my favorite meals here, but there is a story behind it for me as well. The name, pollo a la brasa, which basically is a rotisserie style chicken with French fries. When we first got to Peru on August 28th at about 11pm, we were quickly greeted by our site coordinator and then sent off with our host families straight from the airport. Having limited knowledge of the Spanish language I was, to put it lightly…scared out of my mind. Knowing some food names…basically pizza and chicken, I was asked if I was hungry and what I wanted to eat, so I said pollo (chicken). We stopped at a little place on the way home…which was about a 30 minute drive. Anyway, I sit down at the house with my chicken and french fries at about midnight with 3 Peruvians watching me eat. Being a bit scared of the chicken, I concentrated mainly on the fries and said I was full…well, I said no mas (no more). They have 2 dogs so it didn’t go to waste, but that was my first experience in Peru, and now, I eat it whenever I get the chance and pretty much laugh at myself!

So back to Huacho. After lunch we visited the market and bought some cheese and butter which is better there than in Lima…which from what I am finding out…most things are. A man tried to sell me a cowboy hat, but I felt that 10 dollars was a lot to pay (I’ve become quite cheap) so we moved on.

Flor and I accompanied Eduardo in his afternoon work which included visiting two groups of artisans and giving them a lesson in pricing their products and how to become more efficient in making their products. It was all quite interesting and I even was able to help with some of the math calculations on figuring out a decent price.

We took another stroll near the beach about sunset and I was able to get a nice picture which I will upload the next time I make a visit to the office, since I didn’t bring the chord for my camera…I know, how smart am I.

We stayed with the family of a friend of Eduardo for the night. I slept on bed that was probably more uncomfortable than sleeping on the floor. We planned on leaving at about 7 the next morning to make it back in time for work, but of course that turned into about 9:30 when all was said and done.

It was quite an enjoyable trip and it is always good to get out of Lima and the smog to a place where there is fresher air…even if there is a strong odor of fish. They tell me that to the south of Lima the beaches are much prettier, so I hope to be able to make it there one day as well.

Photos:
http://unc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088263&l=96584&id=2717014