Huanchaco

I went to Huanchaco because it had beaches, it had surf, it had ruins. Sounded fun to me.

I arrived oh, five or six hours later than planned, due to airplane delays (oh fun!). I was so exhausted from when I arrived, but that didn’t seem to make sense. All I did was sit on a plane, in an airport, and go running. True, I didn’t sleep IN a bed, but…I got to the hostel, it was quiet save a group of drunk Australians, so I completely crashed out and slept hard for almost ten hours.

I got up, went running, and when I came back, I asked the woman at the front desk of the hostel  about heading to the ruins. She offered a tour, but I needed another person. Hmmm. Then she told me about surfboard lessons. When I came out of the shower, she was knocking at my door, telling me I could go on the tour in twenty-five minutes. I quickly dressed, threw a bunch of stuff in a bag, and ate my first real meal since I left – avocado and egg sandwich with fruit salad and passionfruit juice. Ah, I love Latin America.

The other person from my hostel turned out to be a pretty nice guy named Jon. We ended up quickly developing a rapport, teasing each other, telling stories. We met a much older couple in their sixties who were dating and traveling (How bold! I love it!) and we laughed with them as well.  We visited Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, had lunch in Trujillo, went to Chan Chan and all of the associated sites and museums, which featured some pretty ridiculous “dioramas.”

After, we rehydrated with pisco sours, which I must say, are amazing. We went to the Jungle Bar Bily, which is on the main strip of Huanchaco. Pisco sours contain pisco (a grape brandy), lime, sugar, sour mix and egg whites. The egg white thing grossed me out, but just don’t think about it, and you’ll easily suck them down. Then we got dinner at Otra Cosa, the vegetarian place, and went back for a maracuya sour, which was made with maracuya (passionfruit). And then I tried to figure out if I should go to Chachapoyas or Chiclayo – nah, nah – or Huarez.

I woke up early, went for a run, then ended up at a surf lesson. I used to love surfing but I’m giving it up – I had a really bad time last time in Costa Rica and I’ve just been scared since then. And I don’t feel comfortable. He did “theory” and we spent some time in the water but I just didn’t feel it. I think I’m over surfing. I know it’s “cool” but honestly, I used to love it but I can’t get there anymore. I don’t feel in control anymore. And I don’t feel like I want to do it anymore. But that’s fine – I have writing and sewing clothes and running and Burning Man and my family and the beaches are good for running on or chilling with a book or playing board games with Gwendolyn. I don’t need to surf. I don’t need to do everything. And I guess admitting that, figuring it out, not challenging myself when I’m supposed to have fun, well, I think that’s a big first step.

I got back to the hostel and found out the direct bus to Chachapoyas was sold out, along with the buses to Huarez. Crap. I didn’t know what to do. I guess I could take a bus to Chiclayo and then grab a bus to Chachapoyas – but what if those were sold out? I pulled off my bikini, grabbed my pack, and Jon accompanied me to the bus station where I bought exactly those tickets. Then we went back on the bus which was of course, insane, and ate, I showered, and then we chilled and made more travel plans.

So much of what I do while traveling is planning – talking to other travelers about where to go next, figuring out the logistics, booking buses and planes, hostels, figuring out where to store my pack. Like I have that logistical problem when I get to Chiclayo – 8 hours in Chiclayo with my pack is a long time. I’ll figure it out, I suppose. I usually do. Even if it sucks for a little bit, I figure it out in the end.