After Paracas and a festive night in the Cruz del Sur terminal, Holly, Julie, and I finally boarded our bus to Trujillo with high hopes for a clean, relaxed, and authentic Peruvian beach experience. We arrived in Trujillo pretty late and caught a 25 minute cab ride to Hostel Nylamp. The place was dark and quiet but we rang the bell and the owner opened the doors up to a clean and well lit restaurant and proceeded to check us into our room. After a quick shower and a little tour, we all slept well excited for the day to come. After we woke up, Holly and I decided to wander to the market to get some stuff for breakfast. After asking a couple people for directions and receiving various answers, we stumbled upon the market which was small but well equipped, and after 20 minutes and about $10, we were ready for the next couple of days. Upon returning to the hostel, we found Julie eating breakfast so we sat and decided to move out of the “expensive” room (around $8USD) to the more reasonable camping option ($3USD) which still included everything. This is easily the best part of carrying all of your own camping stuff. Most hostels don’t advertise it either but we have found several offer it if you just ask.

Anyways, that day we walked around the little beach town and down to the boardwalk. Holly and Julie got some shaved ice things called raspadillas with passion fruit and other exotic juices and purées. We paid .50sol to go on the boardwalk and watched people fish. All along the boardwalk were guys selling “fishing rods” which were just pieces of balsa wood wrapped in monofilament with a hook and weight. The bait of the day was clam and I didn’t see anyone catch anything so I couldn’t say if it was a good catching day, but I’m sure they enjoyed themselves. All kinds of people were on the boardwalk and most of them were fishing. I’ll also note now that the Peruvians are bigtime sea goers and have a long tradition of fishing. In Huanchaco, the locals fish in small boats made of reeds. They sit on the front and toss their catch into a space behind them to haul it in. That aft space also happens to fit a human pretty well, and many people hire out a fisherman for 20 minutes to a half hour to paddle around and flounder in the surf so we watched them from the boardwalk as well. Afterwards, we returned to our campground to relax in the hammocks and read mostly. That night we bought a couple beers from the restaurant and went upstairs to watch the sunset and see the beaches empty of the days sun-worshippers. This became a ritual for the next few days and was a highlight from the trip. The following day, the three of us caught a bus to see the largest adobe city of the ancient world, Chan Chan. After a quick walk in the desert heat, we arrived at the ancient city, paid our 10sol entrance fee, and toured it on our own. After wandering around the complex, we stopped by the enterprising ice cream man at the entrance for some overpriced dreamcicles and ice cream sandwiches. Next we walked back to the main road to catch another bus into Trujillo which had an incredible city center and main plaza. After drooling over the architecture, we went to another archaeological actually within the city itself and used our previously purchased tickets for entrance. The ticket included 4 sites all together but we got “ruined out” and decided to truck it back to Huanchaco to catch the sunset and make dinner. Afterwards, we weren’t too tired yet so we ventured out seeking pitchers of pisco sours only to find Huanchaco is too classy for such a thing. It was the one and only time we missed Huacachina. We eventually found a place that smelled of grilling meats so naturally we stopped in, had a few drinks, and introduced Julie to mollejas (sweetbreads). They were not good (She eventually got a proper introduction to sweetbreads at Rafael in Lima). On our last day, we checked out early and crossed the street to be like so many of the sun-worshippers we had seen leaving after those brilliant Peruvian sunsets. For 25sol, we rented a spot on the beach complete with three chairs and an big umbrella. Holly, who would have normally read, got bored after her kindle broke and set out to make our beach day complete. After what seemed like a very long time, Holly returned with a small bottle of rum and an arm full of those shaved iced drinks. She declared that we were going to have piña coladas. Who were Julie and I to disagree? We enjoyed them, and the following round of passionfruit/pineapple drinks and sat happily, being mesmerized by the waves and the sun on the Pacific shore. Eventually, a cross-dressing Peruvian wandered up to us and sold us candy. We took a couple pictures for good measure, thanked him/her and then wound down our time on the beach. We left Huanchaco with smiles, feeling refreshed and confident but craving something a little more adventurous, so we pointed South and headed to the great place known as Huaraz, and oh the fun we had.