First week in Peru

February 2013. I have now officially started the next phase of my journey through life – and have now completed the first week of my 6 month sojourn in Huanchaco, La Libertad, Peru.

Huanchaco, Peru

When I visited Huanchaco in July 2012, it was winter, though the climate was still nice compared to an English winter, or even an English summer, but the beaches were all but deserted, so it was quite a shock to see so many people here. Despite this, Huanchaco manages to maintain a small-town atmosphere, and it does not have the “kiss me quick” brashness of some English seaside resorts, even though there has also been an influx of traders all vying for the tourist “dollar”. Many are simply locals taking advantage of the holidaymakers and renting deckchairs and umbrellas, or selling ice-creams and other foodstuffs, but there are also a lot of others selling hand-made jewellery and other “souvenirs”, many of whom I assume to be “tourists” themselves hoping to make enough to remain here.
My first few days were spent looking for an apartment for my time here, and ironically the first one I looked at was the one I chose to rent. I am on the second floor, so get the benefit of the sea breeze, and can glimpse the sea about 100 yards distant from my balcony, and get an even better view from the roof one floor up, which is shared with another apartment as a clothes drying area – I have direct access via a spiral staircase. Supplied “equipment” was spartan, so I made a trip by bus to the neighbouring city (Trujillo, Peru’s third largest city), where I found a mall that has everything, and stocked up with the necessities.

I also found time to visit the dog rescue centre where I will be volunteering, though it entailed a 2 mile walk back to the bus stop, which was not what I was expecting – we managed to get a motor-rickshaw taxi there, but it is pretty isolated where the centre is and nothing materialised during our walk back! We did take 6, of the 40 or so, dogs for a run on the beach, and they did seem to appreciate that, so it was worth it. We will also be running a fund-raising on the beach on Sunday as we need some money to fumigate the centre – apparently one of the rescued dogs had a chronic tick problem, and this has infested the centre!

All in all, I am really enjoying life here – and looking forwards to the chance to try some fishing as well, and I might even be tempted to have a go at surfing! I used to body surf many, many years ago in Durban, South Africa, and did once borrow a surfboard and mess about, though got nowhere near getting vertical on it! The climate, even though we are now in the middle of summer, is much milder than I was led to believe, with hot, but not stifling heat, during the day, and pleasantly cool at night with the sea breeze, which also helps keep things reasonable during the day. I think I will like it here – a lot!