Huanchaco

It was nice to get out of busy and smoggy Trujillo and arrive from the hot sticky jungle to a warm sunny beach. Ah, ocean breeze.

Huanchaco is a pretty cool place. It's a smaller desert town (60k but you don't notice) that lands rIght on the ocean, with a long waterfront street and pIer that has everything of interest to tourists. On weekends the residents of Trujillo flock here and the beach and streets are packed. On weekdays is much mellower.

We got a room at a nice hostel away from the action. It makes for a long walk to the pier area that is the hub area for food and action, and surf, but the hostel is good and we didn't feel like moving (fyI It has two resIdent tortoIses). And the best alternative we found was only next door but not available for our entire length of stay. Although, that place had the best non-Peruvian (fried and not always fried fish and potatoes and rice) and heathiest food around so we still spent a lot of meal time there. We went vegetarian there (it's a vegetarian place) for about 3 days I think. Super good food. Peruvian food is good but after a while we needed that variety. Its also a challenge to get over stomach issues with a diet of greasy/oily food. I had to eat saltines for dinner and breakfast before I found the menu next door haha. That all said, weve been enjoying lots of ceviche too, when the stomach Is up for It. They make it spicy down here, with pretty big strips of fish.

So our place has been good. Food's good. Weathers good...warm with gray skies in the morning that burn off in the afternoon. Surfs been pretty good. There's a long left point that can form up some good waves. Its made up of a few sections that only link up when the swell is bigger or if you have a longboard. One day it was bigger AND I was on a longboard so I had myself one of the longest rides of my life. I ended up just renting boards instead of buying one, which has worked out nicely because I can mix up what I can ride depending on the conditions and size of crowds. And I'm renting for about six dollars a day so it's a sweet deal compared to buying one or bringing my own.

So all in all Huanchaco has been the place to be. We've ended up staying here for 7 nights....broken up by our chicama trip.  Hard to justify going further north to the more popular beaches when everything we need is right here. Sun surf food. Kelly's been soaking up the sun, I've been wearing a wetsuit mostly. The waters chilly but still warmer than home and midday you can still trunk it. Fyi this may also be where people first surf....fisherman here use the same reed canoes to go out and fish on that they used 2000 years ago, then they surf them in to shore at sunset.

Huanchaco, like some weird love child of Afghanistan and Waikiki.