Huanchaco - My first four days in Peru

“So, what has surprised you the most about this place man?” Jason asked.

When he asked me that we were sitting in the coffee shop in Cuzco and I felt at the time that the most surprising thing was that I wasn't a huge fan of the Peruvian people. Granted this was while I was agro because I was sick and had been traveling for 3 weeks. Looking back, I know it was just too soon for me to answer that question. Now, I would re-answer that question; the most surprising thing about Peru was how much I learned about myself and how it made me appreciate every luxury we have in America 1000 times more.

Arriving in Huanchaco

After 37 hours in airports and airplanes, and a scary landing at the Trujillo airport I couldn’t have been more excited to get off the plane and see my friends. Jason, Janelle, and Ashley were just outside the airport waiting for my vacation to start. It was very humid but I was so stoked on life at that point I couldn’t have cared less. I walk out of the airport to a confusion of taxi drives all offering me rides for different prices. I realized my Spanish wasn’t very good at that point. Across the confusion I finally see my friends and they gave me a very warm welcome.

We all hopped into a taxi and were off to Playa Huanchaco. I had seen sick pictures of the left point break that comes through Huanchacho so I knew I wanted to try and surf here. From the airport to the playa I noticed first the people, next the interesting architecture, and also the Coca Cola advertisements covering nearly every wall like old crumbling wallpaper. The houses were different in every neighborhood; they were connected to the main road by rocky dirt paths that were frequented by the many stray dogs. The people just outside the beach all seemed to be busy as they walk past the cement walls with the all-recognizable bright red and white Coco-Cola logo. The waves became so soothing as we were left Trujillo and were getting closer to Huanchaco. There were palm trees, beach umbrellas, little surf shacks, restaurants, and more houses filling the area. It was a sleepy little town with no one walking about as it was barley 8:00am. I was a little uneasy at first because of noticing all the cement fences topped with mortared broken bottle tops and shattered glass protecting the houses behind them. Next to a lot of the houses were partially demolished remains of what used to be a house.

We got to the Naylamp hostel in about 15 min. The taxis in Peru were very cheap. It was probably 5 soles from the airport to the hostel, which is about $2.00. That taxi would have easily been $20-30 in the US. The hostel was awesome! It was a quite little beach hut with a beautiful courtyard filled with hammocks, flowers, and the two resident tortoises. There was a small restaurant in the hostel, which was perfect because I was starving. I immediately went with Jason and the ladies to get changed into some much needed beach attire. The sun was coming out behind the marine layer and it felt better than a beautiful San Diego summer day. Once I changed Jason and I went downstairs to get some breakfast. My first food in Peru was an Americano Breakfast. It was coffee, juice, two fried eggs, potatoes, and toast. Perfect!

After breakfast Jason and I round up the ladies and we decided to take a little stroll on the town. I still had no idea what the people were like, what the interactions would be like, or even where anything was. As we walked around the town things were becoming livelier and there was a lot more people going about their day. I was almost immediately put at ease as we walked around and talked with more of the locals. I got this feeling that this town had tranquillo written all over it, and I was right.

The rest of the day was super chill. We walked up and down the town buying ice cream, sunglasses, and little items from the street vendors. We took a walk on the beach that turned into a run because of the blistering hot sand pressing the bottom of my feet. It was amazing just to take in the sights and sounds as it started to hit me that I was thousands of miles away from home. Jason and I just chilled on the beach for a while and watched the waves come in which gave me a major itch to go rent a surfboard and get out into the water. The rest of the first day seemed to float by having a great lunch with Ashley and Janelle then a fun filled dinner later with the whole group.

After dinner we headed back to the hostel and I had one thing in mind… LETS GET SOME DRANKS!!!! We all stopped by the local bodega and picked up some supplies to make Cube Libres. That was definitely my drink of choice down there. We took our rum and coke back to the hostel and got the night started. Needless to say it was such a fun night but what happens in Peru, says in Peru. :)

The next morning I couldn’t control the urge to go surf. I had to get a surfboard that day and get out into the water. I was determined. Jason and I went down to the hostel café and started out the morning with a little hangover cure Americano breakfast. We couldn’t have been more carefree as we watched the tortoises strolling in the yard. After breakfast Ashley and I took a walk down to the western part of town just to get out of the hostel and Ash wanted to start off the day with a cerveza frio. We hung out on the beach and watched all the craziness around us, the little kids running around, the local surfers getting the sessions going, the fishermen paddling their reed boats around casting their nets, and the guy leading his donkey down the beach. On the way back I rented my surfboard and rushed back to the hostel to get Jason to go out with me. We had a great session. The waves in Huanchaco were these amazing little point break lefts. Perfect for me. We surfed a couple hours and only got out of the water when our backs were out of gas. That smile didn’t leave my face for days.

Later that day I took my chances for the first time with some street food. It was a fateful chance because I found my favorite food in all of Peru. The Papa Rellena. A potato treat created by the gods themselves. Papa Rellena in Spanish means stuffed potato and it’s exactly that. A baked potato stuffed with a small amount of meat, onions, and cilantro, deep-fried and served with aji sauce. Delicious!

That night Ashley and I decided to take a walk up to the church on top of the hill to watch the sunset. It was a great choice because it was absolutely beautiful. From there you could see the whole town of Huanchaco and of course the ocean as far as the eyes can see. The weather was gorgeous, the skys were clear, the church behind us was playing music, and it made for a picture perfect sunset. After the sun went down we headed back warm and happy and grabbed another bottle of ron and prepared to get the night started. Again it was a wild night and we ended up meeting some random locals on the street. Great time for sure.

For our 3^rd day in Peru I started with a surf session of course. I went out with Jason and Lola. Lola was one of our friends from the hostel, she was from Santa Cruz and was quite the long board ripper. The waves that day were so fun. About shoulder to head high and just peeling left shoulders. Again we stayed out until we were freezing and our backs had no energy. After our session we all went to the ancient ruins of Chan Chan, which is the largest adobe city in the Pre-Colombian era. Chan Chan was built in AD 850 by the Chimu civilization and was home to about 100,000 people. It was out in the middle of the desert and was super hot but such a cool place to see. The people basically dug their houses out of the ground. After roaming around in the super hot ruins we headed back to Huanchaco so Janelle could pick up some supplies to make some Lomo Saltado for us that night. Luckly we made it back in time for Jason and I to see this Peruvian lady chase around a taxi driver with a huge rock yelling profanities and threatening to throw it at him. It was the entertainment for the whole town apparently as we all watched and laughed.

That night was a little bit mellower because we were all drained from the previous two nights. We all chilled around in the kitchen area and had a great time with Mono, from Argentina, and Lola, with some beers, good conversation and of course Janelle’s delicious Lomo.

The next day being our last day in Huanchaco was super chill. We didn’t have anything in the books to do so we used the beautiful beach to waste time and get ready for our bus ride to Lima that night. I made sure to smash down as many Papa’s Rellenas as possible because I didn’t know if they would be as popular in the southern cities we were heading to. Even now a month later looking back, Huanchaco is in my top 2 favorite cities of the whole trip. We had such a great time there, we met great people, and got to surf some amazing waves while partying our butts off. That’s my kind of city. After a farewell to our new friends, Jason, Janelle, Ashley, and I headed off to the Trujillo bus stop to get on our way to Lima. I couldn’t wait to see what awaited us in the nations capital.