About thirty years ago, my parents traveled to Trujillo, about ten hours north of Lima with my mom's high school friend Hilary and I grew up hearing about their trip and looking at the pictures. So, as soon as I found out I was coming to Peru, one of my goals was to visit Trujillo and see how it has changed since they visited. This past week I took a short, but very sweet trip with two of my fellow volunteers Veronica and Natasha to Trujillo and the nearby fishing village/ surfer tourist town Huanchaco. We took an overnight bus and arrived in Huanchaco on Wednesday morning and it was so nice to feel the ocean breeze! I was very excited to see the traditional reed fishing boats called Caballitos de Totora that fisherman have been using there for more than 3,000 years! (there is evidence in the ancient pottery that the Chimu civilization used similar boats). Fisherman in Huanchaco line up their boats along the beach and I actually got to see the fisherman taking their boats out to sea. They sit on the front part of the boat and use a short paddle to maneuver the waves. However, according to an article, only about 45 fisherman still use these traditional boats in Huanchaco because the younger generation is not interested in learning and prefers surfing. Furthermore, the marshes where the reeds grow to make the boats are disappearing. I believe that when my parents visited Huanchaco, it was still more of a fishing village. Today it has become a tourist attraction filled with surfers, tourist trinkets and hotels lining the beach. However, it still has a feeling of a small, calm town and it was so nice to be somewhere more relaxing than Huaycan! We stayed in a really adorable hostel which had an outdoor kitchen, flowers and palm trees. We could see the waves crashing from the view outside our window! In the afternoon, Natasha and I explored the town. We met an amazing woman named Laura who was selling her handmade jewelry along the beach. Many people sell jewelry to tourists, but her pieces were incredibly artistic and beautiful! We struck up a conversation with her and learned that she has traveled all around Latin America, but she is from Trujillo. I bought a really lovely necklace pendant from her.
We also ate a cremelada- Peruvian version of Italian ice, walked along the pier and saw people fishing and put our feet in the water. Because its still spring here, the water is still pretty chilly. Furthermore, it was very sad to see how littered the beach was. At night, it was so lovely to hear the sound of breaking waves and sleep without the sound of a roaster crowing at all hours of the night!
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