Last Days in Huanchaco
It’s hard to believe that we have been here for a month. When it’s been cloudy and cold, it feels like more than a month, but lately the sun has been out and it’s been gorgeous. It makes me not want to leave, but there’s more to do and see. I’ve been getting some surfing lessons in between bouts of being sick again (apparently you don’t really get immune in this town..the only person I’ve met that says they don’t get sick anymore has been here 3 years. Our newest place of residence has been great. We’re next door to the mini-market and have made some good meals here, especially since we have use of a kitchen with an oven (lasagna with homemade ricotta; roasted ullocoa (i thought they were potatoes); homemade gnocchi; black-eyed pea and quinoa fritters). I loved having a tub. I doubt I’ll see another one again. Our duena was a bit neurotic with signs everywhere about keeping things clean and talking about Jesus. But overall, she stayed out of our way and was genuinely nice, until the last day when we didn’t leave town until 9:30pm because of our bus. She wanted us out of the room but there were some miscommunications and we just left and hung out with Scott across the street at Cafe Chaska to try some of His NY style pizza (he’s from New Paltz). His girlfriend makes the best chicha morada we’ve had so far and I was able to get the recipe from her (look on my food blog). He also sold us some sangre de grado, which is a tree sap from the jungle that is an anti-bacterial. Matt cut his toe really bad playing soccer and our surf instructor gave him some to help his foot. I was sick for our last two days in town and Scott said it would help kill the bad stuff in my stomach. I took some before the 6 hour bus ride but I’m not sure if it helped because I took 2 Imodium a-d’s and drank an emoliente. I was good for the first 5 hours, but I had to make the bus driver pull off in the middle of the mountains for me. I finally took my doctor’s medicine and I am now 100% better.
But let’s talk about the last few days in Huanchaco…when I was healthy. My last day at work was Halloween and I didn’t have to cook, just help decorate the restaurant and paint people’s faces when they came in. I got to paint a dracula, a spider man and a wild cat. I painted eyeballs on my eyelids and had vampire teeth. I don’t really know what I was,but most people weren’t dressed up for the party anyways. I would have liked to have had an elaborate costume, but I didn’t have access to a sewing machine or materials to make something for one night. Plus, I didn’t want to carry it for 5 more months on my back. Overall, working at the restaurant was fun. I learned a lot of kitchen vocabulary and some new recipes. I also learned to ignore all of my safety and sanitation classes while cooking (not because I wanted to). To sum it up, nothing’s really refrigerated and there’s no hot water for washing dishes. I got to have some more restaurant experience (and confirmed, yet again, that I don’t want to live work in a restaurant). I didn’t get as many responsibilities as I thought I would have. I did a lot of veggie prep and dishes and by the last week I was able to cook a complete order. I wasn’t able to create any specials like I was promised, but I did take a few recipes with me that I liked (their pan de la casa was great, it had quinoa, kiwicha, cornmeal, flaxseeds). But in the big picture, I’m glad the tips went to charity and Matt and I ate there enough to help out some local group.
The party was lots of fun. Halloween is big here, not as big as in the US, but big enough considering it doesn’t have any roots in Peru. Kids get dressed up and run around yelling “Halloween” (they can’t say trick or treat). There are plenty of stores in Trujillo that have masks and accessories. Finding a complete costume if you are bigger than a child’s 14 is difficult. We decorated the restaurant with spiders, bats, and lots of yarn to resemble spiderwebs. Peter, one of the creators of Otra Cosa (who will be returning to the Netherlands next year) was the DJ and the mix of music was interesting. Salsa, reggaeton, 80′s and some random Dutch songs that were amusing, at least to watch the Dutch people dance to it (it would be like our early 90′s music). We danced a lot and the party ended about 2:30am. Afterwards, a group of people were going to a large salsa party on a basketball court, but Matt and I decided we would rather go to bed.
The night before we left, we had a little going away party at La Tribu, the local hangout and hostal owned by artist/philosopher/sculptor Luis. He has a little fire pit in the restaurant and we spent most of the evening talking around the fire. A group of obnoxious American study abroad kids ended up there, ruining our little cozy atmosphere. Two girls took San Pedro, a hallucinogenic cactus, and started freaking out and eventually left the bar (thank god) to only wander around town. It’s interesting how different the volunteer crowd is from the study abroad crowd. I’m glad I’m in the volunteer crowd-the people are interesting, genuine and fun to be around. It’s definitely bittersweet leaving Huanchaco. We have made some good friends and it’ll be hard to leave such a strong international community, where there’s always someone around to share stories, meals and experiences. Luckily, I have a travel partner, so we won’t be alone.