Surfing in Huanchaco

After 2-months of pretty relentless travelling including almost 2-months at altitude and a lot of hiking, we were feeling as though we had yet to have a 'holiday'. So, after a bit of research, we locked in 5-days of beach time and surfing in Huanchaco, north Peru.

Lima

Our two objectives for Lima were; see the ocean and eat ceviche.

On our way from Huacachina to Huanchaco, we stopped over for the day in Lima. Having spent quite a bit of time in Cusco, we weren't too excited about the prospect of spending more time in another big city so we opted instead for a fleeting visit.

After a leisurely wake-up and breakfast in Huacachina, we hoped on a bus to Lima. We managed to pull up to the bus terminal, book our tickets and get ourselves and our bags onboard within a 5-min window.

We arrived in Lima in the early afternoon and booked our next bus to Huanchaco for later that evening, checking our bags in at the bus terminal at the same time. With about 7-hours up our sleeves, we caught a taxi into Miaflores to see the ocean for our first in 2-months!!

We wandered the coastline admiring the views and breathing in the fresh ocean mist and soon came across a crepe stall; so a mandatory stop ensued.

After some research for "best ceviche" and meticulous filtering based on reviews, we settled on what we hoped would be a great local ceviche restaurant for dinner, and avoid the overpriced tourist restaurants. We were visibly upset when, despite our meticulous research, we walked into the restaurant and were given an english menu, and were surrounded by American accents. RIP. Nonetheless, the ceviche was fantastic (and well-priced).

Ticking both our Lima objectives off, we returned to the bus terminal about 10pm for our overnight bus to Huanchaco.

Surfing in Huanchaco

Huanchaco is a small township on the north coast of Peru, just outside of Trujillo; Peru's third largest city.

Huanchaco was a wonderful reprieve from the large cities, breathtaking altitude, cooler climates and hiking over the past 2-months. We spent the 5-days at a lovely little hostel on the beachfront that had daily yoga classes, and spent our afternoons at the local cafe and surfing. We ate ceviche for diner every evening; life was good!

There were two local breaks; a point break and the main beach that had consistent rollers all day long, every day (very similar to Scarborough back home).

At our hostel we met Daisy, Oscar and Lana - 3 fellow Kiwis who were on the same chill-out surfing part of their trip also. We enjoyed their company and the shared humour/ story-telling.

On our third day we took a day trip further north to Chicama; which is infamous for having the world's largest left-hand break. Google tells me that, under the right conditions, the wave can run for up to 2.2km!! We spent the day catching these beautiful left-handers (not quite 2.2km, but still the longest waves i've ever surfed!).

Unfortunately, returning back to Huanchaco that evening I started to feel quite unwell. This turned out to be the start of my third bout of gastro, leaving me in bed our final two days in Huanchaco. After some research, we figured the cause was most likely pollutants from the sea water - lucky me. These were also the worst symptoms too - i'll spare you the details.

While the rest of my time was spent in bed, Laura managed to get out for some more surfs and enjoyed a night out with some of the locals from the surf shop.

Adiós Peru!

Huanchaco concluded our time in Peru. What a beautiful country with so much to offer.

Storytime:

Our trip to Columbia involved first a domestic flight to Lima, a transfer, and then an international flight to Cartagena. The first leg went smoothly and we arrived in Lima in the afternoon.

After clearing customs in Lima, (which by the way was hectic because it's the main international gateway), we made our way through the international terminal to our next flight. With a few hours to kill we set about trying to get rid of the balance of our few Peruvian Soles (easily done in the overpriced international departure lounge). I waited in line for a popular burger joint, stoked that I could clear the balance of our change with some very well-priced items on the menu only to find out at the counter that the menu was displayed in USD - who does that? I revoked my order deciding that the would-be NZD$4 burger that was now NZD$20 was a complete rip off.

We eventually boarded the terminal bus for our flight at midnight. After some waiting around we were advised to exit the bus back into the terminal for 15min while we waited for some aircraft maintenance. We were soon advised that 15min would be more like 2-hours and that we needed to come back later for our flight. Note, we were advised we would be updated of any changes to our flight (both on the app and via the speaker).

Excited about our USD$15 vouchers to spend at the terminal for the inconvenience, our excitement quickly turned to disappointment as we realised 1. that the voucher was only valid for about 5 of the 50 shops (of course) and 2. the only shop that was still open was the overpriced souvenir shop (of course). After some debates with the staff who denied they were a part of the voucher, and us vehemently advising them they were, we finally managed to secure the goods. USD$15 (NZD$25) got us: one small packet of Doritos, a stale muffin and a small pottle of fruit. But hey, no complaints for free food.

While we were busy trying to work out what we could get with our vouchers, we noted that it was about 90min since our initial delay. We hadn't had any updates on the app or heard anything on the PA system so thought we better go check. Turns out our flight left without us. We are still a bit clueless as to how we were never notified, but nothing was going to change the fact we were stood in the terminal while our plane was on the runway - whoops. It was 2am by this point.

While the staff at our check-in kiosk were incredibly rude and unhelpful, we were directed elsewhere and experienced nothing but fantastic customer service from everyone involved. We had to get special authority to go back through customs (i've never had to go the opposite way through customs - believe me it's as complicated as you think) and then back to the customer service desk to re-book our flight.

Thankfully, we were able to get rescheduled for the next flight at midday and the lovely man at the counter even upgraded us to the emergency exit row. He even said he would take care of redirecting our luggage and having it re-stickered so we didn't have to do anything. All of this at no cost to us - perfect!

With our first flight missed (check), we went back through security and set about finding somewhere to sleep for the night. Laura managed to score the last available couch in the terminal, and after a couple of laps of the terminal myself, I resigned to a not-so-comfortable wavy wooden bench seat that was placed strategically close to the bathroom (still feeling the effects of gastro). We finally managed to lay down about 3am.

After a not-so-bad night's sleep we rewarded ourselves with an overpriced coffee and croissant from Starbucks for breakfast and made sure we got to our gate early for our next flight. After a 45min delay, we were finally in the air and on our way to Columbia!