As I’ve said before, a day of rest simply means a day of not driving. It was quite a busy day. First the washing. A tedious task when it has to be done by hand. At least we had plenty of water close by and trees in order to put up a line.
Once this chore was over, it was time to walk into town to the supermarket. First getting more cash from an ATM. There are less places in Peru which will take a card. It was a large looking store, so we thought we would find everything we needed. Sadly, this was not the case. It was more of a hypermarket with clothes, shoes, toys, electrical goods etc and the food part was disappointing.
A very poor selection of fruit and veg and we couldn’t get whole oats. Another thing we have found impossible to get is a replacement barbecue lighter. We had 2 but they have both run out of gas. While looking for another shop we hoped would have whole oats, we found a barbers. It was not the smartest of establishments and the barber was very young.
I was a bit apprehensive regarding what sort of haircut Dennis would get. He said he wanted it “short. I wasn’t sure he would have any hair left, as the young man went about it very vigorously with the clippers. Dennis was happy with it, though.
No success at the next store either with whole oats. We wandered around the streets looking for a greengrocer. No luck with this either, just a street vendor selling mangoes, so we bought a large one of those .
Giant mango.
Back to our little enclosed, grassy haven, in what is a singularly unattractive town. It has a reputation for being a surfing town. Yesterday we talked to a guy from Slovenia who comes here every year from October until December. He comes to kite foil. He even hires the same tuk tuk each time for transport.
After lunch, cleaning out the fridge and tidying the provisions box, we decided to walk to the beach. We first climbed some steep steps to a viewpoint overlooking the town and beach.
It’s a very dirty, grey looking sand. There are many anchored small boats and a dilapidated looking wooden pier.
Kite surfers were swooping up and down at the far end of the beach.
Next we walked down to and along the beach for a bit. Returning to the pavement, I hoped there would be a nice little cafe where we could have a drink, absolutely nothing like this. A couple of grim, deserted restaurants and a few stalls selling handicrafts, mainly bead necklaces and bracelets.
Interesting cacti.
There was an ice cream seller, so we indulged in a nutty/chocolate lolly. Back at the camp, I ventured to the shower. I’d left it late in the hope the water might have warmed up. It hadn’t. It’s been a while since we’ve had cold showers. In the likes of sweltering Cartagena, they were fine. Not here though, when it’s only about 19/20 degrees.
It’s an arty, crafty camp site.
In the evening some other overlanders came to the camp. 3 cyclists, a couple who rented one of the rooms, and Uri who camped next to us. Uri is a young Spaniard who has been on the road for 10 months, cycling northbound. As I had cooked a substantial chicken curry, we shared some with him.
A Dutch couple in a Sprinter van with 2 boisterous young boys also arrived. They have parked on another piece of land belonging to the hostel, as their van is too tall for the entrance gate. We chatted briefly before dinner.
Tomorrow we will head for Trujillo and maybe beyond to Chimbote. Looking at the map it looks quite built up, north of Trujillo, so progress may not be fast.
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