So today was our chance to try surfing in a different country and a different Ocean. We'd been a few times in Cornwall before and definitely couldn't consider ourselves even competent at surfing... but we'd give it a go.
After spending the morning relaxing on the beach in the winter sun (still like 28°c though), we were treated to two odd and surprising shows.
The first was situated on a bandstand just on the promenade. They had a band of about 15 or so playing away to 3 pairs of dancers dressed in what I can only assume to be traditional Peruvian dresses.
The second started when two helicopters flew parallel to the beach, just above the water at a low altitude. One of the helicopters then started to hover above a section of the beach about 400m or so down the coast away from the pier. Next thing, a rope was released from the hold of the helicopter, followed by 10 men dressed in black. Once they had all descended onto the beach they let off a bang accompanied with some black smoke. One minute later they had been picked up again by the helicopter and took them back the way they came, although this time, they were still hanging onto the rope. Very odd.
The surfing was very difficult. After seeing the Peruvian teenagers zip along the waves with ease on their 5ft long boards, We thought it would be a piece of cake on our 8ft boards. How wrong we were. After getting past the rocks on the beach we then spent a good while floating about and failing to catch waves. A soon while after we took a break. This was quite swiftly followed by us returning into the ferocious water. We could not get back out. Every wave was commanding us back to the shore, and with it, the rocks. After Emma and I swallowed roughly half of the entire ocean's supply of (hopefully cleanish) salt water, We decided to give up and head back to the sanctitude of having two feet on dry land. This was not before my feet were battered by the rocks. Not ideal.
What has been especially odd about our time in Huanchaco is probably how dead it gets in the evening. No-one is in the restaurants in the evening. The days are very full, but the evenings are less so. We were assured by the people we spoke to that there was in fact life. You just had to go to the right places... it's a small town for crying out loud. Odd.
We were however treated to another traditional Peruvian dish known as lomo saltado. Upon consulting Google translate, We found out that this in fact means springing loin... it's basically just a delicious beef stir-fry. Peru has cuisine over Ecuador. But Ecuador has better people. Back to the mountains tomorrow and just the slight altitude of 3000m above sea level. Can't wait to be unable to breath again...
