Chilled Out Huanchaco

Huanchaco is a little town on the beach. Cute and relaxed. The nights are cool but it warms up nicely by lunch. It's so easy to stay here and laze on the beach in the sun, eat at one of the many cafe restaurants fronting the water then go to a beach party later in the evening (unless you drink too quickly at the pre-drinks bar and pass out amid a dense cloud of cigarette smoke).

Also, there's a spot of fishing to be done on the muelle (pier) which is a bonus for me. s/0.50 gets you on the muelle and for s/2 you can buy a bit of bait and a simple jig on a handline from one of the guys selling them. I pulled nine fish out of the water in an hour and each time gave them to the couple next to me. I think the locals would've thought I was loco if I had thrown it back. The fish have a kind of ugly comparable to catfish, with a soft squishy body devoid of scales. The live bait I used was a bean pod shaped crustacean that took me a few goes before I eventually got the courage to hook them, desperately flailing their jointed legs. I could practically hear their high pitched squeals.

I had a surfing lesson with a school called Muchik, and the instructor Chicho guarantees that you'll stand up in the first lesson or you don't pay. His technique got me standing up a few times which I never thought I'd be able to do. For a two hour one-on-one lesson, surfboard and wet suit hire, it was s/40, including a s/10 discount with a voucher you can find everywhere.

But there is not much else to do here besides enjoy the beach, and I've already seen the nearby ruins of Chan Chan and Huaca del Sol y de la Luna. As I read on the beach in the late afternoon, I was approached by a Peruvian guy called Joel trying to sell me a tour I'd already been on. We got talking and he took me to the iglesia on top of the hill and watched the sun set before having a couple of beers on the beach. The next day, we visited the small mountain village of Otuzco via public bus about 2 hours away, and he also showed me where to eat cheap with the locals at the mercados.

Hostal Naylamp

I stayed at Hostal Naylamp which is an awesome hostel and really cheap too, at only s/15 a night for a dorm. It's only a couple of blocks from the main shops and is situated on the waterfront. Decent rooms, hammocks in a courtyard garden, nice people and a really laid-back atmosphere. Not a party hostel, but then Huanchaco isn't really a party town. I recommend this hostel if you visit Huanchaco.