Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Everybody’s goin’ surfin’, surfin’ U.K.


Today was Adrian’s big day. Today was his first surfing lesson. The school promised to get students up on the board the first time or their money back. So they must have been pretty confident but I’m not sure we were. Still he eagerly got up and was out the door as soon as we were done breakfast. Since his lesson was two hours long I took my time going down to the beach to watch and instead uploaded some blog entries and more photos and then grabbed my camera and headed out to document the big event.

Down at the beach Adrian was just making his way into the water having spent the first 45 minutes getting instructed on dry land. For the next hour, I watch and snapped photos as he tried to get up on the board – spending just as much time falling into the water as he did sitting on the board. I began to think that perhaps the school would have to make good on their promise when it happened. He got his butt up in the air and then his arms and soon he was standing riding the last wave of his lesson all the way into the beach. YAY!!!! He did it. I walked with him and the instructor back to the school where Adrian showered and changed back into his clothes and was congratulated by the staff on doing it. Adrian was now hooked on surfing and although we were leaving Huanchaco tonight, he vowed to get back on the board the next time he had the chance – even though that wouldn’t be until we were in Chile, a long way away.

We still had a whole afternoon to spend in Huanchaco before our bus out and considered going to visit the other ruins. But I didn’t feel like especially after the disappointment of the second ruins yesterday. Plus the last two sites were a long way from the hostel and equally as far from each other so seeing them would probably require a taxi ride which we hoped to avoid. Adrian was happy to enjoy the free internet at the hostel so we had a quiet afternoon kicking around the hostel. But both of us were looking forward to authentic curry from the place down the road. Of course, when we turned up, the hostel was in the midst of a power outage and the owner apologized that the curry was prepared but not cooked yet. He hoped to have it ready in a couple of hours though but unfortunately for us we had a bus to catch. He told us that there was a tasty place next door where we could get good cheap local food. And his description was bang on – we spent about $5 for the two of us and got huge bowls of veggie soup, a Peruvian chicken curry called pollo saltado, rice and fries. We were stuffed and satisfied and it was a nice feeling. As we were settling up our bill, a stray dog came sauntering into the café. The owners told us that the dog was lost and they were trying to find the owner but weren’t having any luck. And as we walked out, the dog followed us. We tried to send it back to the café but it wasn’t cooperating. A woman approached us asking us if we knew who’s dog it was and in Spanglish I tried to explain the situation. In the middle of our tortured conversation a couple appeared calling out the dog’s name. The puppy immediately ran to them and all over them – family and dog were reunited. It was the perfect way to end our time in Huanchaco and we hoped this would be the turning point for our Peruvian adventure.

Indeed our taxi back to the bus station was half the cost we’d been charged on the way in. And at the bus station we met a nice man who kept Adrian amused while we waited for the bus. The man had been schooled by English speaking Jesuits and was happy to practice the English they’d taught him. And he was the kinesiologist for the Huaraz soccer team so he was just as happy to talk sports. Just as pleasant was our bus ride since we had managed to grab the first seats in the front of the bus – so we had plenty of leg room and a great view (until the attendant made me close the curtain for the night). The only bad thing about the bus was that the one dvd they had was Laura Pausini’s greatest hits. Laura who? Well, I’ll politely refer to her as the Italian/Latin Celine Dion and let you come to your own conclusions. Huanchaco had almost made up for our terrible border crossing. We hoped that Huaraz would be just as good to us.

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