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Tranquillity in Huanchaco |
Finding the Lost Treasure of Tranquillity in Huanchaco, PeruGet away from it all, forget your
problems, release all your tensions, sit back and relax and reflect
on life in Huanchaco. Where peace and quiet and surf awaits you,
just fifteen minutes north of Trujillo, right near the ancient ruins
of Chan-Chan.
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| Statue of a fisherman
riding the waves on a reed-boat. It's near the water and welcomes
visitors to Huanchaco |
Visited by tourists, backpackers, surfers searching for the
perfect wave, free-loaders, and 'burnt-out' business people,
Huanchaco's townspeople are easy-going and down-to-earth and want
you to feel at ease. The town is hardly over-commercialized and
still retains much of it's natural, back-water flavor as an old
fishing village with an ancient past. Time is plentiful in
Huanchaco. This is a laid-back place. Here, there seems no rush to
do anything. If you can't finish it today, there's plenty of time
tomorrow.
Places to stay start at your typical side-street hostel for
budget minded backpackers and down-on-their-luck entrepreneurs at
five soles ($1.75) a day, to very comfortable and clean hotels on
the beach for around fifty soles. Are you an incurable insomniac?
Well then, a room on the beach is just the remedy to let the sound
of the rhythm of the gently falling waves massage and melt all your
tensions away and put you soundly to sleep.
Even in the summer months, the heat never overwhelms you and the
fresh, invigorating salt air is only equaled by the smell of hot
cancha (fried corn) drifting from one of the many places to eat. And
don't worry if you had too much to drink the night before...good
cebiche (raw fish marinated in seasoned lemon juice) is
plentiful here, very modestly priced, and is the perfect antidote to
snap you out of your hangover quickly. Fresh seafood, caught locally
by the reed boat fishermen is, of course, the specialty here. Even
the tasty seaweed used in their seafood cuisine is harvested right
from the rocks that lie off the beaches of Huanchaco.
Take a long walk on the fishing pier jutting out into the Pacific
Ocean waves. Explore the narrow, cobble-stoned streets that seem to
have a hole-in-the-wall snack bar or store on every corner. Visit
the open-air flea market on the beach that offers plenty of locally
made handicrafts. But do it nice and easy. You see, in Huanchaco you
don't waste time, you savor it, for here time is to be released
slowly and enjoyed.
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A row of reed-boats on the
beach. They are always stored in this position when not in use. It helps
them to dry out |
Huanchaco's one-man seahorse reed
boats (Caballito de Totora) have a long three thousand year old
tradition and can be seen only in a few places on the north Pacific
ocean, Huanchaco being one of them. The little seahorse boats are
made of long, flexible reeds that grow in marshy areas around lakes
and canals. The reeds are cut and tied with cords by an experienced
'weaver'. They say it takes about a day to make a good one and, when
finished, weighs about 100 kilos.
It takes some experience to ride the rolling waves in one, as
witnessed by the European tourist who attempted his skills at
maneuvering in one...only to end up on the beach far down from where
he started, exhausted, his pride tarnished, but at least still in
one piece. But don't fret. If you yourself want to experience the
thrill of galloping like a horse on the waves, a skilled "horseman"
will be happy to oblige you for a few soles.
If you're looking for "historic sights" to see or "lost
treasures" to be found, Huanchaco has them all. Meditation, escaping
the rat race, reflecting on life, re-thinking your prerogatives,
re-charging your "batteries"...these are Huanchaco's treasures.
When I got back to Lima, a friend of mine asked me, "What did you
do in Huanchaco?" And, I said, "Nothing!"
He replied, with a look of puzzlement, "Nothing?" And I said once
again, with a slight pleasurable grin, "Absolutely Nothing."
For I was content in the knowledge that only a Buddhist monk or
someone who's been to Huanchaco can appreciate and understand the
true value of "wasting time" and doing absolutely "Nothing!"
Randell Lee
Copyright
Randell Lee. All rights reserved. Story reproduced with kind permission.
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