Chiclayo
Our vacation started in Chiclayo, where we were oblidged to go to a district wide Interact (which is a Rotary Sponsered Youth volunteer club) Conference. It was held in a Military school outside of the city. The first day, all the participants were given a tour of the city, which included: Pimentel Beach, a traditional market and the Museum of Sipan. The museum was an archaeological site where they discovered the remains of an Incan Ruler's tomb.
The morning & afternoon of the 2nd day were pure "Charlas," or speeches, mainly about saving the environment and the importance of volunteering. And, as interesting as those are, our supervisor (the inbound cordination for our district, Henry) decided that "getting to know the city" was more important for us exchange students... So, we went to the beach all day instead :). There was a party later that night.
We got woken up really early the 3rd day, and for some reason were shuffled off to the center of town. There was some small parade, although we never figured out why. All the different Interact Clubs waked with their fancy banners and mascots. Us Intercambistas, however, were given flag to carry. I was given the flag of India. Why? I have no idea. If I don't blend in in Peru, I'm sure I'd only stick out more in India...
Later that day was the "mini-olympics." Spur of the moment, I decided to join the swim race. And I won. With a good 5 seconds to spare. I felt very famous for the rest of the conference :) I even got a trophy... A volleyball trophy. Oh well.
Trujillo
We all stayed overnight at the house of a Rotarian in Trujillo. We left early in the morning for tours of 2 famous Archaeological Sites- Huaca del sol y de la Luna & Chan Chan.
Huaca del Sol y Huaca de la Luna are brick/sand temples built in about 450 AD by the Moche Civilization.
Chan Chan is the biggest Pre-Colombian Site in South America, of about 20 square kilometers. We saw a mere .9% of it in a 2 hour tour! It is constructed in about 850 AD by the Chimor and lasted until 1450 AD, when the Incas took over the area. We read in the newspaper 3 days late, that because of the mass amount of rain that area got, it had to be closed because it was unstable (since it's pretty much just made of sand).
Colan
Our next stop was Colán, where 3 of the exchange students from our district have been spending their summer. We spent 3 nights with Host Families, all of which had super cool houses right on the ocean. I could just walk out of the family room, down a couple stairs and jump in the Pacific Ocean.
What is so cool about Colan, is the community feel. It's a vacation town, through and through. Nobody lives there between April and November. Nobody! Most the people there, grew up going there every summer, so everybody knows everybody. Everything is within walking distance (the street is about 3 kilometers long), or, even better, within 4-wheeling distance. Everybody has 4-wheelers.
One day while we were there, we decided to embrace a strong Peruvian tradition... CARNAVAL! The entire month of February is Carnaval, which is pretty much just an excuse to go around throwing water balloons at people (: I honestly have to say, I don't understand why, it's just a tradition. Anyways, we all piled into a trailer attached to somebody host-sister's 4-wheeler and went around throwing water balloons for a bit. We got a bit distracted when we went through a giant mud puddle, and we all got a bit dirty. We then decided that throwing mud at each other was a lot more fun than throwing water at other people. We drove through a dune area, and we all ended up completely cover in mud. Completely.
Tumbes / Ecuador
In order to stay legal students in Peru, we had to leave the country and re-enter to get a new visa. I don't understand why, we just went along with it. Our cross over point was the city of Aguas Verdes (Green Waters). It's a funny little city, half Peruvian and half Ecuadorian. We just had to cross this bridge, and then we were in Ecuador. And then we came back, after a couple of pictures. So, now I can say that I've been to Ecuador. Cool.
Mancora
If I remember correctly, this was NOT on the original itinerary, but half way through our time in Colan, we had a vote and decided that we wanted to stay longer. So, we decided to spend some time at the most beautiful beach in Peru; white sand, blue water and everything. I saw a shirt that said (in Spanish): Mancora... Like the Carribean, but with Ceviche (which is a really yummy, really Peruvian fish appetizer). We spent 3 days and 2 nights there, chilling by the beach, riding horses, shopping and just enjoying ourselves. :)
Chauuu,
Jacqui
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