Huanchaco

We made our way down to a little seaside town called Huanchaco, near Trujillo. A small, sleepy little beach town with a pier and a stock of fishing boats made out of reeds. We found a nice hotel to camp in, called The Garden. They let us park on their lawn next to the pool and use the *hot* shower in one of their rooms. We were tired after our long haul through northern coastal Peru, so we decided to take a weekend day and sleep late, cook eggs for breakfast, and generally chill out. We also needed to plan the next phase of our trip really well, because Beulah is coming to meet us in Cuzco! She said over e-mail that she’s feeling restless, so we suggested she come and meet us for a week or so. She wanted to see Machu Picchu, so she’s meeting us in Cuzco for 10 days and we’re going to tour the ruins and then drive down to Lake Titicaca to look at the floating islands.
The hotel turned out to be one of those gathering places for travelers going overland through South America, too. A truck and camper pulled up, with Texas plates but a lot of British flag stickers. Colin and Liz are from just north of London and have been traveling for 2 years already (!!) and will keep traveling for another 9 months, so they can get all the way to Tierra del Fuego. They’ve already driven through Africa, done a bit of volunteer work in Asia, and then bought their truck/camper in Texas and drove it here. They were really nice to chat to, and we went out for sun downer beer and dinner. Too bad they’re traveling so much slower than we are, it would have been fun to travel with them for a bit.
They had just driven through Colombia, and had some very interesting things to say about it – that it was their favorite Latin American country so far! We steered clear of Colombia on the advice of lots of people who know what they’re talking about, but it sounds like there has been some rapid change for the better in Colombia. They spent 6 weeks driving around and said they felt very safe. They said that their impression was that the security situation had changed a lot in a very short space of time, and that the Columbians they met were enjoying their new freedom to drive around all over the place without fear. They said that everyone was amazed to see tourists, and wherever they went they attracted a lot of attention from friendly people who were curious about their trip. They got asked to join family barbecues a few times, and were always greeted really warmly. They also said that they were in a few places that hadn't seen tourists in 18 years!!!!!!! So if anyone out there is thinking of taking a vacation in Colombia, now might be the right time to do it.