"That pier has big gaps in it," Kiko said when I asked him if he's ever walked on the pier here in Pacasmayo. "I KNOW," I told him.
We flew to Chiclayo last night, which is about 500 miles or so from Lima, a little more than an hour flight, where we stayed at an upscale hotel chain and I ate a memorable risotto with river shrimp. After dinner we walked down the street until we reached the Plaza de Armas, the public square in the center of town anchored by a large Roman Catholic church on one side. The Santa Claus in his sleigh about eight feet off the ground was a nice touch! On the way back to our hotel, a young woman with a tiny toddler approached us, selling lemon candies from a bag. People are so enterprising in Peru, you really have to admire them for coming up with some kind of way to make money. While she was completing the business transaction with Kiko (10 candies for 1 sol), the little girl started to wander away from her mother, so I grabbed her small hands and made her stay still, which she didn't want to do, until her mother could follow her down the street. The baby had the biggest smile on her cute, little dirty face, and I wondered how long they would be out on the street since it was already 11:30.
We left Chiclayo at 6:45 this morning - Kiko's driver got us here in under an hour and a half. Pacasmayo is a little provincia on the northern coast of Peru, and many of the residents either work at the huge cement plant where Kiko is doing coaching sessions this week or they're fishermen. There's no movie theater or mall, but there is a cancha de fulbito (small soccer "field") where the soccer games can get pretty intense. Kiko checked us into the Pakatmanu Hotel, an old colonial-style building, and he and his assistant left for work, leaving me to my own devices for the day.
Obviously the first thing to do was to take an early morning stroll along the boardwalk. The beach itself is directly in front of the hotel on the other side of the boardwalk, but last year's 8.8 earthquake in Chile created a change in the ocean, shifting the composition of the beach from sand to stones. The waves crash onto the shore, leaving no room to walk, unless you walk in the water. I walked along the boardwalk toward the pier, and when I got there, I found a woman setting up her makeshift "restaurant" where she would soon be cooking the morning catch. I walked onto the pier, and seeing a sign saying "Visitantes 1 Sol", paid the fee and gingerly placed my feet on the railroad ties that made up the structure. I stopped to watch a lone fisherman out amidst the waves, retrieving his catch. He was floating in an innertube, pulling himself along his net and when he found a fish, he strung it on the line that he held between his teeth. If you don't have a boat, you make do with what you have!
The only other people on the pier were fishermen, and as I slowly made my way across the railroad ties I started putting it together that this was not a tourist Huntington Beach type pier, with a Ruby's diner at the end. I think I made it about half way down when I gave up and turned around. The railroad ties were spaced about two or three inches apart, except when they weren't. Sometimes there were gaps of three or four inches, or maybe eight, or there was an entire tie missing, or the tie I stepped on was loose, no nails holding it in place, or worm-eaten and termite-infested. Needless to say, it was not the relaxing walk on the pier that I had envisioned! Maybe the sol I paid will help with maintenance.
I'm sure I Iooked a little out of place with my purse, and TOMS, and white sweater as I stood with the fisherman gawking at a shark that one of them had caught. There were also some small rays, a few large, spotted fish with weird looking tails, and an assortment of smaller fish. Two cats, two dogs, fish guts strewn about and the woman cooking fresh fish completed the scene on the pier.
Kiko came back to the hotel for his lunch break, and we both had lomo saltado, one of my favorite Peruvian dishes, which consists of pieces of beef sauteed with onion, tomato and aji peppers, served with french fries and rice. When he went back to work, I went for a walk through town. It was a very quiet walk, because it was 3:00, and basically the place was closed. I saw several surf shops, because Pacasmayo is famous for its surfing, but they were closed, and I figured that maybe they don't open until the summer. But then every other shop was closed as well. I walked to one of the busiest intersections in town, with a traffic signal! There were only a few mototaxis with passengers at this time of day, and hardly any taxis. I walked to the other busy intersection, with the other traffic light in the province, and passed more closed shops but a few fruteros and their carts of fresh pepino melon and tuna roja.
I finally peered between the iron bars of one of the closed shops and asked the shopkeeper when she would be open. She told me not until 4pm. Apparently in provincia, people take three hour lunches. They go home, eat a large, hot meal, and take a long nap. So, it turns out that the town basically shuts down from 1 until 4 every day! I was able to find a fairly large store (by provincia standards anyway)that was actually open where I bought an ice cream and some Cusqueña beer, and enjoyed the ocean breeze on our terraza. There's a photo of our balcony on facebook.
Tonight, after a lovely nap, Kiko and I had dinner at a hotel down the boardwalk. My crema de zapallo (cream of squash soup) was quite good, and Kiko and I shared a mixto completo (a grilled ham and cheese with a fried egg). The best part of dinner was the impromptu music being played by two young men sitting on a bench in front of the hotel. These guys had incredible talent, jamming on their guitars just for the love of their music. Kiko gave them part of our sandwich and a big tip - they were surprised and happy, and we were, too. We walked back to our hotel while a beautiful crescent moon almost disappeared into the sea.
Kiko is already asleep, and I'm looking forward to falling asleep to the sound of the waves. I know I'm very, very blessed, and I'm grateful!
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