Trujillo and Huanchaco

Bus arrived in Trujilla about 10:00am, late. Once the sun came up, I discovered that this part of Peru is a desert. Very barren, dry, sand dunes, rocks, very little vegetation, it kind of looked like Mars.The bus arrived at the company bus terminal, and we were trying to decide where to stay. Some guy at the bus terminal told us Trujillo is expensive, it's cheaper to stay at Huanchaco, a beach resort village about 15km away. We decided to head to downtown Trujillo to see the main square, eat, then get a taxi to Huanchaco. The dude offered to drive us, and we told him we wanted to be dropped off at the main square, but he dropped us off at a restaurant, and told us to go eat there, and the square is two blocks away. It was kind of an expensive restaurant, he probably gets a commission for taking people there. We ate, then stood outside the restaurant trying to figure out where we were. A nice teacher lady came up and offered to help us, in English. She pointed the way to the main square, so we trudged off. Trujillo has probably the nicest square I've seen in South America so far, and all the buildings on the streets surrounding the square are all nicely painted with various bright colours. There's also a huge statue in the middle of the square.With Trujillo seen, we caught a taxi to Huanchaco, a beach town near Trujillo. Stayed at La Casa Suiza, Lisa and I got a double roomo for 30 soles (15 each, about $5 us each). Very nice hostel.After checking in, we headed to the beach for a while. The water is very cold this time of year, and even the air temperature wasn't that warm, just warm enough for laying on the beach. Kieran was the only one brave enough to swim in the icy waters.Huanchaco is a total surfing town. It's low season, many of the shops and restaurants are closed this time of year, but there was still a handful of surfers (both local and westerners) braving the surf in wetsuits. Huanchaco is supposed to be one of the best surf places in South America.The hostal we stayed at has a resident cat. The cat is the spitting image of Samantha, except one ear had a cut in it. It reminded me of my cat. I got an email today from my roommate as well, she says Samantha misses me.After the beach, we went for lunch, then all did our own thing. I spent time on the internet. We also took laundry to the local launderia.Around 6:30, we all went for supper at a fresh seafood restaurant. I had very good fresh fish.When we went to pick up our laundry, the laundry girl was waiting for Lisa. She knew that Lisa spoke fluent Spanish and English, and the laundry girl was taking English lessons, and needed help with some of the english phrases that she didn't understand. It was pretty cute.