Thanksgiving Travels

While Thanksgiving in Peru was not exactly the same as in the US, we nevertheless managed to have a good time. Thanksgiving happened to fall at our 3 month mark as volunteers in site (before that we were in training for three months in Lima and officially not sworn in as volunteers of the United States Peace Corps). At 3 months, Peace Corps hosts a mini retreat for all the volunteers of a particular group to allow them to share and connect after being apart in site for several months. Our Reconnect, as it is called, was held in Pacasmayo, a beach town two hours north of Trujillo.

We stayed at a hotel right on the beach, an old colonial mansion spruced up for modern times. Our venue was the Club Pacasmayo, another colonial mansion which has been able to preserve its authentic feel very well. Club Pacasmayo was an ideal spot for all the volunteers, complete with ping-pong tables, foosball, poker, big screen tvs with satellite connection for Monday night football, numerous spacious rooms for our conference use, and a friendly English-speaking manager who goes by the name of Albert.

Reconnect was a great opportunity to reunite with all our friends and swap stories about life in the field. While the mood was generally festive, volunteers were also weighed down by the recent controversial departure of one of our fellow volunteers, Leanna. Milene and I felt particularly saddened as she was a volunteer from our department of Cajamarca and we had gotten to know her pretty well. Volunteers took the opportunity to express their concerns with the Peace Corps administration over Leanna’s firing.

On our final day we closed out with a great Thanksgiving feast. Thanks to some of our fellow volunteers, we were able to have a genuine Thanksgiving meal catered for all of us. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, and pie lined the buffet table and for one afternoon we were given a true taste of the States again. Of course, things always get a little rough around holiday time because we tend to think more about family, friends, American tradition and our homes.

After Reconnect it was off for a few days of vacation in sunny Mancora. Milene and I went with two volunteers on an 8-hour overnight bus to the northern tip of the department of Piura, only a few hours away from Ecuador. In fact, had it not been for Milene’s last minute awakening on the bus, we all would have slept through until we were practically at the border. At four in the morning we sleepily stepped off of our bus, gathered our belongings and took a mototaxi to our hostal. We pitched tents on the hostal grounds and crashed for a few more hours of sleep. The hostal was a great find, with a swimming pool, common kitchen, camp grounds, and plenty of hammocks. For three nights Milene and I were able to stay in our tents for a very reasonable $5 total.

Mancora, like Pacasmayo, is also a beach town, but the feel is very different. It is much smaller and still an active fishing town. The sand is great and the water is much warmer. Tropical hostals line the beach and mom-and-pop restaurants set up table right on the sand. There is also a noteworthy presence of foreigners in Mancora and less of a domestic crowd. The weather was fantastic the whole time and among other things we enjoyed sunset horseback rides, yoga on the beach, surfing, sun tanning, a little bit of shopping, and great food including our first real American brunch since coming to Peru at an American owned restaurant serving genuine pancakes, waffles, omelets and hash browns. We met up with a few volunteers from Tumbes, the northern-most department of Peru and had a few fun nights including one of Spanglish Scrabble as well as poker using bean pods and leaves as currency.

To catch our bus back to site we first went to the capital city of Piura department, also called Piura city. There we had a few hours to get to know the desert city and visit the little-known but incredibly cool artisan town of Catacaos. In Catacaos we perused through dozens of artisan kiosks lining the streets being impressed especially by their ceramics work. From there it was another 8 hour bus ride back to our site in Cajamarca department. Exhausted from a packed trip, we crashed in bed and enjoyed a much-needed sleep in our very own beds.