Traveling from Chiquian to Huanchaco, 11-13/10 2025

11 October — Saturday

For some reason I sleep extremely poorly, perhaps I’m missing the sound of nature. I, however, still feel full of energy. 

I start by booking bus tickets, accommodation, and surf equipment for Huanchaco where I will make an honest attempt to learn to surf to see whether I like it or not. I then answers the pile of emails that have been stacking up, and I sign my new employment contract that has finally arrived :). I continue to book medical examinations in a hospital in Costa Rica (required by my new employer). My father will come to Costa Rica in early November, and we will tour the country togheter for a couple of weeks. I will then stay an additional couple of weeks hiking and diving. Making all the bookings and appointments takes forever, many of the websites are so bad … 

Finally finished, time to start cleaning the equipment and squeeze out a strength session — I have to keep my upper body strength so I can carry heavy in Patagonia —  before lunch. For lunch I sampled some local cuisine. Then back to cleaning my stuff. 

In the afternoon I went for the high altitude intervals I wanted to try. Despite all the hiking and the high elevation it felt pretty good. It was, however, a short session. Turns out the f*** dogs becomes extra excited by runners. The dogs and all the litter are the two things I will not miss. Hopefully it is better in Huanchaco.

With everything taken care of. I’m off to bed, planning some more of my hiking and watching some TV, such as one of my favorite shows: Svenska Nyheter. 

12 October — Sunday 

Strength session done. My bag is packed. All I have left to do is wander around Chiquian waiting for the 2 p.m. bus to take me to Huaraz. 

While I wait, I meet a US guy (Albert) who is volunteering for the US peace core and is working with water sanitation in Chiquian. He said I must try the Cuy (Guinea Pig) and Tocosh — a sort of rotten fermented potato. Why not, it is lunch time anyways. I managed to find a restaurant serving Picante de Guy, but no Tocosh. The Guy was surprisingly delicious. 

Later in Huaraz, however, after much searching and asking around, I managed to find a street vendor selling Tocosh. She had cooked the rotten potatoes to a very slimy porridge. As I understand, that is how it is traditionally consumed. I forgot to take a picture of the sack of potatoes she had, but they sure were rotten, all white of mold. The Tocosh was not bad, but it was not exactly good either. I do not think I will be having more Tocosh.

Leaving the Tocosh place, I came across another street vendor selling fried quail eggs on a stick. I had just had to try it. It was very delicious. To round off the day while waiting for the bus to depart to Trujillo, at 9:45 p.m. — I will be traveling with Linea — I had half a kilo of blueberries. I was also pretty eager to purchase a whole pig, but it would have been a bit too impractical to drag around. 

13 October — Monday 

After the coldest and bumpiest — seriously is the entire road only made of speed bumps? — bus trip I have ever experienced, the bus arrived in Trujillo at 4:30 a.m. My original idea was to tour Trujillo, visit some tourist attractions such as Chan Chan. But as I found out last evening, all tourist attractions are closed on Mondays for some reason (open all other days).

Instead I walk around Trujillo, looking at some old buildings. Early in the morning I also came across a long line of police and “SWAT” cars, time for a drug bust? I also found an outdoor gym I could use to pass the time, before walking towards Huanchaco.

Most of Trujillo is quite nice, very much alike the nice parts of Lima, but the pan-American highway seems to serve as a boundary between the nice and less nice parts. It’s ironic, the “ghetto” or “less nice” building blocks are the properties with ocean view.

I was hoping to able to walk along the beach to Huanchaco, but that was not really possible (or very inconvenient) and I ended up waking along the pan-American highway for some time before I was finally able to walk along the beach. The beaches are not that nice anyways as they are full of litter. The closer you come to Huanchaco, the better it gets. Huanchaco has two beaches basically litter free, the surfing beaches.

At the hostel I cook my food, talk to some other guests, walk around town for a bit, read, and go to sleep early. I did not sleep much last night. I’m staying at Point Break Hostel, they offer both accommodation and surf lessons. First lesson is tomorrow at 08:00 a.m.