November 18, 2011
I grab the bus for 12:30 noon on Friday to Chiclayo which is a 3 hour drive north from Trujillo. For the whole 3 hours as we are trying to watch a movie on the bus some woman is singing to herself which is annoying me since most of us are trying to watch the movie and I look around and no one seems to care or maybe they are just use to people doing stuff like this and have learned to tolerate it. I felt like yelling out "NYAAA NYAAA NAAA NAAA!!!" just to show her how annoying she was being without respecting other people's peace and quiet. I bit my tongue for the whole 3 hours. Back in Canada she would have gotten a "shut the fuck up!" from anyone on the bus.
Got to Chiclayo at 3:30pm and got a taxi to a budget hotel downtown. It was $6US and had wi-fi and hot water. Those are the only two things I care about when inquiring about a place. My guide book had said buses can get booked in advance and the Dutch couple yesterday had told me their long distance bus was booked a couple days in advance so I decided to check out a few long distance bus companies ahead of time and then I booked my ticket with "Cruz del Sur" which I had used before and got my ticket for 7:30pm Sunday night back to Lima so a 1st class seat on a night bus which will get me to Lima on Monday morning at 8am. As I am walking along the main avenue of Bolognesi I see some chicken being bbq'd on the side of the street and waiting for mine to be cooked as some guy is pestering me to buy one of his watches. They are bigger watches than normal and I see one I kind of like but tell him I am not into buying watches right now as I eat my chicken and as I head down the street he knocks 1/3 of the price off of it to $7US so I buy it. I am now intentionally avoiding that street just so I don't wind up buying a 2nd watch.
I head down another street as I explore the downtown area of Chiclayo and come to the main square where every shoe shine guy is asking me for a shoe shine and it is starting to get dark but I head further to the central market which I always enjoy browsing through. I haven't seen a gringo here yet as I walk around in my muscle shirt and I seem to get the attention of a lot of people looking at me. Specially young kids. The central market is big and takes up a full block and out onto the streets selling everything. I usually have a good sense of direction and after the central market I begin heading towards my hotel but like every other town down here they don't post street signs on the sides of the walls when you get out of the central areas so I was looking at my map and saw some young 12 year old kid at the side of the road looking at me with some concern so I asked him what street this was and he told me and I figured I was going in the right direction but apparently I was going in the opposite direction from my hotel and the next thing I knew I was walking around on dirt roads that had no street lights and couldn't see any faces but just shadows walking around.
I usually like to see faces when I ask directions and not shadowy figures on dirt roads that look like some ghost town so I stubbornly keep walking thinking that I will eventually recognize a road or see a street sign that takes me in the right direction. Well the streets just keep getting darker and darker and I think if I keep going I will be in the desert pretty soon. As I am walking some guy carrying a baby says something to me in the dark as he passes by so I ask him how to get back to my streets and he points in the opposite direction that I am going in and basically says I have a long ways to go. After walking for awhile I begin to come to paved streets so I know I am getting closer but I don't see any street signs yet and then ask a security guard who tells me 6 more blocks and I finally get back to my hotel.
I need to get some laundry done and go to where the hotel clerk tells me too but I don't see any laundry places. A group of guys say "buenas noches" to me and so I ask them and the 3 of them don't know of a laundry place nearby so I give up and head back. As I am heading back a guy sitting on his motorcycle asks me something and I immediately ask him about a laundry place but in the last minute I forget how to say "launderia" in spanish and ask him "Donde esta lavanderia?" and he shakes his head and says "Umm no entiendo" and I shake my head as I understand but can't remember know how to say "laundry" even though I was using it a few minutes earlier. So I rely on charades and point to my clothes and say "Ropas" and "lavanderia" as I pretend to be washing them and he says "Oh launderia!" and I say "SI! SI!" and some woman with a baby is listening and she takes me to the laundry place that I walked by 3 times already but it had a very small sign in the window.
A lot of people down here are very friendly and always smiling and are always more than helpful to try to help you. Not much to report but just getting my bearings here and looking to go to Sipan tomorrow and a few of the sites nearby for Saturday and Sunday before heading back to Lima.
I grab the bus for 12:30 noon on Friday to Chiclayo which is a 3 hour drive north from Trujillo. For the whole 3 hours as we are trying to watch a movie on the bus some woman is singing to herself which is annoying me since most of us are trying to watch the movie and I look around and no one seems to care or maybe they are just use to people doing stuff like this and have learned to tolerate it. I felt like yelling out "NYAAA NYAAA NAAA NAAA!!!" just to show her how annoying she was being without respecting other people's peace and quiet. I bit my tongue for the whole 3 hours. Back in Canada she would have gotten a "shut the fuck up!" from anyone on the bus.
Got to Chiclayo at 3:30pm and got a taxi to a budget hotel downtown. It was $6US and had wi-fi and hot water. Those are the only two things I care about when inquiring about a place. My guide book had said buses can get booked in advance and the Dutch couple yesterday had told me their long distance bus was booked a couple days in advance so I decided to check out a few long distance bus companies ahead of time and then I booked my ticket with "Cruz del Sur" which I had used before and got my ticket for 7:30pm Sunday night back to Lima so a 1st class seat on a night bus which will get me to Lima on Monday morning at 8am. As I am walking along the main avenue of Bolognesi I see some chicken being bbq'd on the side of the street and waiting for mine to be cooked as some guy is pestering me to buy one of his watches. They are bigger watches than normal and I see one I kind of like but tell him I am not into buying watches right now as I eat my chicken and as I head down the street he knocks 1/3 of the price off of it to $7US so I buy it. I am now intentionally avoiding that street just so I don't wind up buying a 2nd watch.
I head down another street as I explore the downtown area of Chiclayo and come to the main square where every shoe shine guy is asking me for a shoe shine and it is starting to get dark but I head further to the central market which I always enjoy browsing through. I haven't seen a gringo here yet as I walk around in my muscle shirt and I seem to get the attention of a lot of people looking at me. Specially young kids. The central market is big and takes up a full block and out onto the streets selling everything. I usually have a good sense of direction and after the central market I begin heading towards my hotel but like every other town down here they don't post street signs on the sides of the walls when you get out of the central areas so I was looking at my map and saw some young 12 year old kid at the side of the road looking at me with some concern so I asked him what street this was and he told me and I figured I was going in the right direction but apparently I was going in the opposite direction from my hotel and the next thing I knew I was walking around on dirt roads that had no street lights and couldn't see any faces but just shadows walking around.
I usually like to see faces when I ask directions and not shadowy figures on dirt roads that look like some ghost town so I stubbornly keep walking thinking that I will eventually recognize a road or see a street sign that takes me in the right direction. Well the streets just keep getting darker and darker and I think if I keep going I will be in the desert pretty soon. As I am walking some guy carrying a baby says something to me in the dark as he passes by so I ask him how to get back to my streets and he points in the opposite direction that I am going in and basically says I have a long ways to go. After walking for awhile I begin to come to paved streets so I know I am getting closer but I don't see any street signs yet and then ask a security guard who tells me 6 more blocks and I finally get back to my hotel.
I need to get some laundry done and go to where the hotel clerk tells me too but I don't see any laundry places. A group of guys say "buenas noches" to me and so I ask them and the 3 of them don't know of a laundry place nearby so I give up and head back. As I am heading back a guy sitting on his motorcycle asks me something and I immediately ask him about a laundry place but in the last minute I forget how to say "launderia" in spanish and ask him "Donde esta lavanderia?" and he shakes his head and says "Umm no entiendo" and I shake my head as I understand but can't remember know how to say "laundry" even though I was using it a few minutes earlier. So I rely on charades and point to my clothes and say "Ropas" and "lavanderia" as I pretend to be washing them and he says "Oh launderia!" and I say "SI! SI!" and some woman with a baby is listening and she takes me to the laundry place that I walked by 3 times already but it had a very small sign in the window.
A lot of people down here are very friendly and always smiling and are always more than helpful to try to help you. Not much to report but just getting my bearings here and looking to go to Sipan tomorrow and a few of the sites nearby for Saturday and Sunday before heading back to Lima.
