I don't think I say it enough, but I LOVE living in La Libertad. During training before I really knew anything about Peru, I didn't really care where they put me. I'm confident that wherever I would have gone, I'd love it. But after having lived in La Libertad for 5 months now, damn I am happy to be where I am. Not only do I have access to beautiful beaches and the economic capital of the North (our capital city of Trujillo), but I am a part of an awesome community of volunteers who genuinely enjoy each other. Our volunteer group continues to be a source of support, fun, and inspiration for me. I love these people and the dynamic we have as a group. In the past month, I've found myself in a handful of really random groups of volunteers under varying circumstances, and I've enjoyed all of them.
One of my 2012 goals (if I call it a resolution, I'll forget about it in a few weeks- so it's a goal ;) is to explore La Libertad more than I have been. While I love going to our capital city of Trujillo and it's neighboring beach town of Huanchaco, I'm ready to branch out a little bit. There is a pile of places to visit and things to see in our department, so I shouldn't be spending my free time in only 2 places and limiting myself. January got me started on this little goal and so far I am loving this inadvertent project I've started for myself and my friends.
The beginning of the month I laid low in Ascope for the most part. I needed to get things ready for my summer school classes, and I was enjoying spending some quality time with the host family, so I hunkered down around the Valle for awhile until I got a little stir crazy and hatched an impromptu plan for a beach weekend. It started with a burnt out Thursday call to Amanda in the midst of our first week of summer classes in which we both celebrated and sighed about the excitement and stress of starting summer classes. We were both too busy to talk much that week and needed to catch up, so we were like, "Hey, why don't we just go to the beach this weekend?" Best question ever. Why not go to the beach? This being Peace Corps and all, news, gossip, and ideas travel fast. So it didn't take long for our party of 2 to turn into a party of 7, which I love. Almost everyone who lives north of Trujillo and on the coast was game for a beach day, and only 2 out of our 7 had been to this well kept secret of a hidden beach, so we were curious to check it out. That random Saturday ended up being one of the best days I've had since my vacation in December. I think sometimes I get so serious and wound up in what's going on and in trying to make everything perfect- especially when I'm just starting something- like my summer classes, that I don't realize how stressed I am. This is why I love having the ocean as a neighbor. Not only is this beach free of the crowds that have recently descended on my other favorite beach spots, but it's beautiful. Instead of trash there are shells- tons and tons of beautiful shells. I've been after seashells for awhile now, as I will be using them for an art project for my afternoon class. And I found these shells sitting atop the prettiest sand I have ever seen. It was a strange sparkly gold that could be nothing more than proof that this was a magic day ;)
Besides a gorgeous day of beach lounging, shell picking, sea glass searching, and catching up, we also enjoyed some delicious ceviche and an entire box of Princesa candy bars... not sure how the Princesas happened, but I will accept the consumption of 40 little candy bars by 7 volunteers in 20 minutes as nothing more than AWESOME.
We left as the sun started it's descent and began making our way back to our respective sites, hostels, etc. Kerri (who lives about 30ish minutes away from me) and I headed back to the Valle, but not before grabbing some street food. Another one of my 2012 goals is to eat more street food. I'm doing really well at that goal actually. The favorite so far is the egg sammich I can get for 50 centimos in the mornings. Nom. As far as that Saturday goes though, street spaghetti turned out to be a great way to end a fantastic day and will be something I go back for the next time I'm in Pacasmayo.
And now a few shots I stole from Kerri... enjoy :)
The sand is gold. Magic.
Slack working on getting us free candy bars...
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