Using the Workaway program (www.workaway.info) you can sign up and find places to volunteer your time, skills, energy, etc. all around the world. Throughout this whole trip, Paul has been wanting to find a beachside town and stay in a hostel and surf for a while. I found a perfect fit on Workaway.. A surf hostel in the city of Huanchaco, which is 10 hours north of Lima by bus. We coordinated with Julie, who runs the hostel, and made our way to a seaside paradise to exchange help around the hostel for free accomodation. What I learned from this experience is that running a hostel can be tough work. I will always tip housekeepers very generously from here on out. We had to wake up everyday before 7 and clean up the hostel for opening, take care of current guests, and prepare for new faces. Things I don't enjoy doing in my own home, like cleaning toilets or sweeping and mopping, I was doing everyday, sometimes multiple times a day. We were also charged with checking guests in and out, and running the bar. I can now say I have more experience in the hospitaliity field!
Apart from working at the hostel, we were lucky to have a great group of people to hang around with while in Huanchaco. We had some familiar faces we had met before in Lima at our hostel and then re-connected with, and a bunch of new friends who were staying at the hostel. Huanchaco is a town geared around surfing, so naturally we rented a board to spend our afternoons in the water and join in the fun. At night time, we hung out with the guests in the hostel and shared some fun times together. Thursday nights were big in Huanchaco, and we all went out to another local hostel for live music and cheap beverages.
The great thing about being in one place for an extended amount of time (in our trip, this translates to over 1 week) is that you get to know the locals and settle in to everyday life in one city. Everyday after our morning duties were completed, we walked to the market to buy fresh bread, eggs, fruits and vegetables. We would go to the same stall everyday, and our "market lady" would help us and sell us fresh stuff. Because we were familiar after a few days, by the last day of our stay in Huanchaco, we were getting the "cream of the crop" from her stall. I could tell she appreciated our daily business, because she would always smile when we walked into the market. It is so cool to build connections with local people, even when you are not proficient with the language.
We also had the "Palta Man" who would come to the hostel everyday with a box full of avocados and sold them for one Nuevo Sole a piece...If we saw the Palta Man out and about in the city, he would say "hola" to us. I ate fresh ripe mangoes and avocados everyday, and it was amazing. In addition to our daily delivery of avos, we also had Senor Cholito, who we would visit every few days to buy fresh natural yogurt that was homemade and came in a plastic bag. As with our market lady, after multiple visits to see Senor Cholito, he gave us a free mini pie. He was so interested in where we were from and what we did.. He was a real character, and I loved it.
Across from Senor Cholito, was a little shop where we would go for odds and ends, like Chicha Morada popsicles, bottles of water, the occasional Cusquena, or seasoning for the food we bought at the market. By the end of our stay in Huanchaco, we were saying adios and having a broken Spanish conversation with our Senora who helped supply our needs. I loved being able to walk to all our local people and get things we needed for that day.. I am going to miss being able to do that when we get back. Saying that, though, I thought our Publix manager Ken and most of his staff in Neptune Beach was just as friendly and happy to see us. It's the little things. :) I will miss walking everywhere, though.
We had planned to stay in Huanchaco until June 10th, but now we are flying home on June 2nd. It seems that our funds are in the "dangerously low" region, which is terrible, but I have no regrets. We have lasted 9 months on limited funds. For those who are curious, we left the US with around $24,000 in savings for 2 people. We also had a "bill fund" that we did not touch except to pay bills at home (life insurance, car insurance, car payment, credit card bills, etc.). I am proud to say we managed to make it this far, epecially since what we had put away is what most of the people we have met have for one person. We have been to 28 countries, including some of the most expensive in the world, seen amazing things, met incredible people, and had an absolute life changing blast. I'm ready to take a bow, as is Paul. We are prepared to begin a new life at home, with a better outlook on life. Today we were talking about what our life was like before we left, and to be honest I don't know how I didn't have a mental breakdown.. Working as a teacher, extended day staff, teaching yoga, studying for a CLEP test, and doing all the responsibilites of everyday life while saving and living on a tight budget. Paul, working all hours of the day coaching and personal training, sometimes working from 5 AM to 10 PM at night. All I know is when we get back, wherever my career takes me, I will have balance. I will still teach yoga, but I am not going back into the classroom at this point. This is all I know for now, and I know everything will work out okay. We have been through enough to know that in the end, everything will play out as it should. Our track record so far shows we have done just fine. :)
So back to the beginning we go, back to Lima. A trip cut short, but we still managed to circumnavigate the globe, and hit every continent on our original itinerary...this just means we have more places to explore in the future, and that's exciting. The world will always be there to wander. What is cool, though, is that now we have connections spanning the planet where we can go visit friends and make more memories. I'd like to thank those who helped form this experience, those who took us in and showed us life in foreign places... It's those experiences that made this trip life-changing and really means a lot to us.. I have so many mixed emotions now, and thinking of these people could make me well up! You all know who you are, and we love you!
My next post is a compilation of 35 (and probably will grow as I think of more) things long term travel has taught me. For those of you thinking of setting off for an extended amount of time, this may be helpful! Hasta luego!
Adios!
MC
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