Punta Sal, Peru

​12th August – 14th August 2017

Another early start was needed as we left Cuenca. I was up extra early to get myself ready and speak to people at home before we left, as I knew I wouldn’t have wifi for a few days. Back locker needed loading for 6.45 and we had breakfast at 7 (the hotel put it on early for us as we needed to get going). Breakfast was a little better, but still not great. We left at 7.30 and headed for the Peruvian border.

I wrapped myself in my blanket and tried to get some sleep – I don’t think I got very much though. After a couple of hours driving, we had a mini break at a service station – David liked this service station in particular as it had a big tool stall. The weather was already so much better even though we were only a few hours down the road; the sun was so hot, it got me very excited for beach day!

After a few more hours drive and a little bit more sleep, we stopped again for a shopping break. Technically groups were meant to give David a list while we were in Cuenca and he would go shopping for us, but the chef in my group didn’t, so we had to do it on the way to the border. While we were shopping, some others started preparing lunch – David also bought salad with the shopping, so that was our lunch for the day. When everyone was back on the truck, we started moving again, holding all the salad bowls so that they didn’t spill.

We stopped a bit further up the road at a service station to get some diesel, but the queue was so big that they decided to wait; so we just ate our lunch instead before setting back off with 40km to go until the border. We all signed up to play another game – the border game – which involved us all guessing how long it would take once we pulled up, to us all getting back on the truck again ready to go (including us all getting through passport control and the truck going through customs). My guess was 2 hours and 7 minutes.

We arrived at the border place to get the truck stamped just before 1.30, but as it was a national holiday – even more strange on a Saturday – we had to go to another place to get the stamp for the truck. To get to that building, we had to drive back on ourselves about 10 minutes up the road. We got there at 13.40 and the timer started.

Once the truck was stamped (which didn’t take very long), we could then drive to the border to get our passports stamped, so we could go through to Peru – I was starting to think I over estimated on the time it would take. Passport control wasn’t actually on the border though, we drove into Peru, past a sign that said ‘Welcome to Peru’ before reaching the place to get stamped.

We all piled off the truck and got into the queue for passport control – it didn’t look that long but I think we were in that for over an hour. We had to get in a line for exiting Ecuador and get our exit stamp before getting into a line to enter Peru. While we were queuing, we filled in our entry cards for Peru.

We were all through passport control pretty quick but then we had to wait for David to get the truck through – he had to go to another office and sort out the paperwork for that and make sure everything was okay. We all just sat around and waited for him, as the time was ticking by and getting much closer to my time, which now didn’t sound so bad!

At 15.44, David came walking around the corner with purpose in his stride – I was hoping this was because he was finished and not because he had forgotten something. He arrived at the bus with good news and everyone was back on board at 15.45 – I had two minutes to spare but I was the winner (which is ideal because I won’t be winning the other game)! My prize was a cute little coin purse from Ecuador! It made the journey into Peru much nicer!

We drove a little further to a little town just inside Peru so that people could exchange money or get money out if they needed to. As we were parking up, a local man was there and kind of took us under his wing: he helped to park the van, showed us the ATM, showed us where to change money – no one knew the man so we found it a little strange but he seemed happy enough to help! We were there a little longer than we wanted to be because some people had trouble getting money, but we were eventually off again and still about two hours from the camp site.

We arrived at the campsite just in time for sunset, so the drive wasn’t as long as we expected. We drove along the coast for a while as the sun was coming further down and it was beautiful to see it over the beach. We pulled into the car park across the road from the campsite (Waltako) and unloaded our things. We walked into the campsite and were told ‘pitch your tents on the beach’, so we did!

Our tents were pitched not even thirty seconds away from the sea and it was stunning! The sound and sight of the waves coming in was good to watch as we just sat on the beach.

Dinner was provided by the campsite: we could choose either fish or falafel – I went for falafel. I had never had it before but it was very tasty! It was served very nicely with potato, avocado and a sauce. We could then go up to a buffet and choose salad, potato salad, beetroot and/ or rice to go with it, so it was a good meal.

Following dinner, we sat around and had a chat for a while. It was nice to talk with the sound of the sea and the clear view of stars up in the sky! We went back to our tent and lay there listening to the waves come in as we fell asleep. Then night was so warm that I didn’t even get my sleeping bag out to begin with – I was very content. That didn’t last very long though, because around midnight I was pretty chilly and the sleeping bag came out.

Waking up the next morning, it sounded very windy but then I realised it was then noise of the waves coming in. It was nice to step out of the tent to a warm beach and blue seas.

Before breakfast, Vanessa (the owner of the campsite) put on a 10 minute meditation session. A few of us went and we sat on the sand around a blanket while she chanted ‘Nam myoho renge kyo’ (a mantra for karma) and played her singing bowl which made some cool noises. The mantra was for good karma, so to help us become better people. After meditation, it was time for breakfast.

For breakfast, we had to go back across the road to where the truck was, because all of our cooking things were over there, so it was just easier. Breakfast was done by Stephanie’s group and we had granola, yoghurt and strawberries – it was tasty. While they were preparing breakfast, it was my groups turn to prepare lunch again, so we had a system going where we all helped out and got the sandwiches made for everyone.

After breakfast, I went for a walk down the beach; I walked towards the right at first but there wasn’t very much there, so I turned around quite quickly. When I got back to our area, I went for a dip in the sea – it was very refreshing after a bit of a walk. Once I came out of the sea, I walked in the opposite direction towards Punta Sal, to dry off, but didn’t get that far. I sat further up the beach for a little while watching the birds dive into the water for the fish. As I was sat watching the birds, a dog came out of no where and jumped on my back – I was not impressed but luckily it didn’t break my skin as it scratched me, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

When I got back to our area of the beach, David was ready to put on a dowsing session – something I’ve never heard of before but it’s where you look for energy lines in the earth. I was a bit sceptical to begin with, even when he showed us, but then I had a go myself and it seemed to work. I had to hold his dowsing stick a bit away from the top and with a loose-ish grip. I had to think about a vortex as I walked up the beach and as I did, the stick was spinning round and round without me doing anything, as I walked over vortex lines – when I wasn’t on the vortex line, the stick was just pointing away from me and stayed still. He showed us lots of different examples of different energies we could find and different people had a go.

At the end of the session we played a game where we were all stood in a circle. David would give a crystal to one person and someone in the middle would have the dowsing stick and would have to find the crystal by thinking about it – I had a go but apparently I picked up on the aura of it too soon, so didn’t guess right first time.

After the session, David held his pendulum up to us individually to see what our energy was like inside. Apparently my third eye doesn’t have very good energy and my throat is blocked but the rest of me is okay and has positive energy, so I need to meditate often to clear my negative energy out.

Once the dowsing session was over, me and Ruth went for another walk along the beach. We had seen a man earlier who was selling blankets and sarongs and wanted one but we were busy dowsing, so couldn’t. As we were walking, we saw one of his blankets on the beach, so picked it up. We took it to him and he was very grateful. He even gave us discount on the sarongs we bought – our good karma from the mediation was already working!

When we got back to the campsite it was time for lunch, so we went and got it from the fridge in the truck and ate it in the hammocks, overlooking the sea. It was quite a relaxing morning and we finished lunch just in time for the sun coming out properly.

After lunch, we lay out in the sun for a bit with plenty of sun cream on, as it was so hot when the clouds cleared! There wasn’t a lot to do, but it was nice to relax for a bit. I couldn’t lie still for very long though because I was too hot. While we we lying there, David and Rianne came running out to say there was a whale on the beach; we went running over to it to realise it was actually a seal and Rianne got mixed up in her translation.

I had to sit inside for a bit after the seal excitement because I was getting too hot and needed a break; I sat inside the restaurant and overlooked the sea.

Just before the sun back behind the clouds, I decided to go in the campsite pool – it wasn’t the smartest move because it was pretty chilly when I got back out again! I lay in the sun again for a little bit because it wasn’t as powerful as the day was getting later. We sat and dried off in the sun by the pool so that we didn’t get covered in sand again. The pool was by the owner’s cabin and the owner’s daughter was in the cabin messing with something. Next thing, she came out with a 2 month old puppy; he was one puppy from their older dog in the house by the truck ! He was very cute and Ruth was besotted with him. We were asked to look after the puppy (called Corey Tupac) while she went and did some jobs and Ruth happily obliged.

While we were sat there Rianne came over and told us about a struggling seal she had seen further up the beach that she wanted to help and asked us to go with her to help. We walked about 15 minutes up the beach (towards the right where I didn’t really get far earlier in the day) and we must have seen at least 50 dead animals, from seals to turtles to birds to fish – it was really sad to see. We got to a patch where there were 3 dead seals altogether and one baby which was still alive. It looked injured, but as we walked towards it, it got a bit angry and defensive and stood up. We kept moving closer (but didn’t get too close) and it eventually went back into the sea. We couldn’t figure out what caused all the animals to die but that part of the beach was so dirty, so we think it could be that. We walked back up to the campsite after doing another good deed of the day.

When we got back, we had a little time to relax before we watched the sun set over the beach – I got some cool photos and of course we had a photo shoot. It was really nice to just sit on the beach and watch the sun go down and to watch the sky change colours.

We had a bit of time to relax before dinner was ready. Hayley’s group was in charge of dinner; we had burritos which tasted so good. They put rice, beans, chicken, onions, peppers, guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes out. It was a good feast.

After dinner, we finished our campout on the beach with a campfire. It was so nice to all sit around together with the warmth of the fire, toasting marshmallows that Hayley had bought. However the heat was so much for me, so I was practically sat on my own at the back because I had to keep edging away! It was still worth it though.

We went back to the tent after I felt like I’d practically melted and I could feel myself burning – I’m pretty sure my feet were on fires without the flames!

Camping on the beach in Punta Sal was definitely an improvement on camping in the rain! Plus, a day relaxing was definitely needed before a long drive day to Huanchaco!

To travel is to live, Katie x