Chimbote, Peru – An Unexpected Stop Due To A Protest
As I mentioned about in my post about Trujillo, a protest by miners blocked the road between Chimbote and Casma.
I could have stayed in Trujillo, but I really wanted to get out of there. I didn’t like my living situation. While having lunch, I contacted the three people in Couchsurfing in Chimbote and all three sent me text messages offering to host me. I can’t explain how awesome that is. But it’s totally awesome!
I stayed with Paola and her family. The advantage of being in Chimbote was that as soon as the road opened back up again, I could get there quickly since there are vans that go to Casma all day. Plus, I’d get to see a new city!
Chimbote is right on the Pacific Ocean and although you can get good views from the city, it smells horrible. I think it was a combination of pollution and the area we were in being dirty – it didn’t help that as we arrived to the lookout a guy started peeing right next to us…
In the evening I met up with some of Paola’s friends and I got to try something new. It’s a warm pudding-like snack made of corn that had blackberry flavoring. I forgot what it’s called though. It wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but it was ok.
In the end, another wonderful example of people being awesome. I wasn’t in a bind, but being able to stay in Chimbote made things much easier. And it was much nicer than staying another night in Trujillo. Paola and her family were extremely hospitable and nice.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’ll never get used to such kindness from absolute strangers. But I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.
In the end, the road opened up the next morning and I headed to Casma to teach English!
that blackberry thing must be mazamorra morada. it’s made of purple corn
Yep, 100% right. Now I remember 🙂 It was pretty good. Not as good as cancha dulce though, my addiction…