Turkey Day Festivities

November 22nd thru 26th, 2006 Huanchaco, La Libertad, Peru

Thanksgiving Vacation

Wednesday we took a 7 hour bus ride to Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru. The overnight buses are so much nicer than the day buses. Those day rides get real long real fast. At 8:30pm we arrived in Huanchaco, the beach town where we will be staying.

The hostel was pretty sweet and we pretty much had one whole part to ourselves. We did have 32 people. There was an area for camping, and a kitchen and a sweet patio overlooking the ocean. We spent most of the time playing cards and chilling on the beach. One morning we went fishing. Not with rods. Rather you have a 3 inch by 3 inch board with some line wrapped around it. Just let your hook dangle at the bottom of the ocean and if you feel something bite, try to set the line. We actually caught a decent amount of fish this way.

The Feast

I was actually very impressed by the amount of food we had at the Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t recall a single dish that was missing, except maybe some Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie. I was stuffed and the quality was pretty high. I think that Peace Corps Volunteers are better than average cooks for the most part.

The food was good all week. I ate at a little Mexican joint a couple times that served big burritos. And another place served a pretty good grilled meat dinner. You split a ton of meat 4 ways and it was only $3 a person including drinks. Finally, I had falafel at this great vegetarian joint. One night we went to a microbrewery where we had some good beer for a change. They only have 4 kinds of beer here and they are all owned by the same company.

Turkey Bowl

For the past month we have been jarring at each other over who is going to win the Thanksgiving Football Game. We are split up into departments and decided to play Piura & Lambeyacue vs Cajamarca & La Libertad. Basically, North vs. South. The North won, but don’t they always. I played quarterback most of the game until I reopened the scab on my knee with a leaping dive for a first down. Hey, at least I got it.

Manuel actually found a trophy and had “Annual Peace Corps Turkey Bowl” inscribed on it. We are going to try to start a new tradition. Everyone in the North has to take it around their site and take photographs with it and then pass it along to another teammate.

Pretty much Thanksgiving was awesome. But I think the best Thanksgiving ever will be the one in 2008 when I return to the States and it is with my family. That will be pretty hard to top.