🎼…from Hawaii to the shores of Peru…🏄🏻

Me: “Is there a malecon in Trujillo?”

Martin (who owns the hostel where I’m staying): “If you want a good malecon, the one in Huanchaco is much better. You should go there.”

At least that’s the gist of what he said. Martin speaks very clear Spanish but it’s still sometimes a bit much for my level of fluency.

Martin: “It’s very easy. Go down two blocks and just wait on the corner. When you see a bus that says ‘Huanchaco’, hop on it.”

So I followed Martin’s directions. A bus came by at least every minute or so. Sometimes several buses at a time. Eventually a Huanchaco bus came by.

Huanchaco, Perú

You have to understand that Central and South America have many different classes of bus service. At the top end are tour buses far more luxurious than most in the US.

This ‘bus’ was more near the bottom end and was really a minivan that had been converted for use as a bus. At one point, there were 18 of us crammed into this minivan. That included the driver and a busker; something like a carnival barker.

The busker’s job is to hang out the window or the open side door and drum up business. He also collects fares, helps people get in and out, and relays stop information to the driver.

These buses run a regular route but they do not have regular stops. You tell the busker where you want to get off and, as long as it’s along the route, he will tell the driver.

I had a fantastic time watching this whole thing play out as we bumped our way along to the next town over so I could spend my afternoon at the beach, grab some lunch and get slightly drunk.

Total cost for this incredible adventure: about 46 cents.