Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye

I think it obvious that I have been enjoying my time in Peru. One of the reasons I have had such a wonderful experience is my roommate Lauren. Unfortunately, Lauren has done her year in Peru and returning to the United States in early June. So for the past few weeks we have been doing all the things she wanted to do before she left.

Three weeks ago we had a Talara weekend. On Friday night Lauren, Vance (a new roommate, I’ll tell that story later) went out in Talara and hit everyplace in the town.

At the end of the night we ran into our friend Orwell, one of the surfers from Negritos and made plans to go to Lobitos, one of the local beaches, for lunch and hanging out the next day.

The next day was great. We went to Lobitos with Orwell and Tarantini we had lunch at a restaurant called Don Lucho’s which has some of the best ceviche and by far the best chicarron de pescado. Orwell and Tarantini wanted to go surfing so we headed to the beach.

When we got to the beach it was around 4 o’clock and it was pretty cold on the beach because of all the wind. Lauren and I decided to go back to the restaurant to talk and stay out of the wind. We had every intention of walking but Tarantini asked me if I wanted to drive his car. I jumped at the opportunity because I hadn’t driven since I left the States. Plus the traffic in Lobitos consists mostly of surfers and donkeys so I didn’t have to deal with the usual craziness of Peruvian traffic. So in our new found wheels Lauren and I went to the restaurant. We returned to the beach about and hour later and found Orwell and Tarantini walking toward the restaurant. They told us they had seen a few more of our friends so we went looking to find them on the beach (at this point I was still driving and taking all of my directions in Spanish, things like watch out for that hole, go left and then strait, etc. It was great practice).

We found our friends at a local hostel and we all went back to Don Lucho’s to catch up. Our friends were with two people from Japan who had come to South America to surf so they came along. At Don Lucho’s we decided to go a back to Talara and cook dinner at our house for everybody (at this point our group had grown to about nine people). We all piled into Taratini’s car and head to our house. We bought all of the ingredients for Aji de Gallina (a typical Peruvian chicken dish that is kind of like curry) and Orwell went to it in the kitchen. While the food was being prepared one of my former students whom I hadn’t seen in a long time came over and joined the party. In our house that night we had good food, good music, and good friends. People were speaking Spanish, English and even a little bit of Japanese. It was one of those great spontaneous days that make me love my life in Peru.

I told you earlier that I would tell the Vance story. On Wednesday morning after our night of fun at our house, Vance told us that he was going to get up early to go surfing before his classes but he would return to teach. This is kind of a normal thing for a surfer to do so we didn’t question him. The next day at eleven he still hadn’t returned for his first class and was still not there for his second class. On the way back from our second class, Dave (another Kiwi roommate), jokingly said “Wouldn’t it be funny if there was nothing in his room”. We all laughed but just out of curiosity I went to his room to check when we got home and low and behold he had cleaned all of his stuff out and left nothing but an old sweater and a pair of flip flops. He snuck out early in the morning without saying anything to anybody. No note no nothing and we have not heard from him since.
The next weekend was Lauren’s weekend to say goodbye to Mancora. We decided to start the day in Talara with lunch at our favorite cevicheria, Cocoros. While we were at Cocoros a couple of local poor kids came in and asked for money (this is a very common thing in Talara and Peru in general. There is a lot of poverty and parents have their children beg to make money it is really sad). The children, John and his sister Julie, recognized Lauren because she had a toy drive during Christmas and they had been at the event they had. We invited John and Julie to eat with us and they enjoyed ceviche and Inca Kola with us. It felt good to give the children a good meal but it is only a short term solution and I’m sure right after lunch they went right back to begging.
After lunch we headed to the bus station and were off to Mancora. Immediately in Mancora we went to our favorite baker to see if he had any sandwiches. This is a new obsession for us in Mancora. Our friend Santiago makes bread that is filled with mozzarella, tomato, and basil. They are nothing short of amazing! Anyway, Mancora was what it always is. Hanging out with local surfers at local bars. We have a friend who owns one of the bars and he always plays the music we want to hear, so we made that our main place for the night. All in all it was good night but it is never sad to say goodbye to Mancora.
This last week was Lauren’s last week in Talara. So we made a point to do all of our Talara rituals. On Wednesday Arli and Orwell and the Negritos boys came over to cook lunch and made Lauren’s favorite, majariscos. On Thursday night hung out in the house watching TV and drinking wine from a box and at around 2 o’clock went to visit our favorite late night restaurant, Gallo Rojo, where our friend Koky serves chaufa (fried rice) and chicken noodle soup. We stayed there for about and hour. Lauren took control of the TV, like always, and I tried to do a crossword puzzle in Spanish, like always. It was a typical Talara night. The next night, Friday, we went to have Pollo a la Brasa (rotisserie chicken with French fries and salad) with a few students and later we went out dancing with a few friends. On Sunday Lauren and I went to Lobitos for good ceviche and a day at the beach. We spent the night in Lobitos and returned to Talara the next morning for classes.
I am down to one week left with Lauren and for our last weekend we are going to Ecuador for a long weekend. We return on Tuesday and Lauren leaves Wednesday. I don’t know what I’m going to do without Lauren. Next Wednesday is going to be tough.

FUENTE:http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-yCd0PY4zaa8FtB9ugOGVvg--%3Fcq%3D1&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlobitos%2Bdon%2Blucho%26hl%3Des