Flights were uneventful.....thank goodness. I spent the night in the hotel at the airport in Lima. Then took the mid morning flight to Chiclayo. Funny story on the plane....I sat next to a man and his daughter. When the flight attendant came around serving drinks, I decided to have a wine. My Spanish is non-existent and I was struggling to figure out if I could use a credit card to pay and what they had available. The daughter sitting next to me helped bail me out of my predicament. Then just before we landed, we talked a bit more. I explained that I was flying to Chiclayo for the baptism of my Grandbabies. So funny....she looked at her dad and conferred and then turned back to ask: "are you Mary's Mom?" No doubt that they were friends! It turned out that they were Ricky and his daughter, Andrea. The very people who were hosting us in the home of their newly deceased father/grandfather. What are the chances? A very propitious beginning to a very fun event!
Chiclayo is on the coast about an hour flight from Lima.
Our home for the event was lovely! Alberto grew up in what had originally been the port town of Pimentel. It is no longer a big port as it was in the day when agricultural products were exported from the area via the train and then via ship. His parents now live in Chiclayo. But we were staying in Ricky's home on the ocean in Pimentel.
There is a huge pier in the middle of Pimentel. For many years the area in the surrounding countryside grew crops. And the area was very successful. Pimentel was the port. The railroad carried the crops to be exported to the very end of the pier where they were unloaded into smaller boats that carried the cargo to the larger port that was in deeper water. I have forgotten the date that was told to me. I add that when I get a chance. However, at one point the land was socialized. It was divided up into smaller plots owned by many men who did not have the experience to make a go of the production. The plan just never worked and the agriculture in the area died. Then, of course, the port died as well. The pier remains. One buys a ticket to walk out to the end. The railroad tracks still are visible. The land where the railroad ran to the beach is now an apartment building. The building that is still standing that was used by the company is empty.
Chiclayo is the outlined area on the map below. If you follow Route 6 Southwest, you will see the beach area of Pimentel.
The home in which we stayed had an excellent view of the beach and the pier. This is the view from the chair that I sat in near the window most of the time that we were not busy.
My South American geography is terrible. So here is a map of South America showing where we were staying in relation to the rest of the continent.
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