Chicama Memories

  Chicama, Peru
Saturday, January 24, 2009

I remember Chicama summers from the late 1960s to the early 1970s when only diehard Peruvian surfers knew of its existence.  I'm happy to see that Hombre has done so well for himself.  He owns his own hotel today.  Back then, there were no hotels in town and Hombre was just a poor man like all the others in Chicama of that era. 

The homes in town did not have electricity, running water nor toilets.  Relieving oneself  required a short walk out of town to the community crapping area.   Hombre always welcomed surfers and he let us sleep for free in one of the dirt-floor rooms behind the kitchen in his simple home.  In exchange, we'd buy our meals from him in what he called his restaurant.  The "restaurant" was, back then, a small dirt-floor room with two tables.  The room was lit by candles.  

40 years ago, this was all that Hombre owned.