My day in Catacaos was better, in fact it was one of the most interesting towns I’ve seen here in Peru.  Just 12 kms from Piura, it’s claim to fame is the crafts market which features the famous clay pots and figurines using the ancient techniques.  But there was much more than the clay crafts.  Carved wood, leather, taxidermy, food products using algarrobina and the local honey, crafts made from seashells, and much more.  It was a feast for the eyes to stroll through the market.  Apart from the touts pulling at my shirt and persisting for half a block walk, trying to get me to buy or visit their restaurant, it was very pleasant.  School was letting out and there were lots of little kids in the street but they were shy and resisted letting me take their pictures.  

After visiting the market I got a mototaxi for Narihuala, another ancient site that is currently being explored and excavated by archeologists.  Two young boys got me to take the taxi and told me they would be my guide to the site, and their charm won me over.  They had so much enthusiasm I couldn’t resist.  So Wilson and Gustavo hopped in the back and the driver took me the few miles out to the site.  On the way I was fascinated to see the construction of the adobe houses and the mud and reed fences or enclosures near them.  The people were extremely friendly and we stopped several times for me to take pictures and ask questions of the campesinos.  Wilson and Gustavo led me through the site museum, stopping in front of every pot and picture and artifact to explain in great detail what it was.  They had clearly done their homework and I was charmed by their earnest manner and seriousness, although at times they laughed and their boyishness came through.  They took turns explaining everything and when one made a mistake the other would quickly correct him.  I enjoyed the boys more than the site.  When we were leaving I stopped to talk to another group of kids who were playing a game that involved throwing down discs to try to make other discs on the ground pop up and change sides.  I tried my hand at it and failed miserably and they laughed at me.  Then I met their pet lizard whose name I cannot remember (he had a first and last name…brother to the kid who found it?) and they let me put him on my shirt.  The kicker was the straw leash they had tied to its middle.  I was thoroughly amused!

On the way back the kids were having a great time joking and laughing and jumping out of the mototaxi to explain more things to me.  They kept saying “muffle” which I think had something to do with “donkey” and the driver was joining in the fun too.  They dropped me off at a “piquanteria” as the local restaurants are called.  The touts in the marketplace were merciless in their persistence to try to get me and other tourists to eat in their place.  I asked Wilson and Gustavo to take me to a place.  There was a woven straw and rush roof that cast patches of sunlight and shadow over the interior and a guy was singing boleros with a very fine voice.  I had the local specialities of dried beef (seco de res) with pieces of fried yucca and plaintain chips (chifles) but the beef was very tough and very salty.  It was very difficult to eat.  The other was a plaintain and beef stew that was not good at all.  The plaintains had hard pieces and the beef in the stew was the same hard dried beef in small strips.  I gamely tried to eat them but left half of it in the end.  I sincerely hope that those dishes were cooked badly and weren’t a good representation.  I was very disappointed in that element.  The local beverage is called chicha and it comes from cooking cornmeal and then fermenting it.  The weaker version is served cold and is only slightly alcoholic.  It has a mild corn taste to it and it was very nice and refreshing.  There is another much harder version that I didn’t try.  I gave some to the singer and at the end of the meal I left him a tip.  The waiter approached before I had a chance to leave a tip and pleaded with me to leave a tip.  I was shocked because I always leave a tip.  The singer too, as I was leaving, mentioned to me that I should leave some money for him. I told him that I put it on the table where he was sitting!  Well, that was the only down point of the visit..the touts at my elbow constantly, the pleads for tips and to buy things, the mototaxis bothering with requests to give me a ride.  It left a bad taste.  I understand they need money, but it’s overbearing and makes it unpleasant.  Other than that it was a fantastic day.

I met a guy named Oscar at a pub near my hotel that night and we shared a few beers and talked.  He owns a seafood restaurant in the area and we traded restaurant stories and had a good time.  Nothing more to see in Piura and time to get going and get to Chiclayo.  I’m behind schedule…

The news all over the TV when I arrived in Piura was the earthquake that had just happened.  It took place in southern Peru when Angela and I were on the bus, less than 15 minutes from Piura.  We didn’t feel a thing and I didn’t know anything had happened until I tried to make a phone call and the lines were all down.  Passing by a tv in a restaurant I saw the news and watched shocked.  The epicenter was south of Lima, and the cities most affected were Ica, Pisco and another nearby.  Churches collapsed on the day of the feast of the Assumption, when many were in church at mass.  Houses fell and much of the area was devasted.  Early forecasts were that about 40 had perished but that number increased to over 500 after a few days of recovery efforts.  The quakes registered almost 8.0 on the Richter scale, the strongest earthquakes in Peru in 50 years.  It’s a wonder the destruction wasn’t worse.  The earthquakes in Ancash in 1970 were not as strong but the loss of life was many many times more and the destruction was worse.  I had planned to visit Pisco and Ica as a tourist but it’s clear now that with so much infrastructure damaged or destroyed, that won’t be possible.  Instead I will see if I can do something for the relief effort.  There are relief tents set up all over Peru accepting donations of money, clothes and food and medicines.  People are donating blood, and internation relief is starting to arrive.  But there will be months of work of recuperation to be done.

After the news I quietly got something to eat and called it a night.  The hostel had a super saggy mattress and by morning my back was killing me.  Not that I slept much from the noise coming from the room next door and the walls were paper thin, almost as if the couple were in my own room.  The sound even filtered through the life-saving earplugs Sadhbh had bought for me in Huaraz.  I resolved to change hostels in the morning, despite the cheap price of California Hostel.  It wasn’t worth the lovebirds and decades old beds. 

There wasn’t a whole lot to see in Piura beyond a handful of museums and churches.  It could be easily done in a day.  Cathedral in the morning and then church and religious museum of El Carmen and then Vicus museum.  Grau museum and a couple more churches in the late afternoon to early evening.  Only problem was that El Carmen was closed and the Vicus museum was closed as well and wouldn’t reopen until October.  I tried the Carmen church later in the afternoon and talked with some security guards on the street and then a guy nearby, and finally my persistence paid off.  There was a man selling books in the plaza who had keys to the church and he agreed to open it for me.  There was a very nice religious art collection there but it didn’t take long to see.  The Grau museum likewise, was very small.  It’s the restored house of Admiral Grau, the hero of the Peruvian navy in the battle of Angamos with Chile.  Peru lost the battle but Grau was a hero and died in the fight.  He is revered all over Peru to this day (Fico told me in Lima that he knows his great grandson, who is a chef with Astrid and Gaston in Bogota, Colombia).  The house and museum was nicely restored and it was pleasant to walk through and see the antique furniture and personal effects of the admiral. 

That was about it for Piura.  I enjoyed just sitting and watching people walk by.  There is a very relaxed feeling to Piura, and in the couple days I was there I noticed that the streets were less full with cars and that there were fewer people out and about.  The ones that were strolled along without hurry.  Piura is boring, but relaxing.  I didn’t mind that there wasn’t much to see. 

p.s.  Girls in Piura are the prettiest I've seen yet in Peru ;)