Vichayito / Los Organos

Early Saturday morning, Liz and I flew north to Piura to spend a few days on one of the north coast's famed beaches.  We stayed at a resort that had been recommended by my cousin, the Vichayito Bungalows y Carpas, at Vichayito beach in the Piura district of Los Organos.

Los Organos is a two and a half hour drive from the Piura airport, something that wasn't made clear on the resort's website, nor was it made clear that their "airport pick-up service" is not complimentary, but must be paid for by the guest.   The going rate of 250 soles for the ride, which must be paid to the driver in cash, can leave one with nasty sticker shock surprise --in our case, the transportation from and to the Piura airport cost as much as our accommodations!- which is not at all a great way to start off one's vacation.

In any case, we determined to shake off the unpleasantness and enjoy ourselves, even though it was ten in the morning and we could not get into our room until three that afternoon (even though the literature in the room itself said that check-in was at 1 pm), so walked down the steps and onto the beach, where we spent some nice moments observing the waves, and watching boobies and frigate birds soar overhead, and whales spout and dive offshore, before heading up for lunch.

Last year, we were told, there were only ten days on which the sun did not shine.  We happened to arrive on one such day for this year.   Not only was Saturday overcast, it was quite windy - making it kind of rough on the few souls who gamely did their best to enjoy the beach they had come all this way to be at (we fared a bit better, since we were still fully clothed).

Sunday, despite an illusory promise early on, clouded right up by breakfast and, although not as windy, proved much the same.  There is a local folk belief that when the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, which land close together, are celebrated, it either clouds up or rains.  As it happened, Saturday was the Feast of Saint Peter (Day of the Fisherman).

On Monday, however -our last day- we arose to patches of blue in the sky, which cleared up a brilliant, sunny day by the end of breakfast.  We were thus finally able to break out our bathing suits and play in the surf,   Liz took the opportunity to go out on a sea kayak, during which trip she got to observe sea birds and a flying fish.  And, of course, we did what one expects to do at a beach resort: lounge in the sun, drinking pina coladas on the sands.  (In fact we got so sunburnt in our three hours on the beach on Monday, that we were kind of relieved that we didn't have three full days of such sun!)

All in all, it was three days well-spent in utter relaxation in a beautiful locale.