Wacky Wakama

It started as a casual mention at lunch the week before with our friends Kelika and Willy. We were deep into a great brunch and were truly enjoying the fact that it was 80+ degree’s in early January in Lima (my apologies to those northern hemisphere folk who are reading this…if it is you, stop reading NOW). On this topic, the subject quickly turned to the beach. Kelika, a good friend who I have known since our days at Hopkins, mentioned a beach community just south of Lima called “Wakama” where you can rent small houses right on the beach. Rachel, Willy and I were all in agreement that, to quote a Real Genius, it was “a moral imperative” that we get there as soon as possible.  No sooner than parting ways that Sunday, did Kelika start sending out emails regarding reservations for the following weekend. We were in, the plan was set.

All I can say about Wakame is “I want to go back to there”. We arrived Friday night at around 8 or so and it was already dark but when we dropped our bags in the house, we could see and hear the ocean no more than 100 yards from our front door.

Our “house” was nothing more than a four room (+ bathroom) cabana on the beach. And when I say “on the beach”, I mean that the 2 front rooms (the living room and dining room) have a sand floor with only a roof and no walls. Given that our house (as with most of coastal Peru) was situated on a desert, electricity and water were scarce commodities. We had electricity for only about 5 hours each evening (from 8PM -1AM) which meant no refrigeration and no hot water. Water was brought in each day by truck and stored in holding tanks on the cliffs above our house and pumped in via gravity fed lines into the house. Luckily, we had a small propane stove and the house was fully stocked with glassware, flatware and a broom. The broom was essential given that within 2-3 minutes of us arriving, there was very little distinction between the rooms with and without sand floors.

Our cabana on the beach

Our neighbors

Water delivery on the hill in the background!

View #1 from our cabana

View #2 from our cabana

View #3

View #4

The weekend was great. We lounged at the beach, ate some fantastic food and watched traditional southern Peruvian dance. I have to say, after spending X number of month’s in Lima and seeing what the beaches were like in the city, I was getting discouraged. That all changed thanks to Wakame. Clean sand, clean water and tons of waves. In addition to the cabana, we also had our own little lounge area right next to the water with chairs, a table and a hammock. The only thing was that the water was ICE cold but you got used to it after a while. It actually made the single temperature shower even better.

We are definitely not in Lima anymore

Rachel taking advantage of the hammock.

Along with me and Rachel, Kelika and Willy brought their almost 2 year old boy, Umi who was super excited about EVERYTHING!!! We have plenty of photos of him because he was everywhere at the same time. I think the photos speak for themselves:



 

 

As always with my posts, there needs to be a section dedicated to food. So Wakame, despite its “bear bone” exterior, actually has a fantastic restaurant. Our first night when we arrived we ordered a couple of pizzas that were delivered right to our cabana. The second day Willy had ceviche and was super impressed so I was compelled to join him on Sunday. One of the best ceviches I have had since I have been here. The best though was the grill-out we had Saturday night. The staff at Wakame brought a simple little grill that they set up for us in front of the cabana. We then went to town with great chicken, chorizo, grilled pineapple, peppers and mushrooms. Kelika made a fantastic guacamole that was finished in under an hour.

Grillin' on the beach!

Preparing dinner - complete with the photo bomb

It was a great weekend and Rachel and I feel so fortunate that even though we are newly arrived strangers in this foreign land there are great people like Kelika and Willy that we can have good times with and who make us feel so welcomed. Cheers to you guys and we are definitely looking forward to doing this again…SOON!!!

Wakama - We will miss you!

And now some random photo's that I just like to look at: