25 September

Victor drove up to the house at about 9:00 p.m. We had both laid down to rest; I was listening to a story on my iPod and Doug rested but didn't sleep much. When 11:00 came around, we gathered our stuff, knocked on the car windows to wake Victor and we were off to the bus station.

The bus didn't pick us up until 12:30. We climbed up the stairs and found our seats. We had to wake up a couple men who were in our seats before we could sit down. Virtually everyone had reclined their seats to sleep. The seat bottom moved forward while the back reclined. The head of the seat in front came into your lap while your feet scooted underneath their seat. It looked a lot worse than it was. I slept most of the way while Doug remained more vigilent. The bus itself was a double decker; seating on the top and cargo underneath.

We arrived in Chiclayo at 6:00 a.m. There were numerous taxis and mototaxis awaiting the bus but since Victor was so insistent we not take one of these, we went into the station itself. Office personel didn't come in until 8:30-not wanting to wait, we called the hostal and they recommended a taxi service. As soon as we got to the hostal, Victor called to be sure we had safely arrived. We napped for a couple of hours and both enjoyed a HOT shower.

Chiclayo is a world different than the beach area. It is on the coast, but is a port town. It is definitely a bustling city with crowded cobblestone streets and pedestrians going every which way. As we maneuvered our way around, we also had to watch out for mortar falling from construction above the sidewalk, mounds of sand and debris across the sidewalk and into the street, and uneven sidewalks. Taxis, as opposed to mototaxis, are the norm here. You see many private cars, but they are still outnumbered by the taxis.

We met with the architect at 11:00. He had totally redesigned our house. He gave us four reasons for the change; 1. The original design did not take the topography of the land into account. It currently has three distinct levels that vary by 2 - 2 1/2 meters from one another. The ground is very rocky and hard so it would be very costly to level it completely. 2. The original did not take the view into account. Doug and I had already recognized this and talked about rotating the plans accordingly. 3. He also felt the original plans were a bit disconnected. He felt that typical Peruvian beach houses were designed in a different style. 4. He took into account the wind patterns for this area.