Hot and toasty– those are the words to describe today´s weather in Lobitos. We were up and ready to go on time this morning, we´re getting better! At 9 we left to walk down to the WAVES office, hopping in mototaxis as they passed us. These vehicles have a small motorcycle in front and a place to sit 3-5 people in the back. Some have music playing too, and they cost a dollar or less to take us across town.
At the WAVES office we waited for a while for the president of the local fishermen´s union to join us for our morning´s presentation. Yesterday we had been running late, today our guest was… ¨la hora peruana¨ (Peruvian time) once again. We took the chance to go to the bodega and play on the playground with the little niños and niñas who are our friends now from always participating in WAVES events with us all week. When Juan Eche Ruíz, the president of the Lobitos fishermen, arrived the niños walked with us and some WAVES staff down to the pier. On our way a donkey said hello loudly as we walked by and it startled us!
The pier is long and made of wood. It looks old but is only 15 years old. Next to it you can see parts of the old pier that was made of metal, that one lasted for 100 years. On the pier there were people, men women and niños and some women we knew from eating lunch at their houses this week. Some people caught big fish and stingrays too and brought them on the pier. At the end of the pier there were lots of boats on the water, like it was its own harbor there too. They were small but have 2 to 3 crew members each and can hold up to 5 tons. They are made of wood. Lobitos fishermen make their own boats out of wood and don´t trust new materials compared to what they´ve been using for so many years. They do have new technology in some of them though like radar to know where the fish are.
Juan Eche Ruíz talked to us about the history of Lobitos and fishing, and how the oil industry and changes in the environment are challenges for the fishermen now. He told us that 150 people work there and eat the fish they catch and also sell it in other towns. Many kinds of fish are found here. Dave from WAVES and Ms Schwenkler translated what he said and he answered our questions too.
Back at the WAVES office Dave presented Juan with a small carved surfboard to thank him for his time and presentation. We went with our lunch groups to a local family´s house again. I (Michelle) went to Celia´s house, she is one of the first people to move to the new side of town Nuevo Lobitos that is where less people live. She had a nice table for us to sit at and was very welcoming to us. She had us sign in a book our names and countries that we´re from like all the people who go to her house. We had fish and rice and salad and juice. Her house was medium size with wooden walls and a dirt floor.
In the afternoon some of us went surfing and some of us went to the homestay construction site for the first time. We painted and shoveled sand there to get ready for cement mixing. At the beach that group practiced balancing on the surfboard and then went out on the waves with an individual surf instructor for each person to practice catching and surfing the waves. It´s hard but we kept getting up and trying again.
After dinner (spaghetti!) at the hostal we had a meeting where we journalled and then talked about Lobitos and what we think it could be like in 20 years. Some people thought different and more developed and some didn´t. We talked about more tourists coming and how that is good and also bad for the people who live here. Everyone gave ideas of what could change in Lobitos.
Then we went to the movie night WAVES set up and watched a short documentary ¨Sliding Liberia¨ about surfers in Liberia and trying to make a difference in that community like WAVES is here. Afterwards we played with our niños friends on the playground while we waited for mototaxis to go home. Some students played volleyball again with what seemed like half of Lobitos watching in the small stadium on the plaza. We had 5 GLC students and 1 Peruvian playing, we know him from surf practice. Together we won and the crowd loved us.
Another full day in Lobitos…
