Welcome to Colán

Can I take you on a little trip? We're going to a quaint little coastal town about an hour away called Colán. : ) We went there a while ago with our team and then again for Father's Day and I'd love to take you there.

First of all, it has a beautiful, long beach that's just great for long walks or for playing in the sand. It reminded me a lot of Pismo.

If you're not a fan of these little guys, though, it might not be the beach for you. There are probably thousands of them. We thought they were fun to watch and fun to try to catch.

And maybe a kilometer away from the ocean is this church. I find it quite fascinating. And I love the cliffs in the back. Interesting to think of the water being way up there at some point!

We went to visit it on our first trip there. (That's Stacy taking a picture at the top of the steps.) 

This beautiful church is very old. Here's the sign on the outside (I think placed there after a restoration project) and a translation:
Saint Luke of Colán Church
First Christian church erected along the South Pacific coast by the Spanish evangelists (evangelizers?)
The people of the Tallan ethnic group (from Colán) participated in the building of it.
It was constructed over a worship-site from the Chimu age
It was consecrated curing the first half of the 16th century by Saint Luke the evangelist who it is named after.
(And then something about the privilege of housing a Spanish shield from some Spanish noble family there.)

Did you catch that? This church was built close to 500 years ago and was the first church the Spanish built in South America. I find that to be a fascinating piece of history. It is still functioning as a Catholic church. Maybe things like this are especially interesting to me because being from California, the Spanish missionaries played a big role in California's history as well. Every 4th grader (in the public schools anyway!) studies the missions and learns about their history. In our homeschool we're studying more about Peru's history and it's interesting to compare our histories. We still have LOTS to learn.

This is the view standing on the South side of the church.

This is the view facing the coastline. As you can see, it is DRY!

Once you've had your fill of history, you can go take a picture at the park with your team. : )

It works well if you time it so that you can walk to the beach and wait for the sun to set before heading back to the main road (just behind the buildings parallel to the beach) to look for dinner.

(Just don't expect the kids to stay out of the water.)

Both times we've watched the sun set there, it set like this. Beautiful! It's a great way to end the day before heading back to wherever you're staying. : )

(This is Colán Lodge where we stayed for Father's Day.)

I have no idea yet what Colán is like in the summer. We have only been there in the off-season (aka winter) when hardly anyone else was there - which in my book made it perfect! One thing is missing though. A restaurant with beach-front dining! It doesn't seem to be something they do here. Anyone want to open a restaurant?

Here are a few last pictures of the nearby fishing port city of Paita that you drive through (or skirt around) on your way from Piura to Colán. The pelicans seem to like it. (It does smell like a fishing town fish.)

Oh! I forgot to tell you how to get home! Last time we just took a moto-taxi from the lodge in to the taxi-stop on the main street in Colán, a taxi from the stop to the bus station in Paita, the bus back to Piura to the bus-stop and a taxi from the bus-stop to our home. You can just spend the night with us. We've got a guest room waiting for you! And we'll make sure to call a taxi to get you to the airport on time so you can head home when the time comes. (Unless you're up for the 15 hour bus ride back to Lima...) : )

I'll leave you with this picture of a boat called "Voluntad de Dios" which means "Will of God". I'm glad that God's will is bigger and more secure than any little fishing boat could ever be. It might at times not seem that way, but I know that it is. I hope you do too.

Thanks for coming along on our little trip. Let us know when we can do it together for real!