On the morning of October 10th we left Cueñca in a five hour bus to the Peru border. The last half hour of the drive was really neat - banana fields on either side of the road as far as you can see. Ecuador is actually the worlds largest exporter of bananas. It was kind of funny seeing the Chiquita signs along the road and thinking we might eat those same bananas in Canada! We must have ended up at the wrong terminal at the Ecuador-Peru border because we had to wait outside the building for an hour for a bus to pick us up and drive us to the right building. We were getting a little restless- its a bit frustrating losing a whole day to busing but must be done! Once we were inside it was fairly smooth for us all to check-out of Ecuador and check-in to Peru (despite most of us having thrown out an apparently important document). Then another 3 hour bus to Mancora- it was awesome to wake up half way through to white sandy beaches and sun :)
Mancora is a small surf town on the coast of Peru. As soon as we arrived we were both in love with it. Such a laid back vibe, small and surferish :) There is only one main street and not many cars, instead there are tuk-tuk's everywhere. They are motorcycle taxis with a small seating area and roof attached to the back.
We got in around dinner and went out to a small seafood restaurant. The seafood was amazing! Lisa had swordfish (white meat kind of like halibut) and Courtney had arroz con mariscos (a mixed seafood rice dish with local spices, freshly caught squid, octopus, fish and shrimp). Both were amazing. We all participated in the 2 for 15 soles happy hour and enjoyed (strong) daiquiris and mojitos.Then we quickly got changed back at the hotel - Hotel las Olas which was right on the beach at the edge of 'town' and then walked along the beach to check out the nightlife. Very fun! There are two or three bars and dance clubs right along the beach and later we went to a reggae club with some locals. We tried Pisco Sours which is the Peru national drink. Not quite sure exactly what they are but they have naranja and lime and something frothy on top. And lots of fresh mojitos! It was a fun night of dancing and meeting people.
October 11th
The next day we woke up, had a quick breakfast and went to check out the shops. Court ended up with a much needed bikini (white water rafting did hers in) and I got a Peru tank top. Then we spent the afternoon lying on the beach and swimming in the surf. The water is a very pleasant temperature and most of the bottom is smooth sand. It was a very relaxing day- we wanted to try surfing but didn't quite get up the energy. Javier, a friend we made the night before, joined us and it was nice to have a local Peruvian to tell us fun facts and take us to the good restaurants throughout our stay. That night we grabbed a quick dinner and went back to the night clubs. We were all a little tired but after a few drinks a bunch of us got the dance floor started again and ended the night with a midnight swim!
October 12th
On our last day in Mancora the morning was spent lying in the sun and swimming once again. Javier took us to another good restaurant on the beach that we went for lunch. We all tried ceviche which is a speciality of Peru. It is raw chunks of fish that is cooked only slightly with freshly squeezed lemon juice and served with onions on top. It was very, very tasty. Javier told us that the ceviche is so much better here than in North America because of the difference in lemons. South American lemons are much smaller and more acidic so they cook the fish differently. For our meal we both had another plate of arroz con mariscos. The shrimp here are huge! And delicious :)
After lunch we visited some people we had met who were staying in another hostel to watch the soccer games. Peru and Bolivia played first and then Ecuador and Chile. Right now is the qualifying games for the World Cup so a lot of the town was watching the game. We ended up staying at the hostel and playing games all afternoon. They had large scale versions of Jenga, battleshots and connect-four as well as pool and ping-pong. It ended up being a really fun afternoon and we met people from all over the world - Ireland, Australia, Israel to name a few!
We lost track of time a bit (probably due to the rum slushies that went down like juice) because at 9:30 our guide showed up to tell us we had to leave to get our night bus to Huanchaco. None of us wanted to leave at all! It was a bit of a scramble but we all made it on with almosttt all our belongings- Courts down a pair of flipflops somehow haha! Luckily we both slept for the 10 hour trip despite being stuffed into seats next to strangers. It would have been really not fun if we hadn't- some of the girls didn't manage to so are feeling quite rough right now.
October 13th
Now we have had a nice long nap and are caught up and ready to explore Huanchaco!
-Lisa and Court
Picture 1 - Windsurfer
Picture 2 - Beach outside our hotel
Picture 3 - Beach access to our hotel
Picture 4 - Banana fields
Picture 5 - Sharing a coconut
Picture 6 - Terrace of our hotel room
Picture 7 - Sunset
Picture 8 - Mancora main street
Thanks for the update girls! Sounds like an amazing little town.
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