Upon arriving in Mancora Andrew and I thought to ourselves "how can this place top Huanchaco?" Well.... as it turns out every place we visit seems just as good as the last, and has so many different things to offer.
We arrived to town 6am by a 9 hr bus ride and checked into Laguna Surf Camp hostel. Our rooms were cute Indonesian syle bamboo huts. (really basic with bed, mosquito nets, toilet and cold showers.) The owner Pilar was such a sweet lady and she cut us a deal on 3 nights in the hostel. The other travellers staying there were extremely friendly and the staff was wonderful. The only downfall to the hostel was the mosquitos and the toilet that when flushed smelled like sulphur. Kinda gross after a while!
Mancora is a surf town situated around 2 hours from the Ecuadorian border. The weather is perfect year round so both Peruviano´s and foreigner´s flock there to soak up the sun and relax. The beach is lined with hotels, restaurant stalls and surf shops. Unfortunately for Andrew, at that time the surfing in Mancora wasn´t too great. It was a small point break and every surfer squished into the same area. On the second day Andrew rented a board and spent a few hours surfing, but to his disapointment the locals were "wave hogs" which made the situation pretty dangerous and at any moment surfers could crash into each other. We spent 7 lazy days in Mancora relaxing and enjoying the sun. During our stay the weather was picture perfect with blue skies and hot weather.
What could ruin this tropical paradise????
Within our first few days in Mancora both Andrew and I began to get the "Peruvian belly sickness" once again. Unfortunately mine was accompanied by chills so I decided to take the antibiotics that the travel doctor had given to us in case of emergencies.
Andrew and I always said that if one of us became really ill we would check into a nice hotel. Well the moment had arrived and on our 3rd day we left our cute bamboo huts and checked into what we called "Shangri la" hotel Buena Vista.
Buena Vista:
This hotel had a deal on for 3 nights so we decided we would stay a little longer in Mancora. Our room had a cute hammock on the balcony, huge bedroom, king size bed, huge bathroom with hot showers, t.v and swimming room. We really felt like we were living it up! Shortly after we checked in we met our very friendly Australian neighbours who we quickly became friends with. (Hi Jess and Chris) They introduced us to a few nicer restaurants which were "safer" to eat at.
Just as our health was getting better and things were starting to look up.......
Our hotel room was broken into and our brand new 20x optical zoom canon camera was stolen. On our last day in Mancora we spent it "trying" to explain to a Spanish only speaking police officer what had happened. We managed to get an offical police report and hopefully we will get our money back from our travel insurance. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
And if things couldn´t get worse that day......
I started our 19 hr bus ride journey back to Lima feeling a little glum due to our camera mishap, but belly feeling better than it had in days. Little did I know... that evening the "Peruvian belly sickness" would step it up to a whole new level. Let´s just say it was a very uncomfortable bus ride for both me and the other passengers. And a torturous plane ride to Bogota, Colombia.
~Nicola
Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.
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| Mancora, Peru |
Ahh, that sucks. At least you guys weren't there when your room got broken into. Keep safe! E
ReplyDeleteNicola,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you would be better off either staying in your first world bubble or sticking to ClubMed. By the way, who are PERUVIANOS, anyway?
P (for Peruana)