Feb 20, 2013 - Week 21 - Huaraz, Huanchaco, Mancora (Peru)

Early during our first day in Huaraz, two girls checked into our dorm, Priya and Ash, and said they’d booked on to a 10am tour to Llanganuco lake. Since we quite fancied visiting the glacier lake too we decided to join the tour. Big mistake. After a 3 hour bone shaking drive via Carhuaz and Caraz we arrived at the Huascaran national park by the shore of a small and not overly impressive lake. As the guide only spoke Spanish we had no idea where we were and what we were supposed to be looking at and thought it was a break to get some lunch....

Oct 25, 2012 - Into Peru

Another fabulous drive through the mountains as our farewell to Ecuador. Superb roads, 2nd and 3rd gear bends and lovely scenery. Nowhere to stop on the roads to photo though. One section of the road was gravel, but not too badly corrugated (washboard) and we enjoyed the challenge of the driving. Ecuador border controls were quick and efficient, but two and a half hours to get our carnets stamped into Peru. The change of country was immediately apparent dry, flat, hot and with obvious signs of poverty. Lots of donkeys, gosts and pigs on...

May 25, 2012 - Una tenda in riva al mar

Era da Ko Phra Tong, in Thailandia, che non mi concedevo un vero giorno di dolce far nulla. Quando, arrivati al villaggio/camping di Punta Sal, ho affondato i piedi nella sabbia, non potevo crederci. Il tramonto stava per cominciare, davanti a me una spiaggia di sabbia bianca, finissima, con due cucciolotti di cane e un gatto che mi sono venuti incontro, ad accogliermi, delle amache vista oceano che invitavano solo a sdraiarcisi sopra e i pellicani che volavano decisi a pelo d’acqua di fronte a noi. E tutto questo solo per noi, per due...

Sep 18, 2011 - Surfers mecca.

Mancora, Peru 18/09/11 Surfers mecca. We had booked a bus to Piura in Peru, but as another group of guided tourists seem to be getting off in a place called Mancora, a surfers paradise, and I wasn’t feeling great, we decided to get off early by a few hours. Out of the middle of the desert you arrive in this tourist centre with hostel, bars, surf shops and tourist tat. For the entire trip from Ecuador all there was, was endless desert followed by fish farms and sugar cane fields, and then back to more desert. The surf looked good here but...

Apr 6, 2011 - Lobitos, Peru

Lobitos. Now that Lina and i are leaving Lobitos, i have time to write about Lobitos. (Lina is taking a nap) Lobitos is a small town, population 500 max, on the northern coast of Peru. It has a very interesting story. Years ago, maybe turn of the century or a bit later, (im not good on dates) it was an English port. and a pretty shick little place it was in its day, ive heard. very affluent and the rich came here to gamble and party. Some years later it was taken over by the Peruvian military and used as a base and training area. Then a few...

Jun 19, 2010 - Mancora

Mancora (3 - 6 June) Ahhh, back to beach life. The last beach we saw was almost two months ago in Brazil so to finally make our way back to the coast to enjoy some sunshine and downtime was a welcome reward. Mancora isn't by any means a short trip from Cusco so we checked the bank balances and splurged on a flight to cover half the distance. The flight arrived in Lima and the remaining distance was covered by a bus that was another enjoyable 20 hours. Mancora is a extremely rugged town comprised of one main road with a few beach bars and...

Jun 11, 2010 - Mancora - THE END

Being us and therefore totally illogical we decided that, in the interests of coming home nice and brown we would head 40 hours up the coast of Peru for one last week of tanning//partying. Mancora is a small town on the beach where lots of Gringos go to surf and relax- the Loki hostel here is gorgeous, more like a hotel with a huuuge pool and lots of sun loungers. We managed to arrive in time to celebrate my 19th birthday at midnight, which we did in style, dressed as plants (don´t ask) and dancing on the bar. Mum and DAd gave us some money...

Apr 10, 2010 - vamos a la playa, deel 2

tegen de middag moest alles ingepakt zijn want vannacht reizen we naar trujillo. Maar eerst terug naar het strand maar vandaag hielden we onze t shirts aan en bleven we zoveel mogelijk in de schaduw. om 18 uur nog gaan douchen in ons hotel en dan met de tuk tuk naar het busstation om onze bagage te gaan droppen, en rustig te gaan dineren en een pintje te gaan drinken op het strand om 23 uur stapen we op een zeer comfortabele luxebus om heel de nacht te rijden naar trujillo, heb gelukkig goed kunnen slapen op de bus dus de tijd vloog voorbij

Apr 9, 2010 - vamos a la playa

Vandaag weeral een bloedhete dag in mancora op het strand doorgebracht. De grote oceaan is wel tof ,keihoge golven zelfs tot vlak tegen de kustlijn, maar 1 groot nadeel is er wel, doordat de golven zo sterk zijn spoelen ze ook constant alle zonnecreme weg en moet je je constant opnieuw insmeren, heb dit wel geprobeerd met factor 50 zelfs maar was hier en daar toch een plekje vergeten en die plaatsen zagen natuurlijk knalrood, maar ik was ni alleen, vanda en brett waren ook keihard verbrand, brett had zelfs enorme blaren op zijn schouders,...

Apr 8, 2010 - the borderline

6u40 pikt de taxi ons op ( midden in de nacht dus ) om naar het busstation te gaan. om 7u15 vertrekken we en tegen de middag zijn we aan de grens van peru. na de nodige papierwinkel onder een loden zon ( 32 graden ) en overstappen op een echte hobbelige bus zijn we in het tweede land aangekomen. rond 17 u arriveren we in surfersparadijs mancora, snel met de tuk tuk naar het hotel, onze bagage gedropt en onmiddellijk naar het strand om het zweet af te spoelen. Dan dinner op het strand bij zonsondergang, rauwe vis in limoensaus en...

Feb 9, 2010 - Adios Ecuador - with bad luck....

Went via Guayaquil to Piura, Peru. Finally I got robbed my camera and mobile at Guayaquil bus station - without taking notice....actually a bad event for leaving this nice country....but on the other hand - I am ok....such things happens here .... its only about material things.... BUT I have to mention that the day started very nice, I took a bus from Riobamba to Guayaquil and I really think thats the most beautiful trip I have done so far on my trip, it leads you through impressive mountains, deep values, road is in a very good...

Jan 19, 2010 - Piura (Peru)

This was my first stop in Peru and my intention was to get straight on to a bus and continue travelling south. However, because of a bus strike I found myself having to stay the night. The place was hot and dusty, the roads were congested with impatient drivers all beeping their horns and there was nothing to do here. There were a few of us who found ourselves stuck here and after we had eventually managed to find a bus company that was operating we had the whole day to kill so we made the most of the situation by drinking cold beers by the...