Apr 4, 2009 - Boarder crossing - to Mancora

I want to call this the great boarder crossing of 2009, but I think that title may be reserved for the next crossing, anyways the point is this was pretty special... So we got an uneventful bus ride, stopping to get our exit stamps on our passport and the Ecudorian side and ended up at an inbetween town. Now the experience begins... We hire a bike attached to a massive wooden tray type thing in front. I was the lucky one who got to sit on the bike and pedal. All our big bags were on the tray and we surrounded the tray to protect our...

Feb 9, 2009 - Sunny Days

Woke up to warm breezes and sun. Had a meeting with our new leader Sylvana,and we like her, she is both organized and relaxed. Everyone is pretty tired from our long day of travel yesterday, spent the day relaxing on the beach, body surfing, drinking from coconuts, sleeping on hammocks, and shopping at the sidewalk vendors. Got a hat that looks kinda silly, but who cares. Craig wonders how it will fit in my backpack. Craig- Jeanne and I were I think the oldest people in town. Mancora is "wild", propably 50 bars for a population of <1000,...

Jan 14, 2009 - Peru, Mancora

Our first stop after leaving Guayaquil was the beach town of Mancora in the north of Peru. We stopped here for a few days on our way to Ecuador and decided to come back because it is the nicest beach we visited on our trip. Its hard to believe that a small surf town that has the busy Pan American Highway as its mainstreet could be so tranquil. There were times we would forget this is the busiest highway in South America until a huge semi-trailer would come rolling through town. The town was basically the main highway and a few dusty dirt...

Nov 23, 2008 - Mancora

First border crossing on my own! No foreign travellers in sight. Bus is ´direct´, but we have to get off three times: exit Ecuador, enter Peru, Peruvian customs. Muy confusiada! I´ve asked my driver ´Mi mochila esta bien?´'Si. Si.´ But the bus takes off anyway with everyone else on board along with my backpack. Ah ha, it returns later after dropping the other passengers at the Peruvian border down the road. Nov. 23: First night - accomodation is a shit hole (sorry - only way to describe it). Concrete floor, holes in the walls let mossies...

Nov 19, 2008 - Into Mancora, Peru

After such a hectic time in Chiclayo, we headed north to Mancora, Peru. What a blessing we encountered! In route, we went to Cabo Blanco. This is a small fishing village where Ernest Hemingway visited. It is believed he got his inspiration to write "The Old Man in the Sea" after fishing here. The largest fish ever caught here was a black marlin, weighing in at 710 kilos (that's 1,562 lbs.), caught in 1953. What can we say about Mancora - it's the most beautiful place we've been - especially after our trials of Chiclayo. We stayed at Mancora...

Nov 9, 2008 - Mancora

Tomamos un bus a Mancora. Pasamos varios dias caminando por la playa, viendo las nuevas casas y hoteles, disfrutando el sol, y saliendo en la noche. Ahora se ve un flujo de turistas que no se veia antes en Mancora, en una semana cualquiera. El sol siempre radiante. Despues llegaron mi papa y unos invitados de USA. El plan cambio a comidas y conversaciones tranquilas. Todo muy bien. Por fin llego el dia de volver a Lima!

Oct 10, 2008 - A day at the beach

Just a note to all readers, the Blue text is written be David and the Red by Jo. This should help explain certain comments on each blog. Guess what! Another very early start, 6ish, for a very long drive. From Cuenca we headed south to a Punta Sal, a beach near Mancora in Peru. Before crossing the border we drove through some amazing valleys where the local farmers have turned the flood plain in the valley floor into a patchwork quilt of relatively small lots. The workers are still dressed in traditional clothes; ponchos, cowboy hats, skirts...

Jul 29, 2008 - The Beach!

To celebrate Indenpendence Day, we traveled to the coast to spend four days relaxing on the sunny, equatorial beach. Mancora is apparently a surfer's paradise; due to the meeting of the cold and hot currents at the coast of Piura, Peru, the beaches have some pretty "far out" waves good for boarding. The winner of the 2006 Women's World Surf championship is actually from Peru and has done a lot of promotion on the beach, making it one of the most famous on the West coast of Latin America. It was certainly relaxing, and had all the amenities...

May 4, 2008 - Máncora, Peru

Ahh, my first time this trip I am on the ocean- and it is everything I dreamed it could be: sun, heat and not a drop of rain! From Chachapoyas my night journey took 10 hours to Chiclayo. I got there just before 5 in the morning and made an immediate decision to move onward north due to the hour of arrival (nothing was open). So, after another 6 hours on the bus (not so bad because the peruvian bus system is far superior to that of Ecuador) and I arrived in sunny Máncora. I have enjoyed the amazing ceviches, seafood and laid-back attitude. I...

Apr 27, 2008 - From Huanacho to Pimental and on to Punta Sal

It took five long hours to travel from the Lambayeque museum the 200km to the town of Chiclayo, we travelled on a few kilometers more to the beach town of Pimental where our leader/drivers astonishingly suggested we set up our tents on the beach. It was already dark but it looked suspiciously to us as if it were another rubbish dump, there was broken glass everywhere and the sand was damp, who knew how high the tide might come in. Eventually some police arrived and pursuaded Ant and Brendan that the beach might not be the safest place to...

Apr 1, 2008 - Cusco reflections and Mancora, Peru

After an 18 hour bus to Lima, another 16 hour bus from Lima to Mancora, Nathan and I are now basqing in the sun and loving every minute of it. Yes, it's tropical and hot here but I should explain a bit more about Cusco before I dive into the tropics. Nate and I had a great time in Cusco. Aside from the hike that Nate explained in detail, we also spent one full day in Pisa touring ruins and shopping in their famous weekend market. In addition, we also spent one day visiting another great ruins site just north of town. There are so many ruins...

Jan 16, 2008 - Mancora and beyond

Well, i wrote a lovely little update the other day and was planning on finishing it the next day. However, it didn't save...oh technology how we love you so. So i will try to recreate it once again. We just finished up spending a few days lazing around the beach. And yes Michelle i got so burnt despite all the millions of applications of sunscreen i tried to apply. Unfortunately, its not the typical all over burn, its the ever so attractive splotchy burn. You know the type that looks like you dont know how to apply sunscreen properly. As if...