Kitesurfing 101

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I was up at 830am to surf at 9am. We asked a few people last night when high tide was suppose to be and they said 9. I got dressed, threw on some sunscreen and headed to the canadian´s room to pick up Braden. He was still sleeping, so he changed and headed out with me. We rented some boards from Ruben´s place where we had breakfast yesterday. The Peruvian guy speaks spanish, french, and english pretty well. I grabbed a short board while Braden chose a longboard and we headed out.

The break was pretty crowded so it was tough to get a wave. I had a few chances but the shortboard I had was not too great. A local kid was giving me pointers in spanish and giving me the rules of the road...as in don´t paddle into a wave if someone else is already on it. An hour in, I decided to swap it out for a longboard...great choice. I paddled back out and caught the first wave that came my way and road it almost all the way into shore. Afterwards I called it quits since it was getting pretty busy.Braden grabbed his shirt that he left behind the bar at Ruben´s place and apparently someone jacked a 50 sol he had tucked in it...the last time we´ll be frequenting them!

After breakfast we considered riding horses (30 sol for an hour!)so we went back to get Raya. She wasn´t there so the two of us walked down the beach looking for waverunner rentals. We made it to a fish factory and turned around and came back...about a 2 mile walk each way. We found Raya when we got back and told her of the horse idea. She said she saw people doing it yesterday and apparently the horses only walk while the guide is in front walking too while kids are in the back whipping them to keep them moving...so not too much fun.

We all decided to find the waverunner rentals so we headed to the road and asked a taxi guy for moto aquaticas. He said he could take the three of us for 2 sols, I told him 1...he was considering it when Braden succumbed...that easy canadian! We hopped in and took a drive down the road towards the fish factory. Not even 10 seconds after we passed the factory we saw the waverunner place...we were SOOO close earlier today! It ended up being 250 sol per hour...WAY MORE THAN WE WANT TO SPEND IN MÁNCORA! So we hopped back in the taxi and took it back to town.

While Braden went to find a place for cash, Raya and I headed to the outdoor place we ate at yesterday because they had great nachos with a peruvian pepper hot sauce...SOO GOOD! We ordered that and a couple cokes and waited for Braden to show up. We ordered chicken nachos but ended up only getting the black bean and cheese ones. We asked which one we were charged and the chic who didn´t speak spanish said the black bean one (she pointed at it on the menu). The chic who owned the place was coming in at that time (she was also our server yesterday) and overheard what was going on. She came by and asked us if we wanted new nachos and we said no, that is was OK. After we were finished eating, she brought out a hot brownie and ice cream on the house which was delicious!

After our snack I headed over to the kitesurfing place to do my lesson... I was ready to rock and roll! I met up with Rayne who owned the place (also found out he runs the Máncora Spanish School). I did my 2 hour lesson which included body dragging through the water...to get an idea of what it feels like to have the kite and wind power you through the water. I was BOOKING IT! I was doing my figure eights like a champ and Rayne had a problem keeping up with me running on the beach. After the body drag, we grabbed the board and I was shown how to set the kite up, put my board on in the water and get started. I did that a few times and was actually up and riding in the water! Now all I have to do is learn to ride perpendicular to the kite to keep moving!

After kiteboarding we hopped back to the hostel and showered up to go out. We grabbed some food at Angela´s vegetarian restaurant. I´m down for anything and I have had some good vegetarian food in the past...it was Raya and Braden´s idea so I went along for the ride. We ordered the special which included a choice of starter (Braeden and I had falafels in tzaziki sauce while Raya ordered the spinach and cheese pastry), a main dish (I ordered the spinach and cheese pastry with chickpeas, Braeden ordered the curry dish with rice, and Raya ordered the pasta with vegetables) and a drink...we all chose lemonade. Braeden and I shared a Cosqueña Negra too...very dark beer that had a chocolatey taste to it...very tasty.

Needless to say the beer was the best thing at Angela´s that night. The falafels weren´t too bad, but the tzaziki was kinda gluey. Raya didn´t eat much of her spinach and cheese pastry so Braeden devoured that for her. Braeden didn´t care too much for his curry dish nor I with the spinach and cheese pastry with gluey tzaziki. Needless to say we skipped out of there pretty quickly and headed to Wahoo for another specialty drink...the Limelight...kinda like sprite with alcohol...very tasty but too sweet for most.

After our drinks at Woohoo I wanted to go to the surf bar to "scope out my prey" for the night. Raya and Braeden laughed because I have been extremely unsuccessful at meeting girls while I´ve been in South America...something I was definitely NOT planning on. We made it to the surfer´s bar and ordered drinks. The owners Himey and Naiobi (she´s a brit) were both pretty young, mid-late 20s and were pretty cool. The first drinks we ordered were Green Goblins which are shots of Vodka with a little creme de menthe...VERY tasty but VERY strong. Afterwards I decided to sip on a mojito.

Apparently every Wednesday they have a Bar Trivia night where one of their buddies comes in and does Bar Trivia for charity...cost is 5 soles per person...a great way to make money and the winners get free drinks! We of course chose to play as a team. The questions were good, some tricky. There were 3 rounds and 3 questions per round. You could wager 1, 3, or 5 points on the questions in each round but had to use each point denomination only once. We were in 3rd place by 2 points at the end of the main game. The last question was a peruvian history question where you could wager up to 10 points...the question was "What year did Fracisco Pizzaro discover Tumbes?"...with a 20 year give or take. We had NO FRICKEN IDEA! We guessed 1620. The answer ended up being 1532 and the team that was near last place bet all 10 points and ended up coming in first while everyone else missed it!

I ordered a house special from Naiobi...a Maracuya Pisco something...tasted a lot like Maracuya Margarita. It was tasty but very strong. After another one of those I was feeling pretty good. Before Braeden and Raya left he ordered another round of Green Goblins...I was not down for that since I was already near the point of no return. I took it anyways because it´s rude to turn down free drinks! That drink nearly put me over the edge, but I managed to return to safety fairly quickly. I also decided to buy a Mancora Surf Club shirt as a souvenir...very cool. After the Canadians left, I invited 2 girls sitting in chairs near the door to come join me at the bar. I can´t remember their names but they were both from Peru and spoke pretty good english. I started chatting up the cute one.

All the drinks I had that night caught up to me around midnight. I saw a guy drinking Red Bull and Vodka and I managed to get half of his redbull to drink...I seriously needed it. The Red Bull picked me back up and I was feeling pretty chill. I continued the chat up the peruvian girls until the bar closed at 1. We headed to another club on the strip and danced and had more drinks til 2ish until that one closed. We eventually made it back to the beach bars which were going pretty strong. I was now on a water diet for the rest of the night. I ended up making out with the cute one on the beach and all in all it was a great night.

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