Peru-Máncora

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Crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru and arriving to Máncora

Finally on Monday (21.06.2010) I managed to leave Salinas, and I took the bus in the evening at 8:30pm, because another bus broke down and was replaced by this one, direct to Guayaquil with the bus company CICA (or CLP). After two hours of watching a very, very bloody movie, I arrived in Guayaquil at 11pm. I went immediately to get the busticket for the 23:30 bus to Máncora (company CIFA) and purchased one ticket for 12,5 US$. I bought a sandwich, had a coke, bought some water, used the toilet and went to the bus, which was a little bit late, so I had time, to buy some sweets and a newspaper to spend my last few US$. When you buy the bus ticket you also get 2 other papers which we filled in spending the first 15 minutes in the bus. Then I ate half of my sandwich and some sweets while talking to Stefan, a chilenian guy sitting next to me. I read some newspaper and fell asleep, so they could wake us up at 4am to get the exit stamp from the ecuadorian border. Then another ride of almost half an hour to the border of Peru where we got the entrance stamp easily. The advantage of going this time is, that everything is empty and closed, so you avoid the crowds of people and the stress and the fear of being robbed. You could change money though, but the course was bad (2,5Sol per US$ - in Mancora you get 2,78Sol per US$). You could get some food or drinks from women with baskets. Then after another try of sleeping a little bit we arrived at around 7am in Máncora. A crowd of people offering you a mototaxi surrounds you. Stefan did the typical thing, lighting a cigarette and wait. Then when they came down, we took one of the mototaxi who suggested us some hotels and we asked for cheaper ones ... so he took us to "Roca J", a hostal belonging to church community while the church is right next door, marked that this is a bamboo church 😊. After checking out some other hostal from the book, we came back to "Roca J" and got a room with two beds and a tiny private bathroom without a door for 20 Soles, so 10 Soles each person. That is a fair price. The atmosphere of the hostal was pretty good, especially after some other travelers arrived and the hostal was full! I really suggest to take a mototaxi, because at this time its not really save to walk and the taxi costs just 1 to 2 Sol per person.

We started the day with sleeping 😊 When we woke up, we changed some money (the Euro changing rate is pretty bad: 3,2 Sol per Euro and just possible in some shops - asked around). Then we went for lunch and got a pretty good menu for 6 Soles. The rest of the day he spent at the beach while I was trying to find a card for my mobile phone - I got some tourist information in the so called office - not really helpful! and I found the market and other cheap places. For the sunset I went to the beach too and it was amazing! A blood red sun melting into the sea without any cloud in the way! Lovely! Damn that I dont have a camera 😞 In the evening we went out to have some cocktails and had one in the Iguana (not really good) and two others in a bar next to the beach - when you walk down the street on the right hand of the Loki hostal and in the end before it turns to the right you turn to the left and there the second bar in the row. There we had really good and strong cocktails! We walked home in a not really straight way 😊

After sleeping long, what is sometimes hard because of the noise in the hostal, and breakfast (bread, egg, avocado, tomato, salad, cucumber bought from the market) I went to the beach and spent the day there, at around 4pm I went snorkeling and saw just right by the beach, close to the surfers many, many fishes. Very nice! But to see more you would have to swim around the surfers and that was just too far for me, because it started to get dark.
I met Stefan in the hostal and we went for dinner and then we checked out the Loki hostal, which seems to be a very nice place, a party place with many people, travelers there. So if you have a little more money (I think there it cost like 25Soles per person) and you wanna meet people, thats your choice 😊 But we decided because of the prices there for the drink to buy our own bottle of rum and coke and drink it in the hostal. So we did! The night was very noisy because first, the girls who also stayed in our hostal came screaming to the hostal because they got robbed and then another group of foreigners arrived in the morning to the hostal, waking everybody up by knocking on the door.

Anyhow, I managed to get Stefan out of the bed at 10am. We went walking on the beach to the south. We just walked and walked and walked and talked about all the houses that we could find there, one villa beside another! One belongs to an arabian princess how a guy working there told us. We were guessing it would be Jennifer Loez summer house 😊 After 2 hours of walking I was really hungry and we tried to find something to eat. We found some hotels but the prices were just redicilous (7 Soles for a small 375ml beer - normally 4Soles costs the big one)!!! Also the mototaxi there had funny prices: 20Soles to go back to Máncora. I didnt even had that much money with me 😊 So we decided to start walking back, and found some palms with coconut trees. One tree decided to give us on the first try two coconuts after Stefan threw a stone up. Very nice!!! We spend our time trying to open them and succeeded of course. I really enjoyed that coconut and was totally satisfied afterwards. For Stefan it was the first time that he opened one.
I also found a seahorse on the beach, death 😞 i took to dry it and keep it as a souvenir.
We arrived in the afternoon at around 3pm, went home and then again to the beach. I took my snorkeling stuff for another try. Today were really high waves, good for the surfers, bad for me 😞. I still swam out with my fins and could see some swarms but nothing amazing, so I went back and surfed one wave perfectly on top, then it took me and my fin. I saw it coming up once but then there was another waves. I was just too close to the shore. I never found it again!
We went back to the hostal and after a short break and a shower we went out for dinner and bought another rum with coke, but Stefan was too tired to drink and also all the other guests went to bed. So I stayed alone, spending the time in the internet and writing my diary before sleeping.

Next day I also woke up early too. I went walking on the beach to the north, where is nothing after 500m, except a nice lagoon and beach, beach, beach. I was pretty far from the last house and totally alone when I saw three men there sitting in the sand, I could see that they are from here. I stopped from far away and waited a while to see their reaction. Nothing! Anyhow, I decided to walk back, because this might be a dangerous situation. Nobody would help me here, so far away. When I started walking back, also one of the man started walking. I just walked faster and kept looking back - he didnt came close. Back to the first house which is the "the point" hostal I met the austrian couple from the hostal and we walked back together.
Then I went to the city to get a haircut (6Soles, its cheaper and probably better in Trujillo 4Soles) and to get the problem solved with my mobile phone card. Everything fine!
In the evening we all went out together to eat and have some beers, then we bought some more rum and coke and drank everything in the hostal before going to the "full moon party" in "the point" hostel. I was damn tired and was sleeping on the table. They had electronic music there! Later I dance also a bit. We went all together home except Stefan, he stayed a little longer. Good party!

I slept looong that day, got my bus ticket for the evening, packed my stuff and spent the day on the beach, eating the really good stuffed bread, that is sold by women with baskets on the beach and slept a lot there. The church was celebrating San Pedro, therefore a girl and the owner, Marvin, were singing in the church. Really nice! This girl sings really good! I collected information about Peru and gave a lot for Ecuador. We exchanged contacts and then I went on my bus, which was also a little late, but what does it matter...

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Comments

[David]

Party Town
Exactly why we don't live in Mancora but 20 minutes away in Organos! Tranquilo and nice... David Los Organos, Peru Inside-Peru.com