Blogs from Máncora, Piura, Peru, South America - page 3

Before I left the states, I had a general route planned out. After hustling from city to city, conquering treks, exhausting my verbal communication and engaging in new experiences, I figured I would want to spend my last week or two relaxing. When the time came I headed up the coast to Trujillo, which typically is supposed to consist of sunny beaches overcrowded by surfers. Truth be told, there was a beach but it was cloudy and cold, and I knew the minute I arrived I had to get my ass out of there! I decided to stay the day so I could sleep, when I woke up I met Libby, a earth loving california dreamer. We agreed Trujillo was robbing everyone's happiness and took an overnight bus to the infamous beaches of Mancora. We stayed ... read more

This is to be a (relativly) short entry as I did as I intended to in Mancora - very little! I updated my vitamin D, by enjoying far too many lazy days around the pool, the beach, and of course in the sea. Most of the time, I body-boarded in the sea, which was as much fun now at 22, as it was when I was the same size as the board itself - which must have been pretty young - oh what it is to feel old! Anyway, I did enjoy that, as the waves were pretty good in Mancora. So good infact I went surfing. And it (kinda) worked! I was crusing down green waves, a Beach Boys soundtrack in the back of my mind - actually one of my wipeouts was because I ... read more

In Mancora, at last, after a combination of fairly uncomfortable local buses. It is a bit of a touristy hotspot but I think that was what we wanted after so much time in the mountains!! We got ourselves a wee private room at one end of town which was grand. The place had laundry which we needed to do by this stage too. And it was a couple of minutes walk to the beach. Mancora beach was lovely, water was warm and it seemed pretty popular. There wasn’t much sand to the beach, which seems a stupid thing to say but it was a bit small. Surfing and kitesurfing seem pretty popular here, as well as a trip to local swamps to see crocodiles. I'm sure i will regret not doing this but I think we ... read more

On the 22h bus from Cusco to Lima, I decided that actually I fancied a few days on the beach, rather thasn in the mountains of Huaraz. This was quite a big descision in some respects, as it required a bit of rearranging. More than that, instead of another 8h bus, it meant that I had to get a 15h bus, followed by another 3 h colective taxi - so including transfer times, I was travelling for 42h by bus. This was not good. Needless to say, attempts at conversation with me towards the end were met with monosyllabic answers or a smile that didn't touch my eyes. However, at the end of it was Mancora, Peru's best beach. I am spending a few days here now, r&r before I head into the Amazon. It is ... read more

After leaving Huacachina i arrived into the greyness of Lima and, after spending an hour cycling in circles for a bit, eventually found the hostel to meet up with Jake again. I really did not like Lima as a city. It's absolutely huge and to get to the center from the Miraflores area, where all the tourists stay, it's a 30 min bus ride or 15 min taxi. While i was in Cusco i made a friend at the hostel who lives in Lima, so had a free guided tour of the city. In one day you can pretty much see all there is in Lima, walking round the center and going to a few museums. The highlight was probably the San Francisco monastery catacombs, where they buried the dead for a couple of hundred years. ... read more

A few years ago I had been spending some time in the beautiful beach town of Mancora, a backpacker paradise in Northern Peru. I hadn't been there long when I met a young woman named Magda, I was immediately taken by her positive energy, endearing charm and wicked sense of humor, we quickly became friends and started spending our paradise holiday, doing yoga (attempting would be a more accurate word when describing my efforts) Vigorous walks on the beach and generally hanging out. As I got to know her better, her story and connection with Mancora became clear, she was on a mission. A few years previous she had paid a fair amount of money to volunteer with a program to teach local children English. It wasn't long before her excitement turned to despair as she ... read more

C'est à Cajamarca que j'aurai fait la rencontre de deux voyageuses en solitaire qui se sont rencontrées plus tôt et avaient décidé de faire un bout de chemin ensembles. Deux femmes voyageuses de plus dans mon décompte de ces dernières, à en croire qu'il y en a effectivement beaucoup, et en apparence en plus grande quantité qu'en ce qui à trait à la gente masculine. Allant elles aussi en direction du Nord, je me suis joint à elles pour un séjour à Mancora, une des rares zones de plages du Nord du Pérou, donnant sur le Pacifique, où l'eau est suffisamment chaude pour y faire trempette. Mais avant de vous parler de ce lieux, je dois vous offrir cet avertissement gratuit (yeah!): Mesdames, Messieurs, lorsque vous voyagez en autobus, que vous vous arrêtez un 30 minutes ... read more