Blogs from Máncora, Piura, Peru, South America - page 7

What a beautiful last day! I checked out of my room at 11 and dropped my stuff behind the front desk of the hostel. After, I grabbed lunch from the birdhouse, the bacon, turkey, guacamole sandwich with potato salad...I´m kinda getting bored with American food! After lunch I laid out on the beach for a couple hours until it was kitesurfing time. Around 2 I met up with Rein and he gave me a kite, harness, and bar and said he would supervise me today...along with the other kid (Matias) who was also a beginner and needed supervision. We set everything up and launched our kites then headed down to the beach. I felt like I was riding into the wind, but apparently I was just riding FAST downwind. My main objective today is to ride ... read more

That is the question I´ve been considering all night and morning. I woke up around 8 to start figuring out my route north. Every bus and bus driver I saw I asked if they were going to Tumbes, all said No Passe, No passe. So I headed to the internet cafe to call Aunt B for a credit card number to book a flight somewhere...I have no plastic on me and she´s my go-to person while my mom is indisposed. I checked the flights from Piura to Tumbes and they are 500-600 bucks...REDICULES! I also checked into a bus to Lima and then a flight from Lima to Guayaquil and that was 350 bucks...CRAZY. So before I booked anything I headed to the bus place to see if the busses were going again and the woman ... read more

Chuchaki is Ecuadorean for Hangover! I´m not feeling too great today. I woke up around 830, chugged some gatorade, had some water and then went back to sleep til about 11. I got up and went to the beach to get some sun...it´s sooo hot here. I grabbed lunch at the Birdhouse, NC bbq and potatoe salad...very good. After lunch I headed to the beach. I was sweating my but off. I waited around til 2 then went to find Rein for some more kitesurfing today. He was doing a lesson already and the boys were in Lobidos practicing for the kite surfing competition this weekend, so there was nobody available to supervise me...it´s all good since I´m still hurting from last night and my muscles are pretty sore for riding all day yesterday. Around 330 ... read more

Woke up today around 930 and decided I needed some funds so I hit up the Bank and recieved some funds I was transfered...now I can sit pretty the rest of my time in Máncora! I went to pick up the Canadians around 1130, the plan was to visit the local market...Raya needed a bra and everyone could get super cheap stuff there. Braeden had a terrible night...he´s still sick...so we decided to skip the market and head to the birdhouse for breakfast/lunch. I had the buffalo wings, a salad with pulled chicken with a delicious honey mustard dressing, and a hurricane! After lunch they decided to head to the market while I was just going to lay on the beach. I ran into some girls we met in Montañita so I invited them to join ... read more

Last night I hit the sack around 1030 and around 11 a live band started playing at one of the restaurants on the beach. I had my window open for some fresh breeze and it was pretty loud...but it was decent latin music so I managed to sleep on and off until 4am when they called it quits. I woke up around 1030 feeling pretty good...a lot better than I thought I would. I went and knocked on the Candian´s door to see how they were...Raya was pretty sick and Braeden was feeling better but still not quite 100 percent. They didn´t need anything so I told them I would be back to check on them in a few hours. I then went to look for a Western Union or an open Money Gram...I was down ... read more

Another early morning...time to see if I can get in some kitesurfing today. Rein promised to find stellar wind, so let´s see what happens. While waiting for him to show up, I grabbed breakfast at the bird house...eggs, bacon, homefries, and tea. After breakfast I met up with him and he said the wind here was slow today but we could go to Los Orgenos or Cabo Blanquil to kite. The waves were pretty big this morning (yesterday he said waves like to eat kites up...which is why I wasn´t able to ride...if you break it, you buy it) but they quieted down and looked pretty small. We decided to head out around 1. Before we left I grabbed a turkey, bacon, guac sandwich from the birdhouse and got half of it to go. We packed ... read more

I woke up today around 745am to head to Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast with Charlotte. We planned on kitesurfing today at 9. Breakfast was great! We arrived at the kitesurfing place around 9. Alex showed up around 910 (one of the employees) and Rein showed up around 930. The waves were way too large to get out so Rein cancelled the lessons for this morning...so instead of kitesurfing, the two of us hung out on the beach all day and worked on our tans. We grabbed lunch at the Birdhouse and shared buffalo wings...I ended up getting an italian sub which was VERY GOOD. Halfway through the day a sunglasses guy came around and asked if I wanted sunglasses...I saw a pair of white oakleys that wouldn´t look too bad on me... so I ... read more

Wow...went to bed last night around 4am and my body just decided to wake up around 10...I´m definitely feeling it today. After I woke up I headed to the bank to get some money. The MoneyGram was not working yesterday when I went so today hopefully I can finally have some cash in my pocket and not rely on the Candians to fund my extracurricular activities! On my way to the bank I stopped at a street vendor for a little banana, about the size of your finger. I didn´t have anything less than a 10 so I got it for free...yay! Lucky for me everything was working as it should at the Banco de Nacion and I received my money...yay I´m rich! I then proceeded to what I hear is the best breakfast in town ... read more

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 ... read more

We hopped off the bus in Tumbes around 4:30 and caught a tuk-tuk to the bus station where we could get a bus to Máncora. A tuk-tuk is part motorbike, part rick-shaw that was LOTS OF FUN! We made it to the bus station just in time and were able to hop on the 5pm bus to Máncora. It was a dirty, smelly bus but our only mode of transportation to our Shangrila on the beach! I popped open the window and started my nap. It took about 2 hours to get here, but it already feels well worth the trip. We were told it was Montañita 2.0 and it definitely felt bigger. When we hopped off the bus, some tuk-tuk drivers were asking if we wanted a taxi (they will be called taxis from now ... read more