Paradise in Peru?

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Monday, July 11- Wednesday, July 13

Early Monday morning, we headed to the airport and boarded a flight to Piura, a city on the northern coast of Peru. The flight was awesome and Alex slept through most of everything. Again, I was pleased at the services at the airport. Everyone was pleasant and very well organized. This is NOT the same airport I first came to 11 years ago! In addition, I am not the only ´white girl´anymore. There are tourists everywhere- it was very exciting to hear lots of English.

Well, once we got to Piura, things were not so great. Our combi driver told us that the ´tranportistas´ are on strike and we cannot take the main road. The main road is the PanAmerican Hwy and the road has been blocked. Our driver told us we could either got an hour out of our way and go through remote agricultural towns or wait for the strike to end. I was really freaked out, because in my old age I have been become paranoid and all I could envision was this man I had never met taking us out to the middle of some corn fields, stealing our stuff, and leaving us stranded (or worse!) We hung around Piura for about an hour and stalled, and decided to go on our way and see if the roads were still blocked. Luckily the portion nearest us had been cleared, and we were on our way to Mancora- 3 hours away! Next time I will fly into Tumbes because it is closer to Mancora than Piura is.

By the time we got to Mancora, everyone was hot, tired, and cranky, and not to mention starving. We decided to eat in town before going to our hotel, and we invited the driver to lunch. It turns out he was not so bad, he did not want to steal our stuff or anything, but he did want us to buy some Omnilife- the best thing in the world that will solve all your problems (per our driver).

Once we got to Mancora Beach hotel, we all took a 4 hours ¨nap!¨ Our room was nice and cool and by the time we got up it was dark. I was really bummed we did not go to enjoy the beach that first day, and the pool was freezing.

That first night in Mancora was awful. Dinner was fine- we ate in a boat that is not a bar. Then we went to our room and chilled out. Unfortantely for us, there was a senior class from Lima on their class trip, and let me tell you they were NUTS! We heard through the housekeepers that were 42 students, 3 teachers, and 140 bottle of liquor! We were not in the US! The teachers did nothing, the hotel did nothing, and finally at 2:30am William yelled at them to stop. They did...for 30 minutes or so....the hotel had turned off the power at 1am because of course, then would go to bed (NOT). In addition, some of us (not me this time, thank God) had stomach aches, Alex was grouchy (all this in the dark with no power) and I would have preferred to be on a cruise and not in this ¨paradise!!¨

Thankfully the next two days were wonderful! The ocean was too cold, we adjusted our schedule to match our other ´guests´ and Alex and I took naps in hammock on our porch. The hotel food was excellent, and we even me other families with kids.

Hands down the best part of our trip was spending time together. One of the things we enjoyed was horse back riding. There are guys who walk from town with horses all up and down the beach in the morning and you just set something up with them. Alex declared he is a ¨cowboy´and said to us, ¨Where is my hat and my boots?¨ We did not even know he knew what a cowboy was! Horeback riding was cheap too- 40 soles for 4 horses for half hour- that´s about $12! We rode twice and both times were great. Our last ride was at sunset on our last day. It was breathtaking!

On Wednesday night at 11pm, we boarded a bus to Chiclayo and we arrived there at 4:15am...tell you about that in the next log! Here are some photos:

On our way to Manocra- the view.


Amanda and Alex loved the slide at the pool!




The lady who sells beer and soda on the beach uses a donkey and buggy- She let Alex have a ride!

Amanda´s braids!

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Comments

[Jenny]

Thanks for sharing
I'm glad you're all have a great time in my country...a truly beautiful country it is. You all look like you're having a great time. BTW, you're children are absolutely beautiful. Keep the pictures coming...I've never been to Piura, but from the looks of it, it is beautiful. I'm originally from Lima, but my parents are from a little mountain town in Ancash.