TOOTING MADNESS IN MANCORA

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August 6th 2007

Published: October 2nd 2007

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MRJ SthAmericanAdventures

MANCORA

The surfers of Mancora

The time had finally come when I was to arrive at the beach and back to my beloved ocean.....I had been in the hills for many months now and had not been swimming in the ocean since I left Rio. After living by the sea for the past 6 years I was definately having withdrawal symptoms by this stage and I was counting the hours to when I would get to be back on the beach. I travelled over night up the coast of Peru heading for a town called Mancora in the very north, which is basically a small beach town where there was to be good surf and sunshine. I arrived at 5am in the morning and thinking that I would just hang in the bus station until daylight and then attempt to find where my friends were staying. Once I got off the bus I realised that this was impossible as there was no bus station and I was there standing on the side of the road wondering where the hell I would go as I was not prepared. Luckily I am in Sth America and even at 5am in the morning there was tuk-tuk´s waiting to pick

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Celebrating on the other side of the world for Vix and Randall´s wedding on the beach at Mancora

up all the people from the bus. I was still not used to seeing tuk-tuk´s in Sth America as I thought that they were only used in India and other parts of Asia. I decided on a place to stay and jumped into a tuk-tuk and hoped that the driver was an honest man and would take me to where I had asked and leave me with all my belongings. This is what he did and after waking the guy on duty up and the two Israelis in my room I finally tucked myself in to bed and continued my sleep. I woke early that next morning and tried to find my friends in time to check out if need be. I did find my friends but they were staying in much nicer accommodation than I could afford so unfortunately it was the good old hostel for me after trying to find somewhere nicer and cheap but having no luck. As luck would have it I had managed to lose my bikini top and sunglasses in the past few days after carrying them around for many months and not needing to use them.....that meant that before I could head to

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Gus, Me, Steve and some Israel guy on the beach at Mancora helping me to celebrate Vix and Randall´s wedding

the beach for a swim I had to go shopping. I headed off down the road, which also happens to be the only road in Mancora and also the biggest highway in Peru, the Panamericana Highway. As I walked up the hill to the road I was inundated with many tuk-tuk´s tooting their horns at me in hope that I might need to use their services. This continued as I walked down the road and within minutes I realised that this was going to happen the whole time I was in this town. They would slow down as they approached you from either way and toot madly and look at you for some kind of response. I started off by staying no thankyou but soon I was completely over being harrassed and just ignored them. For the rest of the time there as I walked from my hostel that was off the main road towards the road, tuk-tuks would actually slow down and start tooting even when I was still a good 100m from the road. AAHHHHHH!!!!! After finally finding bathers that weren´t just a small piece of material and actually covered what they should I headed to the beach

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The busy beach at Mancora

to check it out. I was pleasantly suprised when I ran into many friends I had met in Cusco and La Paz within the first 5 minutes down there....it was an instant group of friends to hang with. The beach was completely different to what I was hoping for and the water wasn´t looking too inviting either compared to the beautiful blue waters of Australia. That day I hung at the beach for a while and then decided that I had to do some missions to start to organise my trip to the Galapogas Islands the following week. This all proved to be very difficult so it meant the rest of the afternoon was spent in the internet shop or on the phone trying to book tickets. Finally I called it a day and went back to the hostel where I collapsed on the bed and didn´t move again until morning......I think finally after months of travelling, being on the go and being sick for months had finally taken it´s toll. The next day I woke early and my aim of this day was to spend as much time on the beach as possible. After breakfast I headed down to

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The beach again

the beach and was still feeling exhausted so thought that reading my book and relaxing in the sun was a perfect option. Well it was the weekend and every other person and his dog was down there so that meant that all the vendors were also out in force. No chance of chilling on the beach and thinking about things as I was interrupted every 4 minutes to see if I wanted to buy sunglasses, jewellery, food, beer or icecream....the ice cream guys were the worst as they would walk along in front of everyone and honking a horn to get everyone´s attention. When he had stopped in front of the area I was in he would continue to honk the damned horn even though everyone was well aware that he was there....he did it so much that I finally lost it and told him to shut the hell up. His response was to ask if I wanted an ice cream because I had said it in English and he had´'t understood. I thought that when I finally got to the coast that I would just wind down and totally relax, this beach had the complete opposite affect and everyone

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Gus and Glenn being macho on the beach

was winding me up even more. I had to look at this rationally and see that because there were many tourists here we had created the opportunity for all these locals to make money.....I also had to see that at many times the fact that people came to me with everything actually worked in my favour and it meant I didn´t have to go anywhere......but that damned horn just drove me crazy! I had been told that this beach was the best surf beach in Peru....well again coming from Australia I was not very impressed with what I saw on the first few days. If there hadn´t been so many good surfers out I would of hired a board and tried my luck the waves were so small. Over the days that I was there the swell did pick up but the fact that there was only one break, it was small and it was on the main beach meant that it was incredibly crowded. Saying that there was a few girl members from the Billabong team there which provided good watching and also a few of the locals were pretty good too. The first day that I swam I

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Glenn and Getti hanging on the beach

was disappointed to feel how cold the water was....my Irish mates had told me that it was warm but I had to disagree with the and tell them there was nothing warm about that water. Again I have been spoiled in Western Australia......thankfully to my suprise the following days seemed to be much warmer and a lot more pleasant to swim in. There was a strong under tow and lots of waves to play in so that was fun, but the water was brown and I wondered where the sewage for the town ended up. Luckily there was not much rubbish in the water but I was put off when horses were ridden along the shore and pooed......I realised then that it was going to end up in the water at some point. The town of Mancora itself was pretty basic with just one main street that was lined with restuarants, bars, internet cafes, shops and also a market. I didn´t spend much time in the town area except when using the internet and I really couldn´t be bothered heading out at night as I was enjoying sleeping up to 12 hours a night after months of being social. From

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Again me celebrating with a Corona for my friends Vix and Randall

what I heard of the bars there was nothing I was missing out on anyway. I did spend some time with my friends sitting on their porch in the middle of town as it was a good place to people watch.....a lot of people in this town loved to be watched! The town is full of surfers, locals and tourists, guys and girls, and there was such a scene here that it was amusing to watch. Everyone was on the prowl to pick up and there was many couples of local people and tourists......it was funny to see and I wondered if the tourists knew that they were likely to be one of many. I see this in Exmouth all the time as it is a local town and I love to sit and watch the local boys try their luck every week with a different backpacker. Whilst in Mancora I couldn´t be bothered inflating anyone's ego so didn't pay much attention to the people looking for it. I was convinced to go out on my last night in town for a few drinks with my mates, it was the only night that they could convince me on. I am

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The town of Mancora.....there is only one road which happens to be the Pan American Hwy so there is many large trucks that drive down here as well.....no very safe at all

happy to say that I was completely right about the nightlife in Mancora.....that it was not worth leaving my bed for!!! Everyone just stood around a few different bars and drank and listened to shite music that was mixed with the place next door. I did find it scary that people actually stood out on the road, the Panamericana Hwy, whilst large trucks and big buses passed and I was convinced that sooner or later some one would stumble from a bar and be flattened by a passing vehicle. One of the good things about Mancora was that you could get a cheap feed that included ceviche, raw fish and seafood that is cooked in lime juice and delicious, and also a serve of beautifully cooked fresh fish for around $4. Other than that and a few other things, I was highly disappointed with Mancora because I had envisioned arriving at the beach and spending some time there to rejuvenate a tired body and leave feeling relaxed. I left feeling annoyed and over being hassled and still in need of some good quality time on the beach......I was also happy to be leaving Peru and getting to a new country,

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Sunset time at the beach

Equador! It also made me completely homesick for the North West Cape and all the beautiful beaches there along with the wonderful Ningaloo Reef. I imagined sitting on a beach there and wished I was back there as it is a wonderful place to go to relax and get away from it all. From here I was heading north into Equador and then finally I would be heading to the Galapogas Islands, a place I have dreamt about going, but I was not sure if I could make it as my attempts to get plane tickets and book dives whilst in Mancora had been fruitless. I was frustrated at this point as all week I had been trying to pay people money and no one wanted to take it.....I wondered why it was so hard to pay people in these countries. So with fingers crossed I left to head to Guayquil, Equador, in hope that I had a flight to the islands!

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