Christmas and New Year in in Mancora

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Its 2010 and a lot has happened since my last entry, First off Happy New Year, I wish anyone who may be reading a healthy and safe one.

Well we ended up staying over Christmas and New Years thanks to the kindness of some new and now dear friends but I will get to that in a minute.

The massive, promised waves were delivered in spectacular fashion, I know nothing about surf but it was obvious they were huge, Somewhat proven on the first day when we watched an unlucky surfer emerge from the waves with a piece of his surf board in each hand, poor lad. Just watching these lads and lassies was amazing, again the break was so close to the beach and the full moon made for massive tides that came right up to the street.

We went beach combing when the swell had subsided and found a lot of interesting marine stuff unceremoniously dumped on the shore, driftwood, shells, and a few unfortunate marine mammals, although we were later informed that this was more likely to be the fault of careless fishermen than that of Pachamama (mother earth). There were massive sealion carcasses, a turtle, and one day we came across a spear fisherman with a bottlenose dolphin on the shore, that was a bit disturbing.

Just before Christmas we had befriended a couple who owned an American style restaurant, Jeff and Kathleen are gorgeous people who invited us to stay with them for Christmas and New Year, this was a total blessing as finding somewhere else at that late stage may have ended up as a tent on the beach..

Their son had started an non-profit surf school, giving a lot of their profits back to the locals about 10 years ago and his parents found themselves running the place and feeding travelers like us in the restaurant next to the school. So into their beautiful house we moved.

The Peruvian Orchid Inca dog is a Peruvian curiosity, A dog with no hair with the exception of a patch on his head, Now don't get me wrong I love dogs but these rarities are seriously ugly. The skin is soft and wrinkled, some pink and some black bordering blue, wikipedia says they were used by the incas for ornamental purposes but only the elite owned them, I have since found out they were also used for medical purposes as their tempetures are higher than most dogs and the incas used them as heat pads for arthritic joints ect. Other uses.............Zip.

2 days before we moved into our new home, there was a bit of trouble on our new friends property, the neighbour next door had decided that some of their property was hers, the whole thing came to a head one morning when a local judge and members of the local municipal came to measure the disputed area and find out who owned what once and for all. The next door neighbour arrived with about 20 young lads ready to fight. Jeff had been tipped off they were coming and had arranged for his own little army to be there too, the police had also been tipped off and 20 riot police showed up, brandishing shields guns teargas and full body armour, Next doors motley crew were armed with sticks and stones, this could be interesting, I became official photographer and when the poor kids saw me taking their photos they were shiiting bricks and covering their faces with their t-shirts, Both side threw shapes while the other side backed off then they threw shapes and the other side backed off, My observation of these shennanigans was pretty poor, all talk and no action, don't get me wrong I'm glad it was largely peaceful but the confrontations were a bit pathetic, the outcome was as expected and the property had nothing to do with the begrudged lady.

Christmas in Peru is much the same as Ecuador with families celebrating on the 24th, Dinner is served at midnight and presents are opened after dinner, We were kindly invited by a local family to celebrate with them, We had bought 2 turkeys one for the family dinner and one for Christmas day at Green Eggs and Ham. When we opened the turkeys on Christmas eve to cook them much to my horror they were both rotten, 300 soles ($100) down the drain. We had to make do with an offering of traditional stuffing as a compromise to the family dinner which turned out to be great, very homily and friendly, Thanks to Carlos and his Mum and Dad (our hosts) from the beef house restaurant.

The morning of the 25th found John and I running around frantically looking for Chickens to replace the rancid Turkey, We had befriended and invited some people for dinner at the house.
We served dinner mid afternoon to our new pals Pim and Jessica from Holland, Barbara from Dover U.K., Magda an Aussie, Jeff, John and myself.

Barbara and Magda are regulars to Mancaora and were here looking to buy property, Magda also founded a school for underprivileged children in the town called Robin Hood. Pim and Jessica are expecting their first born and were enjoying their last few days in Peru before returning to the Netherlands to await their imminent arrival, I finished the night chatting to Barbara putting the world to right, I think we all had a nice day.

I started hanging out with Magda and she is a wee star, bright and funny and it was nice to have a girl pal even if only for a wee while. A few days after Christmas John Magda and myself decided to go kayaking, John surged ahead like a true athlete while Magda and I paddled like our lives depended it and went back backwards, a little embarrassing, after a half hour we faced the inevitable and stopped, we laughed so much we couldn't paddle anymore, then outta the blue we were struck by a big wave and we capsized with all the grace of baby elephants, the kayak owner swam out and pulled us in, I laughed so hard i think I might have peed a little, Funniest Day!

Johns birthday arrived, He woke a wee bit grumpy but was soon persuaded into merriment, We had a gorgeous dinner to celebrate in Sirena which was not one bit ruined by veggie Magda insisting on uttering baaaaa everytime I put a forkful of delicious baby goat into my mouth.

The 30th of December turned out to be a day that I doubt I will ever forget. Magda and I were jumping waves in waist deep water, we emerged from a wave and found much to our dismay way way out from shore, At first I laughed then quickly sobered when I saw the look on the face of another guy near by, We were in a rip, Magda realised we were in trouble and as I felt the panic rising within me Magda made me look her in the eye, swim towards me she kept saying, I swam for my life and just kept getting further and further away from shore, I looked up again and Magda was gone, I was alone, I was so far from shore, my energy was gone, I rolled over on to my back and just lay still telling myself over and over I was not gonna die today. I remained floating on my back looking at the sky, I refused to turn and look to shore for fear I would panic again and that would be the end of me, After what seemed like an age, I felt a tap on my arm, "you ok" phew "hell no" A young surfer got me on his board and paddled me back to shore, when I did eventually look towards shore I felt sick when I saw how far I had drifted out. Its funny some people say your life flashes before you, that was not the case but when I just lay there and drifted there was an amazing calm came over me. Marcos was my hero and I thanked him a million times.

I had been doing evening yoga classes with Magda and Barbara but that night I went into shock, every time I closed my eyes my stomach just flopped, Magda is an Aussie and grew up by the ocean and the whole experience freaked her out, the fact of the matter is she left me and went for help and in making that decision she saved my life by raising the alarm.

Yoga was great and I found muscles that I didn't know I had, it is relaxing and I now understand the benefits.

New year was comical, we all got together for snacks beers and general merriment on the balcony of Green eggs and ham, A few of Magda's kids joined us and we had a great time, Nearing Midnight we headed for the beach to see the fireworks of which there were plenty, kisses and hugs all round a few more beers and bed, welcome 2010. New year (Barbara, Magda, Jerry,Carlos, Heidi, John, Jeff and myself)

So New Year has arrived and is very welcome, We have befriended a little boy named Isreal, He's a mixed up boy with a dreary history, Abandoned in Mancora by his Lima family he etches out a living selling trinkets to tourists on the beach, I estimate he is about 11 or 12 years old though he remains cagey about this subject, some days I wanna hug him others I wanna kick his skinny arse as he is at that age when he can be very trying an. We try to feed him after realising that giving him money is futile and probably not being spent on food, Its hard to know what to do.

A couple of days ago I felt a little ill around tea time at night a few hours later I was violently ill, this continued for hours, not nice, John was a good nurse.

Tickets are booked for tomorrow night, we have booked with Cial for 150 soles each ($50) for first class lay down seats, so until next time we will go have the last supper with our lovely friends and no doubt have emotional goodbyes

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Photos

Christmas donkey
This donkey walked up and down the beach while its master a little boy sold beer out of a cooler on the back

last supper surf n turf
Jeff and Kathleen our lovely Mancora pals

desert
parts of this area are barren