Peru - Just the beginning

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The next country on the list was Peru and a little beach town called Mancora. We had been told the easiest way to cross the border and then onto Mancora was to catch a CIFA bus which would take us the entire way. It was pretty simple, but add in the ‘travellers bug’ that I picked up, and you have an uncomfortable bus ride, counting down till the next bathroom stop. This time it was me on the trip asking “are we there yet?” The large amounts of Immodium we purchased in Canada definately came into good use.

After a long day we arrived in Mancora and checked into the Loki hostel, which was like a resort with a luxurious pool and a great party type atmosphere. Unfortunately we were now both more interested in the bathroom rather than the bar. We spent five nights here relaxing, eating what we could stomach and working on our tan.

Once we were both fully recovered and well rested it was time to make our way down the coast to our next stop, Huanchaco. We woke up at 7:30am to catch the 9:30am bus, however when we went to buy tickets early in the morning nothing was open, and it was a Sunday. Lucky for us we managed to find the only 9:30am bus leaving, but we had to change half way in a shoddy bus terminal, no big deal. The journey felt much longer than some of the others, but I put this down to the 5 days we spent doing nothing and we got used to not being on buses. On arrival to Trujillo, which is where the bus finished, we managed to make friends with a Dutch couple so were able to share a taxi to Huanchaco costing $16Soles, or $6US.

In Huanchaco the hostel we had looked into sounded very relaxing and we were looking forward to it, pity it closed 6 months earlier and we had no idea! So we ended up in a surfing school/hostel which was rough. No door on the toilet or shower, no hot water and cockroaches roaming around, thankfully we were the only two in the dorm or it could have been an awkward night watching others use the bathroom. But it was a roof over our heads for the night and there was a decent restaurant downstairs. The next three nights were spent in a small but really nice hostel relaxing. Huanchaco was a great spot for five days relaxing on the beach and checking out the local markets. It also has some really good restaurants for great value, the cheapest but best meals so far on this trip. A day was also spent at the Chan Chan ruins before catching the bus to Lima where we met up with a couple of friends Anna (Cum Cum) and Mel, who will be travelling with us on the 21 day tour and right through to Rio in October.

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