Blogs from Máncora, Piura, Peru, South America - page 4

3-4 April 2011 – Mancora, Peru After a long 5 hour drive to southern Ecuador, through windy and some dirt roads (including being held up for 45 minutes due to a land-slide), we arrived at the Ecuador-Peru border. Wow, what an ‘interesting’ border crossing system. This is how it went: 1. Off the bus and get our passport stamped to get out of Ecuador 2. Onto a different bus where the bus company asked us to record our name and passport number in duplicate 3. We drove about 2 kms just past the border (a very dirty river demarcated Ecuador from Peru) and we stopped again to get our passport stamped for Peru 4. WE then drove a little further when we stopped in front of a building, got out of the bus, walked in one ... read more

8th Nov 2010 Having spent a few weeks in Mancora enjoying the sun, The job I come up here to do didn't pan out but thats ok better it happens now than when I am well into it. Mancora is a little different to a year ago, The road paving that was going on last year is now completed, The Artisania market is very pretty now with benches and new plants, making it a pleasant area to chill out and people watch, also the main street to the beach is is paved and clean, no longer a dirt track, the colorful shop fronts and restaurants looking pretty sharp. Some businesses have disappeared while other have popped up. The string of colorful tents that last year flanked the beach are gone with the seafront restaurants serving their ... read more

After our evening in Lima we headed to Mancora, Peru's best  know surf town, for some more r&r in the sun.  On arrival the town appears nothing more than a small collection of concrete and 'giant bamboo' shacks. However our hostel was one of the nicest we've stayed at with a lovely pool and bar and also complete with its own petting zoo (1 cat, 1 kitten, 1 dog and 7 puppies!).  We spent four days here chilling out by the pool or on the beach and enjoying some of the good food the small town has to offer (lots of fish). We also got to meet up with some friends, Nicola and Laura, who we first met back in San Pedro and have coincidentally since enjoyed the salt flats, inca trail (which we all booked ... read more

From Trujillo, we headed north to Mancora, a gringo's paradise. A quaint little surfing village, with mainly English speaking establishments, in the very northern part of Peru. When we arrived, we tried to check into the famous Loki hostel, a massive hostel complex, resembling a hotel moreso than a hostel. As it was the final of the World Cup while we were there, we wanted to stay somewhere with a good athmosphere. Unfortunately, there was no room at the inn at The Loki hostel, so we booked ourselves into another small hotel nearby. We watched the World Cup in the Loki hostel and the Dutch fans were out in force. So I became a fairweather Dutch supporter for the day, to fit in with the crowd. Unfortunately, we were disappointed, the Dutch fans presumably more than ... read more

Aangezien we weer een lange rit voor de boeg hadden, hebben we in Lima een luxe bus genomen naar Mancora. Helaas bleken we achterin naast het toilet te zitten. En hoewel het verder echt een luxe bus was (zo is de bus bijvoorbeeld voorzien van draadloos internet), was het toilet duidelijk al een tijdje niet meer goed schoongemaakt waardoor alles in een straal van drie meter werd bedwelmd door een penetrante urinewolk. Gelukkig waren er nog twee stoelen helemaal vooraan aan het raam vrij. Na overleg met de busconducteur zijn we toen daar gaan zitten en hebben we de rest van de reis weer normaal konden ademhalen en film kijken. De volgende ochtend arriveerden we in Mancora; een klein surfersdorpje helemaal in het Noorden van Peru niet ver van de grens met Ecuador. Na aankomst hebben ... read more