Sun and Surf in Mancora

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The Tumbes boarder crossing is known as the worst boarder crossing in all of South America. I read numerous horror stories of people taking taxis across the boarder and instead of taking them straight across the boarder the taxi driver would drive them down some back ally way and demand money of the tourists. Some people have parted with hundreds of US dollars trying to get across the boarder. Needless to say, I was having a bit of a stress about crossing the boarder.
Well, I made it over the Ecuador / Peru boarder - just. I did have a couple of stressful moments, which were:
1. The bus from Cuenca to Machala ran late, and instead of getting there at 1030, I didn’t arrive until 1115. I was told by the information centre in Cuenca that the connecting bus to Mancora left at 1100 or 2200. Because I was late, I thought I was going to have a 10 hour wait, but luckily the bus actually left at 1140. Phew, that was the first hurdle crossed.
2. I deliberately took the bus company CIFA, as they are the only bus company that stops at the two checks points and wait for you while you get your passport stamped. Or so I thought…….We got out at the Ecuadorian check point and we were told that the bus would wait for us. As we were lining up the bus started to drive of - with all my bags in it!! I started running down the road after it, but alas it was gone. I thought that was it, I would never see my stuff again. But luckily it came back about half an hour later - with my bags.
3. When we got to the Peruvian check point, we lined up to get our passports stamped. I was given a form, and when I went to fill it out, some guy grabbed it and started filling it out for me. I thought he was from the bus company so I didn’t think anything of it. When I went to line back up again he asked me how many days I would need on my tourist visa. I knew that I got 90 days automatically, but he was saying that I would only get 60 days, and that I would have to pay for an extra 30 days. Well I grabbed my passport off him quick smart, and ran straight up to the counter. And of course I got my 90 days, no worries. What a scam artist. There was a really nice Peruvian couple who helped me shoo him off, so I didn’t part with any money.
So once we were back on the bus it was another couple of hours until we got to Mancora. The couple that helped me at the boarder were also going to Mancora. David is Scottish / French and Yanina is from Lima. They meet in Spain a couple of years back and got married last year. David moved to live in Lima not too long ago, and they had just been to the embassy in Ecuador to get his Residents visa.
Mancora is Peru’s ultimate beach town. I suppose you could compare it to Byron Bay about 20 years ago. In the summer months, both tourists and locals flock here to lay on the white sandy beaches and go surfing. At night the bar strip pumps out loud Salsa and Reggaton until four in the morning.
Well we didn’t do too much during the three days we were there - a bit of sunbathing, walking, swimming and a bit more sunbathing. It was the first time I had seen proper sun since I had been away, so I was lapping it up. The first night we tried to go out to the clubs but things don’t start here until about 11:30 - 12:00, and we didn’t quite make it. The next night we had a nanna nap until about 9pm and managed to stay out until about 3am. Pretty impressive by my standards, because since I been travelling I’ve been heading to bed by 9-10 O’clock!!
Well, after three days on the beach it was time to head further south to Trujillo and check out some Inca ruins.

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Photos

Looking down the beach
You can see the hammock of my hostel right on the beach front