Apr. 17 - 25 - Surfing Safari

Sandy arrived late Wednesday night (more like Thursday morning). That morning we headed out so Sandy could see a bit of the city. We went along my favourite walk through Miaflores to Larco Mar and along the cliff to the "Park of Love"; a Gaudí inspired surreal park with little messages in the 4 mosaics talking about love.

Later in the afternoon we boarded a bus to Mancora. Since it was an 18 hour bus ride we opted to partake in some first class luxury and we were rewarded handsomely. Plush leather seats, food rests, leg room and the seats went back almost completely to make a bed. Surprisingly though, this didn't make the ride any faster, but at least the movies were in English and there was some AC.

When we arrived in Mancora, we were swarmed by taxi drivers trying to get us to use their taxi. I had gotten used to this in South America, but these were more aggressive than I had ever seen before. The crowd of them was so thick that they blocked your access to the luggage and you actually had to physically force your way through the crowd. Not really the best welcome to Peru's beach paradise.

When we finally had our bags, we headed off to Laguna Camp, hopefully our hotel for the week, but we were turned away because they didn't have space (we went back later that day and found they actually did have space, so we booked it for the rest of our stay). We got back into our motor taxi and made our way to our number two choice, Sol y Mar, known to be rather rowdy, but it was cheep and on the beach. They did have room for us so we droped our bags.

Our first day, like most of our days in Mancora, was spent relaxing - sitting on the beach, reading, eating, drinking, swiming and fighting off people trying to get us to eat at their restaurant or trying to sell us jewelry. A typical day in paradise!

On Saturday we changed hotels (Sol y Mar had no one else staying there ... even though it was the party place) and moved into Laguan Camp, a small collection of bamboo bungalows with hammocks strung between each palm tree, so we decided to add something to our daily routine - sleeping in a hammock. All in all it made for the perfect vacation ... away from my vacation.

Before we changed our hotel, we went for our first surfing lesson. Mancora is one of the best places for surfing in Peru, this is evident by the perfect waves and abundance of surf shops. It's warm water, sandy beach and easy access to the waves also makes it one of the best places to learn how to surf in Peru. This was the main reason for travelling up to Mancora, but due to tired arms, sun burns and various other aliments (bugs, blisters and cuts ... from surfing) I only managed to take three lessons and surf alone only once.

The lessons were actually very well thought out and people are able to pick it up very quickly. After getting a board and waxing it up we headed out on the waves to learn. The instructor would hold onto the back of the board and kick from behind when a wave came and actually sit on the board until you were up. They would continue doing this, slowly weaning you off the extra stability the instructor provides by sitting on the board, until all you need is an extra push and someone telling you when to paddle. All in all it was a great experience and I was so excited when I managed to get up all on my own.

Mancora wasn't all fun and games in the sun, it also had a sad side. Walking along the beach you are bombarded by people trying to sell you things or get you to eat at their restaurant. As we were there for almost a week we got to know two of these people in particular, Israel and William. They were little kids who ran away from home in search of a better life, and they found that life on the street was better than what they were used to at home. No one seems to know where these kids live in Mancora, but they appear to make enough to live on by selling shell necklaces to travelers. One nice thing is that by coming to a small town like Mancora, they were looked after quite well. One restaurant we visited would actually feed them at night after the guests had left.

Once we finished our week of relaxing on the beach in Mancora, Sandy and I got on another 18 hour bus ride back to Lima where we were going to meet our GAP tour group to start our Peruvian adventure.