Hotel Las Pocitas Mancora

... and then thought we would get a tuk tuk back... when he said 10s... we refused and started walking as we thought being rehydrated it would be better.... we were wrong. After a lolly from Sams icecream bike... we got a taxi back to the peir... for 3s... we kept refusing them until it got to 3s! we are cheapskates really!<br><br>Got straight into the sea when we got to the pier we were so hot and thirsty! Found a really nice place to eat, so keep going back to it, and ...

... Hands down - The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Special mention to the unbelievable time we had volunteering and all the special people it was so hard to leave behind.<br><br>Lowlight: Getting stuff stolen from our hotel room in Pisco. Most importantly was the USB drive with all our photos. Luckily though we got it back after some other mates had stuff stolen too and they raised it with the owner who fired the cleaning guy and somehow got most of our ...

... pictures up).<br> Early Thursday, Julieann and I packed up again and once more loaded onto a bus, this time headed for the Peruvian border. Crossing the border was a bit hectic, but went off mostly without a hitch. Our first bus dropped us off at the Ecuadorian immigration office, where we got our exit stamps, then we took a taxi into Huaquillas, where we then had to catch a different taxi to take us to the ...

... mention that the same guy tried to sell us sunglasses on 3 different occasions despite the fact that we were alll wearing some.<br><br>Photos were copied and beer was drank and bought and it was back to the cabin, it is worth noting at this time I have just begun to recover from a cold and Kristen is about to be hit by a semi truck of a cold. But that is a story for another day. We headed back to the hostel and dealt with the dragon and returned to the bungalow ...

... Sophie: Thanks, I´m still having a hard time relaxing since I´m on high alert all the time. Especially with the feeling I get from this town.<br><br>Evan: What feeling do you get?<br><br>Sophie: There just seems to be so much competition - there are so many people doing the same things in such a small town. Like there are so many Tuc Tuc drivers, vendors selling the same jewelery, and hostels right next to eachother. None of them seem very happy ...

... and now and then there are groups of fishing vessels at anchor in the glistening ocean as the sun sinks lower in the sky.<br>We are heading for Mancora a quite beach town which turned out to be further than we thought 120km instead of the 80km using those bad maps again! <br>We arrive before dark and find the Hospedaje Angeles del Mar a spartan hostel made of bamboo, mossies and ants are additional occupants!<br>

... awful I think.<br><br>A couple we met while working at Secret Garden came to stay in the same hostel as us in Mancora, and w spent a big night on the town, where we feasted on Ceviche and drank a few cocktails (this seemed to be Milli's undoing as she spent the next day wearing out the floor between the bed and the toilet).<br><br>The day after that we were to leave for the town of Trujillo, but we only got half way there when milli's spew bag sprung a leak and the ...

... old bread seller ladies on the beach, just about the only person who saw it. She was sitting at a beach bar table taking a break from slanging rolls in the mid-afternoon heat, and was in absolute convulsions of laughter at this silly gringo - her shoulders were heaving, she had her hand up to her face wiping away tears of laughter and she had to hang on to her bread basket to stop herself from falling off her chair. I think I made her day, ha ha.

So here starts the story of our stay in Mancora, a beach resort in the far north of Peru, but before that, here is the eventful story of howwe got there. As usual in Peru, we were travelling by Cruz del Sur bus, we had booked in Arequipa, a bus from Arequipa to Lima, then a few hours later, we would take a another bus from Lima to Mancora. The bus left Arequipa as normal at around 7pm and the journey was uneventful until the early hours of the ...

... dropped me off at the hostel that same morning. A few minutes later he drove past the restaurant again - looking back at me. He circled the small block to drive past the restaurant a number of times. After about the fourth time I hid my face behind my menu and hoped that he would drive straight this time and not come back. Fortunately, he did not circle the block again and I landed up having a great lunch while watching Mancora's small lazy ...