Mancora mi Amora...
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2008
1
23
122
Trip End
Jan 01, 2009
Mancora,
Peru
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Side note: We have no idea why, but crossing borders by foot in Central and South American countries is always a pain. Chock full of yelling touts, moody beggars, and over priced taxis. Just getting a fair deal takes a significant amount of bartering and sometimes isn´t even possible.
Gross
It´s the least enjoyable part of travel, but I guess it takes the sour to make the sweet taste sweeter...or something positive like that...Two hours later we landed in the dusty surf town of Mancora, Peru. We walked around checking out different hostels, before settling on a good deal (read: disgusting hostel). It turns out high season rates start on November 1st in addition to an international women´s surf competition coming to town on Monday so prices are high everywhere.
So far on the trip we´ve made a commitment to stay in the lowest priced places possible to allow more room for tours and sightseeing. This place takes the cake for the grosest hostel yet (we paid $5 each, I mean come on!). On arrival the hostel owner pointed towards a few rusty computers outside in the sun and said ¨internet¨, next he pointed to an old open fridge and decrepid patio set and said ¨kitchen¨. The bed was a stack of bricks, the window was an old bed sheet, and the owners would sporadically turn the water off and claim they didn´t know why it wasn´t working. The blessing in staying at a crappy hostel is that you spend as little time in your room as possible, therefore as much time as possible checking out the town.
As fast as we could lock our bags to the brick bed we were out of there and headed for the beach.
Arik: With an international women´s competition coming up there are lots of surfers in town practicing their skillz. These women and young ladies rip! Mancora was also the first left-hand point break I´ve ever surfed and as a goofy-footer it was awesome
Beach
. I´m never surfing beach break again! At sunset there were lots of little fish who confused my blond leg hair with plankton and nibbled me constantly: weird yet slighlty enjoyable...The next day we decided to find a different hostel, and for $1 more we transfered to a world of relative luxury (emphasis on relative). The new hostel had a pool, book exchange, and was atleast 1.5 stars, making it 1.5 stars higher quality than the first place!
We wasted the rest of our time in Mancora surfing, eating mexican food, lounging around the pool, and walking the dusty streets soaking up the atmosphere. We were here over halloween, but didn´t do anything crazy. Try finding a costume in a tiny Peruvian surf town?? We made friends on land and in the water with the owners of a little mexican restaurant hidden in an alley near the break (great food and local surf vids), so we made one last stop for their deliciuos chimichangas before getting on our overnight bus south (groan).
Dear Mancora: We will be back!
Comments
Your trip
What a fantastic experience. The grungy hostels would probably gross me out but hey, it will make you appreciate all the other luxuries. A bad hostel is better than a good day at school with you know who!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you!
Re: Your trip
Yes the grungy hostels would definitley gross you out. I slept in pants, sweater, hat, socks because I didn´t want to touch the dirty bed. And it was a hot night, haha. I took a picture and will post it later. But you are right we can escape the grungy hostel or take cover but you with .... wow!! Haha. Good luck with that one. Love Charis
Southern bound
It is neat to look at your map and watch your progress as you head south.
The surf town sounds most interesting - thinking of you as we sit here and listen to McCain give his speech, conceeding defeat to Obama.
Love Mom and Dad
Church
Hey guys...just getting caught up on your trip and reading some old blogs...
Point of interest, my church here in Panama has a partnership with a church in Mancora. Our youth group goes down there on a missions trip every year...with a little luck I'll go one time...