Máncora, Perú

Well, it's official. I now have another stamp in my passport, this time from Ecuador. It's good thing. I was running out of days on my Peruvian visa. Now that I have left and re-entered the country, I have another 90 days, which will last me through the first week of January.

Our trip started in Máncora, Perú, a touristy beach town on the northern coast of the country. To arrive, we took a 20 hour bus ride along the Pan-American highway. This highway is a challenge for the imagination. Stretching for approximately 29,800 miles, this highway runs from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina and is interrupted only by 54 miles of rainforest between Central and South America. (Is anyone else sensing a new project coming? I can already see the book title - Traveling the Pan-American: one woman's journey from Alaska to Antarctica.)

Here's the thing about Perú: You forget that a huge part of the country is just desert, especially along the coast. This bus ride reminded me of this fact, with force. Mounds of lightly colored rocks and sand were the most common scenery from the bus, although an occasional elevation change would bring either small peaks or dust fields depending if we rose or fell. Ironically, the last movie we watched on the bus ride was Rango, an animated film chronicling one desert town's struggle for water.

We disembarked into the sunny, fresh air of the beach - and immediately were surrounded by mototaxi drivers hawking a ride to any one of the many hostels in the area. The mototaxi drivers receive a small commission from the hostels for every guest that they bring. When we, as five clearly non-Peruvian females, stepped out of the bus, they swarmed like hawks. Pretty soon we were in a circle of mototaxi drivers, all offering the exact same offer: 1 sol to any of the hostels in town that offer a commission. After trying to politely tell them to back off, to no avail, we ended up shaking them by just leaving the site and starting to walk around the town. I prefer this, really. It was an opportunity to see a little bit of the town and get a feel for it. We ended up finding a clean, comfortable hostel for S/. 15 each night/person, which works out to about $5 a night, without any commission.

Right now is still the winter season in Perú, so there aren't that many people traveling. It was wonderful for us. While the town was populated, it wasn't overly crowded. And we could enjoy our time in Máncora and the sun, just sitting on the beach. Because of some sort of climate/geography effect that I still don't understand very well, Lima is covered in clouds for the winter season. Days with sun are extremely rare: for the first month I didn't see the sun at all. The beautiful, warm rays of Máncora's beaches were all we needed for a day of relaxation.


We found a wonderful breakfast place a few blocks down from our hostel. The only option, called desayuno, is eggs with two rolls, your choice of coffee or tea, and a naturally made fruit juice. Delicious, simple and cheap. Our second morning, we wanted to return to the same breakfast joint, but it was full (it seems the locals like to eat there too). We did find another shop that offered the same meal, but sadly, the food wasn't as good.

On our second night in Máncora was the Perú-Paraguay world cup qualifying soccer game. Perú has a perpetually terrible soccer team. The country hasn't been in the world cup since 1982! Still, Peruvians are proud of their soccer team, and this year, the country has the best soccer team they've had in 20 years (so I've been told). During the game, everyone was glued to a television. All of the bars and restaurants were full of people just watching. Store workers would just leave their stores to go watch a neighbor's television. The best part was when Perú scored, which happened twice. The entire town would rise up in yells and whistles, people banging on tables, free shots being passed around. It was a sight to see the entire town engaged in the same activity at the same time.

After Máncora, we headed to Ecuador to cross the border. See the upcoming next part of this blog post for that trip report.