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Other entries in Máncora Puerto

A Little Beach Time

After spending the evening with some wonderful new friends at the Casa de Clara, I headed to the bus station to take the 12:00 AM night bus to Mancora.  Mancora is a funky little fishing community and beach town known all over the world for its surfing.  As usual, the bus was late, finally arriving at 1:30 AM.  

I arrived in Mancora at 9:30 AM at the local "Ormenio bus stop" - a sign on top of an open air restaurant.  There were a lot of new age "surfing hippies" walking around with their dred locks, gauze clothing and surf sandals.  All the little motor taxis (motorcycles with a 2 person seat) meet the bus and rush towards you to get your business.  It can be a bit overwhelming!  I hopped in a taxi and off we went to look for a place to stay.  

I was not pleased with the first place, so asked the taxi driver to suggest a place.  He took me to a family's house who had 2 little bungalows for rent on their property - Bungalows Guayo.  One of their bungalows was available, so I took a look and decided to stay.  It was really cute with 2 rooms - one with 3 single beds (one bunk bed) and a bathroom made of marble look tile.  Quite stylish!  Breakfast did not come with the room, but my host invited me in to have coffee with him and his wife.  Coffee led to breakfast and a wonderful conversation.  They continued to invite me in each morning for coffee and a full breakfast.  They even invited me in one day for lunch - fresh tuna, tuna sashimi, salad, corn, ..... lovely!  Silvana was a great cook! 

The occupants of the other bungalow showed up.  There were 3 young travelers in their late 20's/early 30's.  The 2 girls were from Argentina and the boy was from Switzerland.  Two of them had just finished a fabulous week trek in the Cordoba Blanca mountains east of Huarez.  They invited me to join them for a bar-b-que that night with our hosts. 

After spending the day walking the beach, I joined them for an incredible party!  They had bought a ton of food including tuna, peppers, potatoes, zucchini, onions, bananas, beer, ...  Our host started the bar-b-que and the party was underway.  We ate and talked and laughed and drank for several hours.  After dinner, the girls made us a special drink from Argentina.  It was very similar to the Cuban mohito.  It was so much fun!

The next day, I joined my new friends on a long walk on the beach to a place south of town where the expensive hotels, homes and resorts were.  The whole area is very desolate and arid and everything is under constant construction.  You rarely see anything really completed!  Even new construction has rebar still pointing to the sky waiting for a "future" layer!

We were going to a place outside the Los Corales hotel where there is a lot of volcanic rock that creates pools of ocean water when the tide goes out - very nice place.  On our way, we watched fishermen dive for a type of shell fish like clams, but much larger.  They would then open them on shore and remove the inner meat.  We watched this process - very interesting.  Other than the fishermen, we were the only ones on the beach.  It made for a lovely walk!  

At times, local people would come up to sell their wares or the gauchos would come by trying to sell you a horse ride.   It was a strange contrast to have a relatively empty beach with fishermen spear fishing or sailing balsa rafts, a few locals selling their wares, horses running along the shore and then a few surfers and sailboarders mixed in.  Unfortunately, the pristine beach was littered with trash from the fishermen and with a few huge decaying, smelly carcasses of a large animal I could not identify. 

The northern beaches of Peru are very beautiful and rarely visited.  The Pacific Ocean looks just like the Carribean Sea, clear and teal blue.  Waves crash onto golden sand beaches for miles and miles.  The area is very arid and rather desolate with its dust and no vegetation, yet very pristine.  If you want a beach totally to yourself with just the sea for company, this is the place! 

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