Crossing borders

At six o'clock in the morning, I arrived in Cuenca by bus. There, I took a taxi straight to my hostel called Bauhaus. The city pleasantly surprised me; I would say it is the most beautiful city in Ecuador. Clean, with many young people due to the presence of a large university. The people at the hostel (Argentinians) warmly welcomed me, and we drank mate, talked about politics, and ate torta frita with dulce de leche. I spent most of my time walking around during the two days in Cuenca. For the first time in my trip, I had a proper and tasty bread made from quinoa flour. It was the first time I had seen and eaten such bread in South America.

The river that flows through Cuenca makes the city very green and relaxing. Just sitting there and watching the water flow is very soothing.

On the second night, I headed towards Mancora, Peru.

Mancora is a small coastal town located directly on the Panamericana. There isn't much there except for a lot of grills at this time of year. Otherwise, it was a good start in Peru. The one wave in Mancora breaks steadily and nicely, but there are also about 50 people waiting to ride that wave, which makes it a bit tiring since they don't follow the surfing rules here...

In Mancora, I met Jonas, a Stuttgart native who is traveling with his best friend. They have been traveling together for three months through South America, starting in Colombia. They also bought an Alaskan-registered Suzuki 4x4 Jeep there. Luckily for me, they have the same travel direction and wave preferences.

So, after three days in Mancora, I joined them to continue following the waves further south.

We made a short stop with some surfing in Los Organos, where I was allowed to sleep in the surf shop hut of Rocky. We cooked lentils on the beach at night.

The next day, we drove along the coast towards Lobitos.

Impressive pictures of oil rigs in the sea and ghost towns in the desert...

Lobitos was very relaxing, a beautiful place to relax and surf. The water and weather get colder the further south you go, but the scenery and people are very relaxed and friendly. And clearly, too many people from Swabia are traveling in South America...

After one night in Lobitos, we set off on the long journey to Pacasmayo. Upon arrival, we found a hostel that resembled paradise, with a lot of garden space and hammocks. We stayed there for two nights. Of course, there were waves there too, so I went back into the water at six in the morning by the lighthouse to take advantage of the beautiful waves.

Our journey continued along the Panamericana towards the south, and we stopped in the beautiful coastal city of Huanchaco near Trujillo. We visited the archaeological sites of Huaca del Sol/Luna and Chan Chan, cooked tacos, and went surfing every day. The guys from Stuttgart have now headed towards the mountains, and I will enjoy the good waves and good weather here a little longer before I move on to Lima and Cusco...