Mancora and Trujillo

Mancora

We had to make our forced stay in Trujillo because we had to take a 20+ hour bus ride. There wasn't much selection of hostels available, so we chose the best one and it was just okay. We had two days and there wasn't much to do. We spent most of the time gathering information for the next few weeks. There were some strange people there and we didn't really do much with them. After a lot of boredom, we went to the bus station on the second day in the evening. It was supposed to leave at 23:30, so we thought, let's go at 22:45 to make sure we don't miss it. When we arrived, someone informed us that the road was closed and the bus wouldn't arrive until 3:00 AM, great. Going back to the hostel was also annoying. We had no choice but to make ourselves comfortable. Muriel sat on my lap and I read and played games. At midnight, the alarm went off and Muriel gave me a kiss. I completely forgot that it was my birthday. Finally, we heard the bus approach. We got on, found our seats, and immediately fell asleep. When I woke up, we were almost at our destination. We saw palm trees, it was really beautiful. We arrived and it was quite hot. There weren't many cars, just tuk-tuks like in Asia or buses. Then we got on with some crazy people and they took us to the hostel. It was a relatively big place with a pool and an outdoor bar.

The room was okay, nothing special, but it had a beach feeling with a thatched roof, bed, and mosquito net. We got ready and went straight to the beach. It was a charming little town. Lots of restaurants, music, dining tables right on the sand, and a beautiful sandy beach. It didn't feel like a typical tourist place. The majority of people were locals. We went to the best restaurant first. I ordered ceviche, of course, and Muriel had Lomo Saltado (a Peruvian specialty).

When we returned to the hostel, we had a few drinks, made the first acquaintances, and Muriel brought me a birthday cake.

On the second day, we went to a beach where you can swim with giant sea turtles. We took 3-4 different taxis to get to that beach. It was quite touristy though. We had to pay an entrance fee and then walk on a pier to reach the limited swimming areas. We were a bit away when we suddenly saw a boy with a huge wound on his leg. Someone was very hungry and bit off a big piece of meat from his leg. Super, about 5 minutes later we were in the water. We were a bit unsure about what had just happened, but once we were in the water, we forgot about it.

After 20 minutes, we had to leave and the fun was over. It was cool, but quite touristy. We were looking forward to experiencing nature while diving. The beach was really beautiful and there were almost no people.

And there is almost no better view for lunch.

We spent the day there, did a little bit of swimming, and then returned to Mancora.

After a while, an older woman (78 years young) came to our table. She looked European. She wished us well and asked if she could join us. Of course, in Swiss German. She turned out to be the mother of the owner. A funny, cheerful, and lovely woman. We talked with her for 2-3 hours about everything under the sun. She felt like someone's grandma to us. But we didn't dare to call her grandma, not yet. Since we had to leave on the bus to Ecuador the next day, we had to leave the hostel in the morning. Our hostel was about a 10-15 minute tuk-tuk ride outside of the center. Lydia (the grandma) suggested that we leave our luggage at the hostel/restaurant in the morning, as it wasn't far from there to the bus station. We gladly accepted her offer.

The next day, we did just that. We left our things and went to sunbathe and swim at the beach.

In the evening, we returned to the Swiss restaurant. We went to Lydia and she said, "You can come to my room to take a shower, you can't go on the bus like this!" She was so kind. We showered and then had something to eat at night. The Swiss guests, however, had visitors, so they didn't spend much time with us. But Lydia kept coming to chat and then she would apologize and say she had to go back to her visitors. "You better not leave without saying goodbye!" At around 23:00, we set off. We exchanged our contact information and then said goodbye. We went to the bus station and headed to Ecuador. We had 3 wonderful days in Mancora and I celebrated my birthday on the beach, just as I had wished. Our next destination is Baños in Ecuador. There are so many activities we can do there. More in the next blog.

Next Stop: Baños, Ecuador

See you soon

Ernesto and Muriel