Mancora & Huanchaco
Trip Start
Aug 02, 2011
1
11
19
Trip End
Dec 21, 2011
Huanchaco, Peru
Saturday, October 1, 2011
So, after my wonderfully relaxing massage off I went on the night bus to Mancora. We took the local bus back to Loja where we picked up the bus that would take us all the way to Piura in Peru. The bus was packed and I was right at the back near the smelly toilet. I managed to sleep (as always) and we reached the border around 4.30am. First we had to get our exit stamp from Ecuador before walking over the border and getting our entry stamp into Peru. Anyways, when Alan (who was in Vilcabamba with me) handed his passport over there seemed to be some kind of problem and it turned out he’d overstayed by a day! There is a fine of $200 for any overstay - even 4 hours as in his case. The immigration official told him to wait while everyone exited so they could sort out the “problem”. I went over to the Peruvian immigration and said I’d do what I could to hold the bus. In the end Alan said he didn’t have $200 and the official said he would help him by basically accepting a $60 bribe and sending him on his merry way into Peru - how funny!
Once we got to Piura, the landscape changed from the lush green rolling hills of Ecuador to dusty dry desert-scape with nothing as far as the eye could see until we hit the town of Piura. It was really busy and chaotic with traffic and tuk tuks beeping and street vendors crowding the streets. The most hustle and bustle I’d seen so far. And it’s hot hoorah - I knew instantly I was going to like Peru! It seems that most Peruvian cities don’t have a central bus terminal but instead each bus company has their own offices and depot. The bus services here are very efficient. There is an order for everything; first buy your ticket, then you put your luggage in at a separate counter and its put onto the bus for you, then you wait in the lounge until the bus is called and have to put your finger print in the box that corresponds to your seat number, then you’re frisked and checked with a metal detector AND finally when everyone is in their seats and you’re about to leave someone comes round with a video camera and video records you!!! Seriously!!! There is no need to worry about me travelling in Peru as safety and security is clearly their number one priority! So, we finally arrived in Mancora. A small attractive beach resort with a nice little beach with lots of sun and surf and kite surfing and many bars, restaurants and shops. We arrived in time for the weekend so met lots of people from our hostel and partied for most of the weekend and had muchos fun! Also, I have discovered my new favourite food - ceviche; marinated raw seafood served with onions, corn and sweet potato yum! It’s everywhere and its fresh and delicious I literally can’t get enough of it.
So, after a long weekend in the sunshine I headed off further south to another beach resort, Huanchaco to meet up with people I’d met in Vilcabamba. Huanchaco was once a quaint little fishing village famous for its cigar shaped reed boats called caballitos but today is popular for its surf. I was surprised to find that its much bigger than Mancora and much chillier - not good! When I arrived Anya, Sarah and Alex were having breakfast and were going to see the nearby ruins so I decided to have a coffee and go straight out with them. We took the local bus from outside the hostel that dropped us on the highway where we walked a short way to the ruins of Chan Chan. This was once the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas and the largest adobe (mud-brick building) city in the world. Built in 1300AD at the height of the Chimu empire it contained around 10,000 structures from Royal Palaces to huge burial mounds. The Incas conquered the Chimu around 1460 but the city wasn’t looted until the gold hungry Spanish arrived and the guipures (grave robbers) finished their work. The site is still being excavated and a lot of the areas are out of bounds but it is still possible to get an idea of just how stunning this place once was. Around the ruins we saw a Peruvian hairless dog; weird looking. Apparently the body temperature of these dogs is higher than other dogs and they’re traditionally used as body warmers for people with arthritis!?! I didn’t get close enough to test out this theory…very weird looking indeed…
After Chan Chan we walked to the museum on the main road. In hindsight it would have made much more sense to visit here first as it gave a lot of background into the Chimu culture, the rise and fall of Chan Chan and also some models and artist impressions of what it may have looked like. After the museum we took a taxi across town to Huaca de la Luna, a Moche temple that is 700 years older than Chan Chan. I was really starting to lag at this point from the heat and lack of sleep from my overnight bus journey and fell asleep in the taxi on the way there! The ticket price included a guided tour. It was Moche custom to ‘bury’ old temples under new ones and build the new ones on top of the old creating a layered affect, which has facilitated preservation and archaeologists are still painstakingly peeling away the layers and have so far uncovered.
We took the local bus back to Huanchaco to have some well deserved ceviche and met up with some other friends from Vilcabamba; Karin, Birgit and Horst. The next day Karin and I decided we would go surfing. We found a surf shop that was actually open and the guy there, Ito, was so nice and helpful. Karin hired a board and got herself off into the surf and I decided to have my first ever surf lesson. I had to wait for a surf instructor so I got into my wetsuit and waited…finally a bleary eyed guy appeared (he looked like he’d clearly just woken up!). So off we went onto the beach to learn a few basic principles before heading into the surf. But, it quickly transpired he couldn’t speak any English and although I can now speak some Spanish I wasn’t sure it was good enough to understand everything he would be trying to teach me. I did tell them Ito I wanted an English speaking instructor, but I still felt bad as he’d obviously been woken up to take my lesson. So, Ito said he would take me instead…so there was even more waiting around, then a theory lesson and practicing jumping on the board in the shop. Then even more waiting around…I was really beginning to get annoyed…then Ito’s boss arrived and she said he couldn’t take the lesson and rang someone else and I had to wait even longer. I was just about to take my wetsuit off and say I was going somewhere else as I’d waited so long when Jesus, the absolutely gorgeous Peruvian surf instructor turned up. All was forgiven instantly; I said nothing, smiled sweetly and was off on my lesson ha ha ha!! I had a two hour surf lesson, which was really hard and tiring but so much fun. I got up on the board on my second try woo hoo! The water was cold and rough, I kept getting it in face and up my nose - not at all glamorous! Really enjoyed it but was glad to get out and have a warm drink.
I decided to have another lesson in the morning but this time with Ito . Karin came along too and we got up and met at the shop at 7am (yes 7am, we must be mental) it was really cold and the water was absolutely freezing. I only managed to stay in the water for an hour as I was so cold and miserable I could hardly stand up or feel my fingers. That’s enough of surfing for me. The next time I take lessons it has got to be in a warm climate - the temperature of the water in Huanchaco is quite unpleasant! The weather got colder and colder and one evening I actually went out to dinner with my hat, fleece, coat, scarf and gloves on!! Seriously!!!
Luckily after a day or two the weather improved dramatically and out came the glorious sunshine. Which was most convenient as the spring festival was scheduled with lots of floats and children all dressed up celebrating the start of spring. We sat my the road and watched the procession pass. That same day was the start of the two day Huanchaco Surf Competition. We sat on the beach for the whole of the afternoon watching it, it was so much fun. Ito from the surf shop was in it and he came third in his group! I didn’t want to leave Huanchaco as it was so much fun and the weather was absolutely glorious for the past 2 days but I had decided to head off into the Cordillera Blanca with Karin & Horst to the mountain town of Huaraz. We were a little late leaving for our night bus and typically when we got to the main road there wasn’t a taxi in sight. We walked a little further and eventually flagged one down. The driver wanted nearly double the fare but hey we needed to leave. His car was so run down and old that the boot wouldn’t shut. He literally kept banging it over and over again. I was laughing my head off in the back of the taxi. We nearly pulled our stuff out and jumped in the next one that had pulled alongside us but in the end he finally closed it. He talked and talked and crawled along until we told him our bus was leaving at 9 when he put his foot down and managed to get us to the bus terminal at 8.59!!! We were so stressed that the bus would have left but it hadn’t and as soon as we got on we were on our way to Huaraz. Phew!
Comments
nice to hear you ve got better weather.Can only imagine you falling off the surfboard!!!! and the ceviche sounds absolutely disgusting!!!!!! keep them coming xxx