Mancura...why are we in such a rush I want to stay longer!

The 18 hour bus ride from Lima up to Mancora was pretty pleasant minus Emily almost getting us thrown off the bus in the middle of the Pan-American Highway. Earlier along the bus ride at one point Emily went to go make a #2 in the bathroom. Which as I had noticed during our bus company's safety and information video is strictly forbidden! They explicitly said that the bathrooms were for urinary purposes only. Emily however must have not been paying attention (even though we had taken this company in the past and I know she had watched the video then). Well after Emily took care of her business and had returned to her seat the stewardess approached Emily in her seat and for the next several minuted loudly chastised Emily that the bus bathroom is not for taking #2s and that she had now made the entire back of the bus smell. Emily has tried to claim since this that she was not feeling well and what else was she suppose to do but personally I agreed with the stewardess.

 The Beach

We arrived in the small village on the way northern part of the Pacific Coast in Peru early in the morning. We hoped in to a mototaxi (like the ones in Puerto Maldonado) and went to our hostel. We stayed at another branch of the hostel we had stayed in in Lima, The Point Hostel. They tend to be known as larger party hostels but there weren't many hostels in town and also a party-lie atmosphere isn't so bad when your hostel is right on the beach...it was all of the 20 steps to get to the ocean from the hostel. We got in pretty early so our dorms were not ready yet so we just hung around the hostel laying in the hammocks and enjoying the Pacific sun. Eventually we headed in to town which for the most part is just one main street about 2 km long which runs parallel with the coast. The town only has a population of about 2,000 people most of which work in tourism somehow, either operating restaurants, beachfront hotels/hostels, or touristy stores. Mancora isn't only a stop along the gringo-trail but also a nice vacation spot for a lot of Peruvians. While we were heading in to town we saw a wide range of sea-life along the beach. Including some crazy looking crane, a dead seahorse, and these mini (almost clear looking) crabs that were every where. That when you tried to catch them they ran in to these tiny little holes. After walking along the beach for 15 minutes we hit the main tourist area. We decided to check out a restaurant that someone at the hostel recommended us. The place was a bit gringoy but they had a really good looking seafood menu and tending we were on the ocean we thought that seafood would be the best choice. The restaurant, called “Green Eggs and Ham,” was owned by a nice older American lady. We ended up eating there both days for lunch and had a variety of seafood dishes including a shrimp burger, a tuna steak, and fish tacos. All of our meals came with these delicious beer battered sweet potato fries. The best part of it all was it was on this great patio overlooking the beach. The rest of the day we just walked up and down the beach and went in to the water for a bit before sunset to swim in the waves. That night we had an enjoyable time chilling at the hostel right near the beach and playing a little beerpong (me and this Brit won 6 games in a row!).

 The Beautiful Pacific

Emily and the beach go together like chopped liver and tomato sauce.  What is spaghetti and meatballs a better analogy?

The next morning we knew we had to continue in to Ecuador that day. We really wa ted to stay some more time and under normal circumstances would have chilled in Mancora for at least 4 days if not more but we literally had no time and we knew it. So we booked bus tickets for later in the afternoon and just enjoyed a little bit more time on the beach, regretting that we didn't have more time to stay and chill in Mancora. That evening we took a 45 minute bus ride to the border area between Ecuador and Peru. The two towns kind of reminded me of Cuidad del Este, Paraguay a bit. Not to the same extent but it was a stereotypical border town as in terms it looked like everything was pretty cheap and probably fake and it seemed like an endless stream of people just constantly crossed the bridge connecting the two towns (border control actually not at the border for either Peru or Ecuador, so no one really watched what went back and forth over the border). After dealing with passport formalities a bit outside of town in Ecuador we waited for our overnight bus to Baños.

 Cool dead crab (these are not the mini-crabs I was talking about those were to clear and fast to try and photograph)