Mancora: Crossing the border from ecuador

Location: Mancora, Peru
Decided to move on, though i had not exactly seen and done everything i wanted in ecuador, but thene again i think i might need an entire lifetime to accomplish that. (watch this space hehe)

also i was hearing so many reports of good weather in ireland and though the climate is very warm in the ecuadorian coast, it was just cloudy as hell in monañita so i started to fel a little jelous of you folks back home , so i decided to compete by heading for Mancora. a surfers town in northern peru with ...oh...around about 365 days of sun, and i can now vouch for one of them.

i took a bus directly back to guayaquil from montañita. funny enough guayaquil didnt seem like the unfriendly boiling pot the second time round, in fact i found the place and people to just as cheerful and talkative as anywhere else in ecador, and it wasnt too loud or hot to sleep either. perhaps i am more aclimatized now having been a week on the coast but it goes to show how first impressions can be a little distorted and if you want to give a proper picture of a place it may well be better to hold off until the adrenalin wears off. but i suppose one of the reasons im keeping this blog is to record those first impressions while they are still fresh in my mind,because memories like that will surely be lost over time.

i took an overnight bus at 11.30pm from guayaquil to mancora (with CIFA). i was enthsed by the word "buscama" (bed-bus) . basically you can put the seats back further which is nice but i would have killed for just 2 inches more leg room so i could alow my feet to dangle just as the little woman to my right was so luckily able to do. i was in front of the TV screen though so mine was the best seat for an hour, while they showed some old mexican cowboy movie.

the border was tedious, it took two hours for everyone to get through the ecuadorian side, and another hour for the peruvian side. this whole ordeal broke up the night sufficiently so that just as i was ready to doze off properly (at 8am) , i realized we were almost in mancora, so i stayed awake until they dropped me off there.being my usual organized self, i had no idea where i was going to stay and and no peruvian money but that all fell together in seconds. avoiding the barrage of pestering rickshaw drivers i just went to the first place i saw and its starting to look like i have one of the better deals in town. i have a huge double room in a new building for 30 soles, and have now located all the elements required to sustain life such as . interenet, cash machine, restaurants, beer and friends! met some travellers i knew in montañita!

ahhhh..life is good

Peruvian border control 6.30 AM

the pan american highway goes right through mancora

My home (today) brand new building, it was a perfect find for me getting right off the bus, at 30 soles i think its a good deal for here, the only downside is there are no other guests, they are all in the dearer places on the beach.