Peru vol 1: Mancora, Lima, Cusco

Our whole plan for Mancora was to lay on the beach, rest and do nothing for a couple of days before heading to Lima and thereon forward. It didn't exactly go as planned as Mancora or at least The Point hostel turned out to be fabulous! The whole atmosphere felt chill from the first sight. When we met the people then we really didn't wanna leave anymore. It doesn't happen often that while traveling you met a group of people that you click so well.

Mancora is a small town (population around 8000) and there is not much more to do than swim, surf and party. We went there at daytime for a couple times to eat (real nice ceviche), get cash from the or visit the local markets. It didn't seem dangerous although locals believe it might be (especially at night, I can't really comment as at night we never went to town, our parties beat all the rest) and advise you to take a tuk tuk, which are not expensive as well 3-5 soles. Walking on the beach to town was what we mainly did and that's a lovely walk, although watch out for the high tide which starts a little before sunset. Once we tried to walk back around then and got a refreshing shower from the ocean.

Went to Pocitas beach, which is a bit further away (ca 45 minutes walk) from the crowded central, coming back to get to our beach to watch the sunset we had a proper tuk tuk race between two carts, probably not the wisest idea on the narrow, curvy streets, but hey ours won! Did beach cleaning (they do it every week, which is such a beautiful idea, I wish every beach hostel/hotel would do that. It's not hard to find that 15 minutes a week and I bet there are volunteers), yoga on the beach, enjoyed the incredible sunsets, chatted around the pool, enjoyed happy hours (it was almost always happy hour), dinners together, played heaps of beer pong (and probably every other party game), danced on a bar, sang along to every song, stargazed and jumped into the pool in the middle of the night. What a brilliant getaway.

We actually booked our bus ticket before, tried to change it 2 hours before the departure, when that didn't work, after a tiny bit of convincing, decided to write it off as a bad investment and stay. Most people stayed longer than planned. So this sign is 200% true.

When actually had to leave to get a glimpse of Lima too before leaving to Cusco, we went to book a ticket too late, everything from every bus company was full, so we finally got this local economic service from Flores for the 18-hour trip. Were warned and already expecting a chicken bus, but it actually was totally fine. To be hones, we almost missed that bus too, as we took too long saying bye to everyone and then there were no tuk tuks anywhere, which never happened before. Were so close to deciding to live in Mancora, people thought we'd never leave anyway. Got to the bus station 2 minutes before the intended departure, panicking, but the bus was late for half an hour.. welcome to Latin-America!

Got to Lima at 2pm the next afternoon and after some bargaining took a decent-priced taxi to our next Couchsurfing hosts house. Always ask for a price and always bargain, even if you do not know how much it is supposed to be, give it a go until you are satisfied, there will always come a new taxi if you let one go! For some reason it's totally fine that ta I drivers do not know where to take you, they ask you directions, it doesn't matter that you're probably in town for the first time, you got to known if to turn left or right. One evening in Lima we got to the point when I opened my offline map on my phone and gave it to the driver to find the right street in the area.

Lima is another huge capital city in Latin-America. My favorite area of it would be Miraflores. The coastline is beautiful, the views are great, the beaches are perfect for surfing. Our hosts drove us around there after dinner on the first night for coffee and pictures. At night they thought us how to make pisco sours, the principal drink of Peru. Not bad, not bad.

We needed a reunion with some of the Mancora crew 1,5 days after leaving the place.

From Lima to Cusco another 21 hour bus ride was waiting. This time we were prepared and had a Cruz del Sur booked a long time ago, that long that VIP tickets had cost the same as regular ones on the second floor. For 8 hours or so we had a private floor. The chairs reclined almost into beds, there was so much space.. like flying 1st class (which I never have done before), we were really excited. First 10 hours the roads were normal so it was movie-time. Everyone had their own screen, choices!! Watched "London has fallen", "Eddie the Eagle" and "Dirty Grandpa" which I all have been wanting to see at one point or another. Lastly, started the weirdest movie, didn't even understand if it is supposed to be a creepy romantic drama or a catastrophe movie, luckily (or not) we had reached The Andes And 11 hours of winding roads were waiting, so it was time to sleep (or try at least) when not falling down from the seat.

Just like that 11 am we were in Cusco, another taxi bargain later we had checked into the hostel, done our laundry and went to town to meet Ria for dessert and sightseeing. Reunion number two! Cusco is a lovely historic town 3310 meters above sea level, situated still between the mountains like a valley.