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After staying in cities like Guayaquil and Tumbes I was grateful to have arrived in Máncora, the Peruvian Montañita. There is one main tourist street that leads directly to the beach, but the city is relatively large and grows outward in all directions into the residential zones. Like Montañita there are Máncora souvenirs sold everywhere, and there is a row of beach front clubs for those who have come for the nightlife. When Lauren and I arrived we didn't really know which hostel to choose and we didn't know where Erik and Aleah were staying so for lack of any better ideas we checked into Loki Backpackers Hostel, supposedly the biggest party hostel in Máncora. It's not usually our style but it seemed really cool so we decided to stay. I mean the place was practically a resort, complete with spacious dorm rooms, a fully stocked bar and restaurant, pool table, hammocks and of course a swimming pool. Also it was only 23 soles a night for a comfortable 8 bed dorm (about $8) with breakfast included, albeit a crappy breakfast, but the restaurant made good food for just a few soles more. After checking in we immediately dropped our things in the room and lounged by the pool until it was time to meet up with Erik and Aleah. It was great to see them, as always, and we grabbed some lunch before heading back to check out the hostel they were staying in. Misfits Hostel is a fantastic little place about a 10 minute walk down the beach away from the craziness of town. There are 4 little bungalows and a main kitchen/hang out area, along with hammocks, a slack line to play on, video games and Netflix, a dart board, and a cool structure with mattresses that looks out over the water and is perfect for sunbathing. Also the ground is entirely made up of sand so there's no need to wear shoes unless heading into town. They definitely made a great hostel choice.
That night we decided to go out to celebrate having the gang together again so we went down to the beachfront bars and danced some salsa. We were accompanied by an Argentinian couple on their honeymoon who were really cool. To my surprise everyone at the bars appeared to be local. Apparently all the tourists were at Loki for the Pirate Party, but I was glad to be where the salsa music was. We had a good night until Erik came back from a trip to the bathroom, where he had been mugged at knifepoint by 4 guys who claimed to be the police. That was unfortunate but luckily he wasn't hurt and he didn't have much money on him, which was smart of him. I bought him a beer and we kind of called it a night after that. Little did I know that that would be the first of many similar stories to come during our stay in Máncora.
We spent 3 nights at Loki in total before deciding we had had enough of the music and parties, and because we had spent most of our time at Misfits anyway we decided to move there for the next 3 nights. We said our final goodbyes to Erik and Aleah who were on their way south (not goodbye, just see ya later) and the next day moved into their room. I spent much of my time over the next 3 days utilizing all the fun playthings that Misfits had. I've gotten decently good at the slack line and won almost every game of darts I played. Aside from that I made sure to go swimming at least once a day; the hostel opened up right onto the beach and the waves there were great for body surfing. Many a time the waves totally and completely owned me and I'm sure from the beach it looked like I was drowning, but getting caught up in the mass of powerful swirling water was the fun part. Lauren tried surfing one day, but there was only one spot in the whole area where the waves broke perfectly for surfing, so that meant there were always 10 or more people in one tiny spot competing for waves and it didn't look like too much fun.
Other than that we did our usual daily routine of being lazy with our new hostel friends and ate a lot. My favorite part of Máncora was easily cremolada guy. Cremoladas are fruit sorbets in a variety of tropical flavors that are very refreshing and perfect for walking on the beach with. We also found a small cafe called Maracuya that made the best caprese sandwiches I've ever had and a delicious veggie burger as well.
The other guests at the hostel were all really cool and I liked the family feel of the place. A of couple nights we had family dinner when one of the owners and his buddy would cook for us. It was really nice of them to do that because once it got dark it wasn't really safe to walk into town. Walking on the beach wasn't an option past 4pm because of high tide and walking through the surrounding residential area after dark always seemed to result in robbery. In order to go into town after dark you had to take a tuk tuk, which cost 3-5 soles one way, depending on the time. To my knowledge there were 4 robberies that occurred just in the few days we were in Máncora. 3 of our friends actually got robbed at gunpoint (the gun most likely wasn't loaded but you don't want to take your chances in a situation like that) right outside the hostel in the middle of the day on our last day there. I feel fortunate that nothing happened to Lauren and I during our stay, and I was kind of blown away by the whole situation because Máncora seemed to be by far the most dangerous place for tourists that we've come across in all our time in South America, and it's such a touristy place that they should have more security around. But it is what it is, that kind of stuff can happen anywhere.
On a brighter note, one day we got to swim with sea turtles! We took a bus to the next town over, Los Organos, for 1.50 soles ($0.50) and from there hired a tuk tuk for 24 soles round trip ($8) to drive us the 20 or so minutes to the pier where the turtles are. The entry fee to swim with the turtles is 5 soles (about $2) and you can also rent snorkel equipment on the pier. We spent about half an hour in the water with the turtles, which was plenty of time given that many more people started to show up. The turtles are green sea turtles and they are absolutely adorable, and quite large. The locals bait them with bits of fish which is the only reason they come around, but they didn't really seem to mind the people that much. It was a good way to spend one of our last remaining days in Máncora. Our days of being beach bums have finally come to a close. Next stop Chiclayo where we will visit some the ancient ruins of Sipán.
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