The whole trip from Huaraz to Mancora took nearly a day and when I arrived, I took a tuk-tuk (they have them in Peru as well as Thailand!) to hostel Sol y Mar, where Mal and Bron said they´d be staying. As the tuk-tuk drove along the small access road to the hostel at around 7pm, I saw Bron and Mal walking towards me. I asked the driver to stop and shouted to the girls. They were surprised to see me, and showed me a note they´d left on the door thinking I´d be there later. After a quick change, we headed out for some dinner and drinks.

In my head, I was still moving, but it only took a couple of beers to get back in the swing of things. Mal and Bron introduced me to a couple of American lads, Scott and Wat, who were both from Virginia. At one point in the night, Wat said, "When I see a dog, the first thing I think of is, could I kill it? What shoes do I have on and could I kill it?". He wasn´t drunk but I think he was referring to the fact that you just don´t know what the dirty dogs have got out in Peru! The comment made us laugh at the time, and we continued to have a good night until late on.

The next day, Bron, Mal and I took a ride to a beach a few minutes down the road by tuk-tuk, where there was hardly anyone staying. In the height of summer, the place is meant to be packed but we found a number of hotels with only a handful of people in total. So, as long as we bought some drinks, the staff really didn´t mind us using their sun loungers or pools! After hours of soaking up the sun, we walked along the beach a bit further and got chatting to a Peruvian couple, staying on holiday at a beachfront hotel. Our Spanish and their English wasn´t great, so they called over their daughter, who spoke very good English. It turns out they own several restaurants in Lima and invited us along. I gave my apologies as I wouldn´t be there then, but Mal and Bron arranged to visit their restaurant at the weekend! After several more minutes of chatting, we moved further along the beach to some sun loungers with a gazeebo type cover over the top. We chatted and read our books until around 5pm, so we could walk back to our resort while the sun was setting.

After getting back to our room, I took a well needed shower to cool down. As I was showering, I heard the girls talking to a lad in the other room and it was none other than the dulcet tones of Tom. He´d taken exactly the same journey as me, only a day later. We went out for dinner and drinks and had some good fun.

At breakfast the next day, we went to our usual spot next door to our hostel and right by the beach, a beach hut cafe called Green Eggs and Ham. They served great pancakes and waffles, and the brownie sundaes were always a favourite of mine in between meals!! There was a tv there so we could watch movies when we wanted too. We watched Shrek 3 in Spanish, it was still funny. Not quite sure how they got their hands on it so early - no questions asked though!!

The next morning, Mal, Bron and I booked a surfing lesson. We´d all surfed a couple of times before but thought a refresher would be good. I didn´t really need one in the end as the guy helping me didn´t actually give me any instructions other than: Ok, start to paddle now....yeah, great stuff. So, over the hour, I rode some waves home and had a good time! The rest of the day was spent at the beach, finding some food, eating more brownie sundaes, and reading. Oh yeah, I´ve started trying to read my Spanish Three Investigators  book again. I´m understanding more of the words, but it´s still difficult!

That night, after dinner, we bought some cheap wine and went to the camp fire on the beach. We meant a bunch of Chilean guys and girls, who work for Adidas in Chile. They were on a conference in Lima and had taken some time for vacation. Their English was really good, so we chatted to them for some time before heading back to our room. Now that Tom was with us, we shared four people between three beds. You do the math.

In the morning, the others went with the Chileans to another beach about an hour away. I was too tired, so chilled out around town until they got back. It turns out where they tried to go surf was the flotsam of an off-shore oil field, and didn´t like the idea of swimming amongst dead fish. We sunbathed on the beach before the sun went down, then arranged to see the Chileans later on again for another camp fire on the beach. This time we bought rum and coke, and stayed out there til around 4am, I think.

So, the next day we got up late, got lunch and went to the beach. Although each day seems like we just went to the beach, ate and slept, it was nice to do so. Up until Mancora, I´d been travelling quite fast from place to place, doing things quickly in each town, and you never have much time to yourself. It´s good just to slow down once in a while, and not have to think where you´re going tomorrow and what you´ve got to see or do.

That said, I did have to move on that day and went to buy my ticket from Mancora back to Lima. I spent the afternoon with Tom, Mal, Bron and Matt from Huacachina who´d rejoined us by this point, and enjoyed the rest of my time there with them.

I´d met up with Mal and Bron three times in Peru, and this time would be the last, more than likely, I´ll ever see them. It´s been really cool hanging around with them, and I know I´ve made some good friends. There´s a better chance I´ll see Tom again, as when we´re all back in the UK, we´ll no doubt arrange some kind of get-together in London which would be good.

After I said my goodbye´s, I headed off to catch my bus. It would take me to Lima, from where I´d take a four hour delayed flight at 4am, arrive in Buenos Aires about 11am BA time, and have now been waiting in Buenos Aires bus terminal for most of the day, waiting to catch my night bus to Cordoba that will take about 10 hours. So, I´ll take the bus in about 20 minutes time, and my next update will be from Cordoba. I´m looking to spend a week or so there, doing some more Spanish lessons and seeing what the city has to offer!

I´m more than half way through my trip now. I just hope the second half can match the first for friends and a wicked experience of South America so far!!