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CHRISTMAS in the SUN
I have just arrived home from sunny, lovely Mancora where we spent the last week lazing around in paradise. We stayed in a hotel type thing called Las Balsas and the rooms are all separate cabins overlooking the sea. The view from the (afternoon ha) room was incredible... the sea was in spitting distance and palm trees sort of framed the view for us. You couldn't have imagined anything more beautiful. Unlike all my expectations, Mancora was so quiet this week. It seems that everyone stays at home Christmas week and goes to family and what not because the town was almost deserted. In some ways this was kinda boring... there wasn't much atmosphere at night and things but in the days it was so perfect. The only thing you could hear was the crashing waves and the birds and it was impossible not to relax, book in hand and sleeping in the sun!
I've been pretty lax with my swimming since I've been here as there's not a pool within walking distance or anything and I've been feeling a bit guitly about it & missing it as I used to swim most days before coming so each day I swam out to sea and messed around in the water, floating and sunbathing in it too! Got a bit worried and paranoid as apparently octupus are common and float around, so every time seaweed or something similar brushed up against me I'd freak out a bit! Apart from that it was perfect!
Most days I read/slept/swam in the morning, talked to the fam and sam just before lunch, ate lunch (a big deal usually, choosing which kind of fish/sea food to eat was difficult - first day we bought lobster off some random guy on the beach and cooked them, was amazing!). Walked into town a couple of times and got approached by people selling all kinds of wierd stuff, sharks jaws, teeth, ''real raybans for S/30". The people in mancora are all poseryy surfer types. Guys with died blonde hair, board shorts, designer glasses and ''i'm too cool for this'' expressions. they kind of strut around and then get on their boards and pose a bit more, get off and strut off down the beach. It's funny to watch. Nick and Tom spent quite a lot of time in Mancora, I'm sure they fitted in perfectly :)
I did make a friend in the way of 20 yr old surf instructor, Gonzalo, who wanted to practise his english and make me a ''special cocktail'' which i managed to get out of, worried i wouldn't be here to tell the tale. In Peru, they celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve and have their big meal and what not late on the 24th. By this time there were only 3 other people staying in Las Balsas and they invited us to dinner with them. Unfortunately we didn't cook turkey, veg and gravy but instead tuna steaks and pasta, which did taste amazing but it wasn't quite the same! The manager of the hotel too joined in and we found out he''s here for rehabillitation because of a violent past. His dad was shot by terrorists and he then saught revenge for 20 years taking his gun to dodgy parts of town. It lowered the tone of the meal a bit, especially when he produced an article he had written sympathising with Fugi Morri and his sidekick who had been dictators in Peru and who would shoot first, ask questions later when it came to terrorism. We all felt a bit uneasy after that, worried that maybe we would be attacked if we said anything remotely liberal. The Mexican guy we were eating with did try to argue against him but it didn't do much good. (he mysteriously disappeared in the night never to be seen again...(not really))
Christmas day we woke up bright and early like you have to on Christmas. Alan had bought me some light weight beachy tousers I'd had my eye on and some chocolate and my grandparents too had sent something. I recieved a parcel from mum today, so got some more things to open this morning! We had a big breakfast, omletes bread fruit juice etc and then headed down the beach to go jet skiing. we shared one between us for an hour as if you have two you have to go in separate parts of the sea to avoid crashes. So we did ten minute slots and changed over. It was exhilirating and i recommend it to anyone! We got up to 50mph which felt so fast and i felt out of control a lot of the time which is slightly worrying but you also feel like something out james bond. sitting on a jet ski in your bikini zooming around the sea - the ocean is just so huge it feels like you have real freedom! couple of times we were motioned at by some fishing boats to get out of the way and stop disturbing their fish but apart from that the sea was empty. Of course when it sadly came to and end i realised the wind, the sea, the wetness made me look more like susan boyle than halle berry but it was worth it!
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