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For whatever reason, I couldn't get any sleep on the overnight bus from Cuenca to Mancora. Crossing the border into Peru was ok, though the guy on the Peruvian side decided to be a bit of a pain in the ass. He first asked me if I spoke English (of which he didn't speak a word), he then asked me multiple times when I started using the passport I had and whether I was born in India, before finally giving me a 30 day visa rather than the 90 days given to everyone else. I met a Canadian couple (Kiran and Daniel) who were staying at the same place as me. We arrived at 5:30am outside our hostel (The Point, Mancora) where the tuk-tuk driver proceeded to charge us $10 (Sol 25) saying that it was expensive because of the time of day (where's that 'hit by bus list?'). Too exhausted to argue we paid him the c.$3 each and waited outside the hostel for 15 minutes, ringing the bell hoping the security guard would wake up. Finally we got in and got to our dorm. I tried sleeping which didnt really work out. Mancora is a small fishing town in the North of Peru, and sits on the Pacific Ocean. It's well known for its surf and partying. I spent all day Friday reading, on the beach and in the pool at the hostel. That night I was exhausted having gotten no sleep and went to bed early. The next day was more of the same. I had some Ceviche (or Cebiche) which is a Peruvian speciality. The fish is served in a citrus sauce, which actually cooks it and spent most of the day relaxing. This is what Mancora was all about for me. Having covered 2,000km in a week, over land, it was nice to settle down somewhere and relax. That night I had a few drinks with Diego and Niko, the hostel managers, as well as some of their Peruvian friends. The hostel was pretty empty which was a little disappointing, and there didnt seem to be much going on in Mancora in the evening. I called it a night around 3am. It was more pool and beach on Sunday (plus recovering from slight hangover). We also bought tickets for a bus to Chiclayo the next morning. We had thought that the ticket lady said a minibus would pick us up from our hostel in the morning and take us to a bus terminal. How wrong we were. It got to around 9:15am and no shuttle had turned up for us. Our bus wasn't due to leave until 9:30am though, so we picked up a cab and headed to the bus company's terminal. We got there just before 9:30am only to be told it had left at 9am, despite the 9:30am stated on the ticket. We went to the agency who told us that what they had said was to be at the terminal at 8:45am and that sometimes the buses leave at 9am annd sometimes at 9:30am. Apparently it's pot luck, even though the ticket states 9:30am. We decided to buy a different ticket but as this wasn't leaving until 4:30pm, so we headed back to the hostel to relax. The tuk-tuk driver tried to charge us S/5 instead of the daytime rate of S/3 we had paid every day for 3 days. I was too lazy to argue, but credit where it's due, Daniel stood his ground and was shouting at the driver to give us S/2 change. He even sat back in the tuk-tuk and insisted the driver give him the change or drive him to the police station. The hostel managers even came out and had a go at the guy as they too had been paying S/3. The driver stood his ground for around 5 minutes, but once Daniel sat in the back and refused to move he caved in. Bus list please...... Eventually we got our bus at 4:30pm and headed for Chiclayo.
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