Mancora

Lots has happened since I last journaled and I'm not sure where to start! I'll start with saying that I left Lima on Wednesday. I knew I was planning on leaving The Point because I only planned on starting off working in a hostel. Welp 5 month later I was feeling like I needed a change of scenery. I decided to treat myself to a vacation by going up to Mancora, a resort-like city way up in northern Peru famous for its gorgeous beaches, surfing, and hot bods. I wasn't keen on the nearly 20 hour bus ride (assuming everything is on time) so I booked a one way flight for about $140. I got to the airport at noon for a 1:50pm flight and was told the flight was delayed; we're leaving at 3:30. No problemo because I had lots of things to occupy my time with! We finally boarded the plane at 5:15pm. I was not pleased. The flight was uneventful but my snack was delicious; a chicken salad sandwich on a roll big enough for 4 bites and a muffin. We landed in Chiclayo for reasons I am still unclear of, waited for 20 minutes while some Peruvians lined up orange cones on the ground, and departed for Tumbes- another 30 minute flight. We finally landed and I looked for a mini bus or a group of people going to Mancora, a 1.5 hour taxi ride for 130 Soles! I found 2 youngins heading for Mancora so we jumped in a taxi and headed towards our destination; paradise! I napped the whole way there until we were just 10 minutes away from Loki del Mar, the hostel where I made a reservation to meet up with Holly and Natasha, 2 lovely girls I met in Lima at The Point who are practically traveling the world on money they made while bartending back home in England. Holly is almost 22 and Tasha is 25. I arrived just before 10pm, checked in with Gerson, a cute Peruvian working in reception who seemed to skip a few beats when flirting with me in Spanish and went straight to my room to zonk out. I made sure to tape a note to Holly & Tasha's door letting them know I made it alive. Loki del Mar is practically a hostel resort for backpackers. For about $10 per night, I have access to a huge bar with frozen slushie alcoholic drinks, a gigantic pool equipped with a volleyball net, hammocks (not in the pool!), wifi, computers, a 43 second walk to almost white sandy beaches doused with restaurants serving cebiche with the fish they caught on their boats which I can see from the restaurant and little old ladies offering massages while you watch the waves crash in the beautiful blue ocean. I am in heaven and I sure deserved a break from the hustle and bustle of Lima. I am far away from honking cars and barking dogs which Franny always seems to hear when we Skype! Both Thursday and Friday were spent at the beach with lots of sun screen and the water is absolutely delightful- and so is the view of the gorgeous surfers who come from around the world to surf here! For lunch on Thursday we went for Menu where you can choose an appetizer and an entree for 8 Soles (about $3). After asking for aji, butter, more juice, and the coffee that came with Tasha's lunch (sounds needy but we needed those things!) and 15 minutes of our waiter bringing none of the things we kindly requested, I started to get annoyed. The thing in South America is that waiters don't make money off of tips so whether their service is 5 star or shitty, they get paid the same. Because we were 3 gringas in a restaurant full of Peruvians, our waiter gave even less of a shit. Five minutes after we finished our food, I asked for the check and let the waiter know that we weren't going to be paying full price for Tasha's lunch. I sternly (just below the level of making a scene in Spanish) told our waiter that his service was terrible, he didn't bring us any of the things we asked for, and instead of knocking off the 1.5 Soles for the coffee, he was going to knock off 2 whole Soles. He was not happy, but he didn't have a choice. We walked out saying we wouldn't be coming back. I felt so empowered taking a stance in Spanish! I can definitely tell my fluency is improving. I'm not intimidated to talk about anything with anyone in Spanish for fear of not understanding because there isn't much I don't understand! While having lunch I saw Chris- someone I met in Lima nearly 5 months ago who partied pretty hard in the bar- I got up and gave him a big hug but he seemed pretty socially awkward so I didn't chat for long. For dinner Thursday night we bought a bottle of rum and a box of pear juice and passionfruit juice (juice here comes in big boxes enough for 6-8 drinks) and went to a restaurant where I kindly flirted in Spanish so the chefs would let us drink. It worked. We sat down and had damn near the most delicious meal I have had in Peru thus far. The chef even came out and let us know he was going to make us a sample appetizer to try- sweet! Little did I know he was going to charge us for it which makes me regret making him 2 drinks from our bottle. I guess I believe in what goes around comes around. After feeling pretty tipsy and consuming delicious treats, we went to go browse the beach to dip our feet in the water. After returning to the hostel, I decided to head to bed and was asleep by midnight. Such a pleasant day! Last night while walking back from drinks on the beach, I saw 2 familiar faces enjoying a late night sandwich- Cielo and Krisitan; the 2 Argentinians I met a few weeks back in Lima when I was having a bad day from needing to make a rather expensive last minute purchase. In Lima, I sat with them on a rooftop restaurant watching the sunset drinking a few beers. They're the ones who snagged the leftover beer from the glasses on the table next to us once the family had left! We embraced each other with huge hugs and confirmed that we would find each other on Facebook in order to keep in touch. Tomorrow the 3 of us are hopping on a bus to go up to Ecuador. Tasha and Holly are heading up that way and I am visiting my friend Emily who I know from the University of Maryland. We were neighbors for 2 years and we left the same exact day to come to South America only Emily is teaching English. It'll be nice to see a familiar face from back home (although nothing will top spending 10 days with my brother)! All this updating is making me work up a sweat so I think i'm going to go jump into the luscious pool 2 meters from where I'm sitting. And yes- I measure in meters now =)