Mancora

For our second little getaway during our time off, we decided to go the beaches in the North of Peru. Since I met Coco he has been going on and on about the beatiful beaches in the north of Peru and the ceviche in the northern city of Piura. But we never knew when we would be able to go because we never have enough time during our weekends in Lima, and our vacation time is always spent in California. But the sudden bonus in vacation time gave us our chance!

So we got on a double decker bus with reclining seats and drove through the night from Lima to the city Piura. It took about 14 hours, but we slept through most of that.




We were on the second floor of the bus, which made me feel like I was on a train. And when you looked toward the front of the bus, there appeared to be no driver. Spooky!




Our first stop was in the city of Piura. Our sole purpose for stopping there was so that we could eat the ¨best ceviche in all of Peru.¨ Coco is always going on and on about the ceviche in Piura and how much I need to try it. But first we killed a few hours by walking around the city before we went to lunch.

















Finally we arrived at ¨the restaraunt¨ to have the ultimate experience in ceviche. Here is Coco waiting with anticipation.



Here is his happy face when it finally arrives.




Here he is explaining to his gringa wife exactly why this ceviche is the best. To be honest, I love all ceviche and I can´t really tell the difference. But Coco is like a ceviche snob and I will agree that this stuff was pretty great.



After we recovered from our ceviche coma we moved onto Mancora. This meant we had to cram ourselves inside a tiny van with lots of other tourists and drive through the countryside and coastline for another few hours. Sometimes the scenery made me like I was in Hawaii, there were fields of sugar cane and palm trees. Sometimes I felt like I was in the desert. And then I was surprised as we got really close to Mancora to see land that resembled canyons like you would see in Arizona. The land around Mancora is really quite dry.





Our hotel was right on the beach and accross from the pool was a peculiar little door that led right out into the ocean. It was so oddly placed and simple looking it looked like it could be the doorway to heaven. And I loved the extra touch of one tiny light bulb above the door to illuminate your journey.












Here´s what our little hotel looked like.










I just had to take a picture of the reception area. Yep, its a table with a phone near the front lawn of the hotel. That´s it.



And I am pretty sure the hotel give this puppy dog extra kibbles and bits to hang out near reception. It was always there, along with another dog, to greet as we would come and go from the hotel.



The city of Mancora is quite tiny and the vibe there feels a little like Santa Cruz, California. Its a very relaxing and charming place to be.

















Here´s what the busy beach of Mancora looks like. Here you will find swimmers, sunbathers, kite surfers, and......horses.












So that´s pretty much it for our trip to the Mancora. We also ate alot. The lobster was my favorite.