Woop Woops on the Peruvian Coast

I spent the first full day in Peru on the beech relaxing and reading more of the 900 page book Shantaram which was given to me by one of the rainforest volunteers. Sasha if you get to read this, thankyou it is great and I recommend it to others. The sun was shining, the air was warm warm with a nice cool breeze and the sea warm. As spring turns to summer in a few months time the days will be much hotter but with heavy downpours in the afternoon but with the rains the surrounding sand dunes are bought to life with wild flowers. The couple, a Peruvian and a Columbian who own the campsite live on the beach all year round with their young daughter. Apparently the daughter attends a good school which has a good programme for English, environmental issues and land management. We ate at their adjacent restaraunt on the 2nd night which was absolutely fabulous. A traditional Peruvian barbeque meal with fresh fish, varying dishes of rice, potatoes, vegetables and the traditonal beverage pisco sour.

The following day we set off for our next beech destination in Mancora, a small hippy town with many tourists as it is an ideal spot for surfing, not that I tried it. The main dusty road through the town hosts lots of stalls selling touristy items and lots of restaraunts and bars. Tuk tuks, large coaches and the occasional old car bustle past at speed negotiating each other and tourists. The beach was really busy with both peruvians, tourists and surfing doods.

The hostel was not the sort of hostel I would have chosen, being a large white washed complex with a swimming pool owned by europeans to cater mainly for westerners on holiday for sun, surf and sssserious cocktails. From inside the complex you could have been anywhere in Europe but actually it turned out to be quite fun, well if you can`t beat them join them and all that.....

With cheesy tunes playing in the bar / pool until 2am and very tastey rum and fruit slushes one could not help but fall into line/ off it as the case may have been. After the first night of a little drinking and dancing I had warmed up and the 2nd night involved mobing on to a bar outside of the complex when the music after the music had finished. After 2 hours sleep I awoke for the 6am start on the truck again!