6am in Mancora makes the place seem like a ghost town. The only people visible were a small number of tuk tuk drivers waiting to whisk us and our fellow travellers arriving on the overnight bus away to nearby hostels and hotels. After some debating we jumped in the back of one and were driven down a sandy dirt track to what turned out the be the main hub of accommodation. After previewing a number of dirty and expensive roomsvwe finally found a nice and reasonably priced room. We had opted for a place called Coco Beach and paid $25 dollars for a family room with bathroom. Exhausted from the middle of the night border crossing we slept instantly.

When we came round and headed out to explore the town we became aware of how odd the place seemed and how it was not what we expected. A mixture of sand and dust formed a thin layer all over the town apart from the main road (which is the PanAmerican highway) and numerous stray dogs again wandered the streets, more so than we had previously witnessed. The houses look more like slums and are extremely small, uncomfortable looking things which we could not imagine spending one night in never mind living there. We had opted for Mancora as a stop over as it seemed the most popular place en route and was made to sound appealing. On first impression we weren’t entirely convinced.

We wandered the main road and due to time restrictions we booked another night bus, with the same company CIVA to Lima for the next evening. Further down the road we passed local restaurants and street stalls selling the usual jewellery, t shirts and other hippie artists before we came across the road to the beach. Again adorned with the same restaurants and shops we made it to the front after politely declining offers to enter said shops and eateries.

The beach resembled one that you may find in a popular European holiday resort but somehow less clean. Spread across its sand were numerous umbrellas and sunbathers split only by surfers heading into the waves. The waves are small and probably an ideal place to learn but we were not tempted. Instead we made for a restaurant after eyeing up the food of other customers and tucked into some fish and chicken before setting of for a stroll along the sand.

Mancora is relatively small and we had walked the length of its beach within 15 minutes and reached the end of town. 5 minutes either side of the main hub it did become quieter and had we been interested in sunbathing this is where we would of chosen to do so, however the weather was not on our side.

Instead we made for the shops and Hayley took advantage of the cheap prices (compared to Ecuador) and treated herself to a new necklace and a crochet top. We used up the last bits of sunlight taking in more of the shops before returning home to change out of our beach wear. Jonny took the opportunity to go for a run in the cooler conditions of the evening and then we made our way back to the one strip of town that we had noted a few half decent looking spots to eat at. We opted for the Thai restaurant ‘Toa’ after consulting lonely planet and were not disappointed, head here if you ever happen to be in Mancora.

Mancora is known as a surfer town and is full of hippie looking, Spanish speaking travellers which didn’t do much for us. It has a reputation as a party town but we didn’t see this in our short time there as everywhere was very quiet even apparently in the middle of high season. Loki hostel seems like the place to be at, so if you’re staying anywhere else give this a try. As for us though, still tired from the previous night and fully aware we had a long night ahead next up we went for the more boring but sensible option of bed.

The next day was spent hopping from café to café as we waited for our bus at 5pm to Lima, Peru’s capital. We had hoped for better things from Mancora even though it was a last minute addition to our itinerary but we were somewhat unimpressed and also slightly disappointed by our first Peruvian stop over and were glad to be on our way.

Find out how we faired on night bus number two and in Lima itself next..

Jonny & Hayley 🙂