Gulls Feeding in Mancora

Here is a video clip I took from the balcony of our hotel in Mancora. It was a double room I hasten to add that was cheaper than the cost of two dorm beds in the hostel a mile down the beach, far from any bars or restaurants.

We met some interesting people sitting in thr cheap restaurants on the beach at the corner of the town. The places were basically big tents with tables and chairs. They served cold beer and cheap set meals. By early evening the clientele shifted from tourists eating to the 'getting pissed on the beach' crew of locals and visitors. We saw this all over South America, especially at the weekend - gangs of people boozing, shouting and listening to salsa music. I think the cheapest beach beer I found was $1 for a large beer in Equator.

Anyway, Mancora is in Peru. It seems unusual for Peru as it feels tropical - it is squeezed into the north west coast, an hour from the Ecuadorian border. It is a fun city for  Peru, and more fun for me than the dumb oasis town of Huacachina.

Mancora in Peru

Mancora was the best beach we visited in Peru. It is squeezed up in the north of the country near the Ecuadorian border and the Amazon forest. For backpackers doing Peru Mancora represents beach down time after trekking up Machu Picchu, seeing the desert in Huacachina and Nazca, sampling the colonial culture of Lima and just generally getting a belly full of culture. We went August to Peru. It was cold at times. I was longing for warm sea and sunny beaches.

We spent one night in a backpackers that catered too much for its prime market. The dorms were expensive, cooked meals too, the place was a long walk from shops and amenities and worst of all they hosted a ‘pirate party’ for our night there. Not in my honour I might add. It was a half-hearted affair with a couple of American lads taking on the rum drinks deal.

The next day we found a hotel room in the more central south part of the beach. It was less money with air-con and TV, just 1 minute from the beach. We divided our time between smoking and watching episodes of Two and a Half Men on TV with swimming and going down the market food stalls for cheap eats.

At night the market has a bit of life and local colour with the risks and temptations that brings. Better, if more potentially hazardous, than a pirate party.

It is a long beach with recognized breaks. Plenty of backpackers give surfing a go as it is a cheap activity. By this time I’ve already decided that surfing is too much effort. Floating in the sea and taking in the sight of thousands of gulls having a feeding frenzy was enough fun for me.

The town was a dusty street that held a photographic charm. It wasn’t a place full of cafes and bakeries designed to please tourists; rather one of those sleepy Peruvian towns.

Looking back: I quite miss Mancora.

A Few Places in Peru

Lima was awesome because of this fine local. A good friend that we knew from Japan. He put us up and showed us around. We went to karaoke, international volley ball matches and pyramids. Our only bit of couch surfing. Big up Augusto!

We splashed out $50 dollars each and did the Nazca lines fly over. Jose Carlos yanked the 6 seater plane 90 degrees left than 90 degrees right so everyone got photo ops and lurching stomachs.

Mancora was Peru`s best beach. The weather was great and the water warm enough to swim enjoyably. While we were staying a crazed mass of birds swarmed over the coastal waters dive bombing the waves for fish.



Huanchaco was our first beach of the trip. It a bit cloudy, but very chilled and cheap. There´s plenty of good waves to catch and it´s not flooded with twats doing the gringo trail. We had our room with cable TV and bathroom 5 minutews walk from the beach. Free internet and kitchen use. All for $7 a night.

Huacachina

Huacachina (pronounced something like waka-cheena) has a great name and is one of the most recognisable icons of Peru because it´s on the 20 (or is that the 50) Nuevos Soles Note. It is the picture postcard perfect oasis, something out of Lawrence of Arabia. There are, however, very few berbers and camels around. In their stead are Peruvians on benders and days out (especially at the weekend) and party backpackers and a few surf dudes looking to surf the massive plunging sands that encircle the tiny town.

It is a town entirely for tourism. Meaning there are no proper shops, post offices etc. just hostels, bars, restaurants and tour operators. The accommodation was mostly expensive by Peruvian standards, and the cheapish dorm beds we found were next to a bar. There is obviously a quick turn over of guests in a generally very anonymous fashion.

On the positive side, we found a place selling 5 soles set meals.

For all of that, the oasis is special and as soon as you climb over the first dune you are in the desert which stretches to the horizon.

We stayed one night. Waka went for a kip after lunch and I climbed a sand dune and watched the continuous stream of dune buggies taking tourists on hair raising drives through the desert; and also the people sliding down the dunes on beat up snow board looking things.

Machu Picchu

So we finally made it to Machu Picchu. We couldn´t be arsed doing the Inka trail or one of its alternatives. Somehow, to my ears, the phrase "organised trek" is anathema. I don´t want anyone carrying my bags and telling me where to go; and I don´t want to head off with 30 other people.

So we opted to take the train and organise our own tickets and accomodation.

We were horrified that the shortest train journey with the cheapest fare was $30 one way! They must have been studying British Rail prices. And to make it even more infuriating all the train places were heavily booked up.

After queuing for ages at the train station in Cusco we eventually secured a "backpacker" ticket one way, and a more expensive "vistadome" fare to return. In all $77 each. On top of that our tickets to enter Machu Picchu cost $40 each.

It struck me that Peru is charging a lot more than Angkor Wat, the Pyramids, The Taj Mahal or temples in Kyoto. It is debatable whether the train fees and entrance fee represent comparative value for money.

So feeling ripped off before the journey began, we took a mini bus to the small town of Ollantaytambo. A fantastically picturesque place which has been continously inhabited for 800 years. On one slope it has a famous Inka fort where the Spanish were famously defeated. You need the touristo boleto ($40) to enter. Naturally we didn´t have the ticket but managed to sneak in through an exit. We stayed the night at Ollantaytambo and scored a massive plate of chicken and chips for dinner.

The next day we took the super-expensive train to the town at the bottom of the hill where Machu Picchu is situated. Strangely enough the place is called Aguas Calientes, which means "hot water". It was a lovely place made deplorable by crass commercialism and a surfeit of Americans and tossers with walking sticks.

After a few arguments we got a tiny double room for 50 soles, got something to eat and got stoned in our room for the rest of the day.

At 3.45am the next morning we got up, dumped our rucksack on the Peruvians sleeping in the cupboard next door, and headed off for the walk up to Machu Pichu.

Needless to say many others were trekking with us in the dark up the 1,700 steps to the summit. The reason being that only the first 400 visitors to Machu Picchu can do the steep climb up the neighbouring mountain, Wanapicchu.

When we reached the top at 6am there was already a big crowd of people waiting to enter the ruins. Just before they started letting people in, buses from Aguas Calientes started arriving and a few cheeky fuckers from the buses started to push to the front of the line. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed calling these rich folks "motherfuckers". You can´t beat a bit of righteous indignation.

Once in we made it straight to the Wanapicchu office. We were numbers 48 and 49. At 7am we started the one hour trek up Wanapicchu. It was hard going. At the summit the paths and steps were slippy and had no rails stopping you plummet 100s of metres to your doom. My wife and I found a secluded spot and had a piss and a joint and took in the epic view.

By the time we got back to Machu Picchu we had been walking for hours and felt exhausted. We strolled around the ruins trying to catch snippets of information from passing tour guides. Eventually we found a beautiful terrace over a sheer drop, had another smoke and lay around in the sun.

At 1.30pm we had seen pretty much the whole site (including a detour to see the Inka bridge) and so we started to slowly descend the mountain back to Aguas Calientes. When we got there we were exhausted and filthy. In such a state we hung around until 6.30pm for our train back to Ollantaytambo. For the extra $10 for the superior "vistadome" train we got nowhere to put our pack and a sandwich.

All bad value but what is beyond doubt is that Machu Picchu is a magical (possibly spiritual) place that didn´t disappoint. It was great getting stoned there, but even without the herb, the place would´ve spellbound me. It is a massive site (the lower terraces aren´t open to the public) and despite what the tour guides claim, it´s purpose and true significance remain shrouded in mystery, like the mountains are covered in clouds.

Hiram Bingham, the yank who paid an 11 year old boy to lead him to Machu Picchu in 1911 and thus became "the discoverer" of the World Heritage site stole several artifacts from the area, and to this day Yale University refuses to give them back. Which just goes to show that from the very beginning of the history of foreigners visiting Machu Picchu people have been on the make.

Wanapicchu (the mountain that looms over Machu Pichu)

View of Machu Picchu from Wanapicchu

Behind the Watch Guard´s House

Llama drinking from the fountain