Mancora. What can I say? This place has a nickname 'summer forever' and that is exactly it, not a cloud in the sky, ever. It's the sort of place that if locals saw a cloud they'd be running indoors with tins of beans and sheepskin coats.
The 9 hour bus ride was almost pain free, just having to put up with a sugar filled fatty that kept shouting gringo at me and laughing with all of her friends, I had my trusty ear plugs, so in they went and off I slept.
We piled in to Mancora and I was whizzed around town by Dani on his tuk tuk with 2 speakers bigger than the wheels blaring out horrendous RnB music which I'm sure he thought I wanted, at 7am I was attracting a lot of attention already. Dani took me to a couple of interesting hostels one of which the guy showed me round and kept opening each door of the rooms by reaching in the window and opening the door..... I don't expect fork knocks but at least a lock would be nice... 'Ok dani I said, I think we can go a little but more upscale now' dani showed me to a more than lovely hostel seconds away from the beach, nice and quiet, wifi. Lovely.
With 28-30 degree heat everyday comes slooooooooow mentality, and coming from Lima it took a good few days to come down to this way of life, no one really works here, I mean, they work obviously but not hard, not hard at all. I dumped my bag, walked to the beach and assessed my surroundings for a few hours, this place was nice. Blue sky's, big waves and the soft sand between my toes, I took a few hours that morning to lay, breath and empty my head.
I decided to go for a walk after I'd had a few words with myself. Mancora is made up of 2 streets that have restaurants, bars and juice making places, each roof is made of dried out palm leaves and the walls are bamboo that then are covered with cement. Everyone is trying to make a living here and I'm sure the tourists are just walking cash points to them, and with that you do get a lot of locals trying to sell you sunglasses, sarongs and general crap you don't need, they don't pester you, in fact I admire there business nature, it's a poor place and a mans got to eat.
I don't want to come repetitive my friends but the fruit juice bars are ridiculous, anything you want whizzed up into a weekend spa break in a glass.
My favourite is at Banana Cafe, 6/s for Banana, orange and strawberry juice, that's about £1.40 the glass is huge and it's my breakfast.
I decided to take a trip to Loki hostel, recommended by my dear friend Feesty as the party place, as I walked through the beach and into Loki it was blaring house music, people talking loudly about how late they were up and who they woke up next to, it had party written all over it and I immediately felt like I was going to see Feesty step off the bar stool with a fag and a Pisco sour right then and there. I thought it'd be a great place to start, meet some people and ask about some Spanish lessons, they introduced me to there in-house Spanish teacher Luz. Luz as I will later learn was an angel sent from whoever has my back up there in heaven. I met Luz, a purified, earth angel who truly believes in good energy and karma. The kind of person that similes and its impossible not to smile too, Luz did her Spanish lesson sales pitch however once I told her I was planning on staying in mancora for a while and that I was an English teacher she threw down her books and pen and at that moment she became my friend. I could tell she was a bit of a fitness lady as she had quite defined arms, immediately making me feel guilty for the two chicken sandwiches I'd eaten on the bus. She asked me if I wanted to body board in the morning on the beach, be there at 8.30am Luz said (Christ!) a bit early but hey ho let's get involved.
I slightly regretted going out until 3am that night with a bunch of people from my hostel as my alarm went off and I thought someone was playing a very very sick joke on me, no no it was no joke I was off to the beach with a sledgehammer lodged between my eyes. Luz wasn't joking, there she was with her factor 50 lotion, wet suit and paddle flip-flop things, all I had was my ray bans my primark scarf and last nights g&t breath. There she was running in to the ocean and I was beginning to think I should of stayed in bed.
After the heart attack induced bonding session Luz introduced me to what felt like the whole of Mancora. All sorts of people from the man that sold the coconuts to the people that give massages on the beach, I felt so lucky I'd met this beautiful lady, I was indeed rolling around like a dog with flees. 'I'll take you to the local school I think they need an English teacher' great I replied, this is just what I wanted and to get it so soon I felt so lucky. Luz took me into the school, wow..... The most basic building I have ever clapped my eyes on! It was bricks, white boards, chairs and that's it. They were so happy to meet me, and the fact that I was a native English speaker was just so rare to them. Luz translated, no one in the school spoke any English, including the children, NADA - nothing. I started the following Monday.
I arrived here September 11th and to be honest the last 3 weeks has been an extreme relaxation period. I've been introduced to ashtang yoga by Sarah and jimmy, yoga isn't something I considered before but here it just feels right, running isn't the sport here, neither is anything too strenuous! 90 minutes of yoga on the beach 6 days a week at 7.30am followed by a dip in the sea, it's perfect and jimmy and Sarah have taken me under there wing and treated me like family, it's heart warming and something you just don't get by staying in hostel after hostel. Jimmy is from Cusco Peru and Sarah is from London, they live an incredible and simple life which I admire, they are holistic therapists and do treatments on the beach 10am - 1pm every day, they make all there meals from scratch and love copious amounts of rum when the feeling takes them, they are kind and selfless and its heated up my heart better than a log fire on a winters day.
Days come and go, it's filled with sun hazed afternoons listening to reggae and Latino music with a very cold beer in hand wondering what I want to be when I grow up, I've met more people with dreadlocks than I ever thought was possible within 3 weeks, and every single person has something amazing to offer, whether its there travelling tips in Colombia or ceviche at there home with new friends.
I feel a change inside that feels good, simplicity reigns right now and I'm enjoying it.
Until next time.......
