Loving the beach life

Everything went smoothly for our travels up to the north to Máncora. Our flight out of Cusco was delayed a couple hours but luckily they somehow knew that the day before so when we went to check in at the travel agent, she told us and we didn´t have to go to the airport and just wait. We did still manage to have a funny adventure at the airport. Here, if your money is ripped or torn at all, most places will not take it. Well, Keri had a ripped 20 sole note that she had someone tape for her and tell her to pawn it off on the airport tax cashiers. So luckily the woman did take the ripped note. Now, I knew that the woman would then just pawn it off to the next person who needed change and let Ben go ahead of me with this thought in mind. Sure enough, the woman tried to give Ben the ripped 20 and he just turned to Keri and said "Bastard!". So we all are laughing and the woman at the window understood and gave him a different one. But as we were still laughing and carrying on, we get stopped by this older security guy. He asks us to follow him upstairs to a private room. We all look at each other and joke that this is what people who are trafficking drugs must feel like.

So there is this body scanner up there like the ones we have in our airports. He said he just needed one of us girls and Ben to go through it. Of course, any of you who know Keri Baker can just imagine her excitement and enthusiasm at this request. She hops up on the scanner and these are different in that you stand and it electronically moves you down the scanner like on a treadmill. So when it is done, Keri jumps down and asks to see the x-ray. Unlike ours in the States, the picture is just right there with no privacy. First of all, the man says that Keri´s stomach is obviously not holding any smuggled drugs but in fact the white areas are just gas. We crack up at this part. Then we really crack up when we realize how large the x-ray makes Keri look. Keri is skinny and it made her look huge. I could only imaging what my thighs would look like if Keri is a size 8 and I am a size 12 and she looked so large and in charge. Because of Keri´s enthusiasm, the man decided that he did not need to scan Ben after all. So we were allowed to leave. I truly do not think that the security man gets so much happiness and thanks from most of the people he pulls aside. Keri just kept thanking him over and over for letting her be scanned!

Anyway, we made it to Lima and the Cruz del Sur bus station with plenty of time. Luckily, since our tickets are the expensive bus cama ones, we were able to hang out in the air-conditioned VIP lounge and use the internet and watch tv for free. Our bus was definitely the nicest we have ridden. You get pillows and blankets, we watched 2 movies and then played BINGO. How funny is that? The dinner was actually really good and then it was time to sleep. You just had to be careful when returning your seat to the upright position from the reclining position as it was extremely forceful and you felt like you were being ejected straight into the person in front of you! During the daylight hours though, I couldn´t get over the difference in terrain from Cusco/Ollanta area. From Lima up north, the only things to see are dirt, dirt and more dirt in the form of dirt hills. It is just a barren desert type terrain. Not pretty at all. I am so glad that I live in Ollanta.

I slept quite well until we were awakened at 7am to the Chipmunks movie starting at the highest volume imaginable. We arrived in Máncora at 8:30am, made it to the hostel and got settled. Yesterday was a beautiful, hot, sunny day. We laid on the beach, went swimming and then hung by the pool. I was careful to constanly reapply sunscreen as the sun is super strong here. We were having a bit of a lodging crisis as it is Semana Santa this week and the whole country is on vacation. Our hostel was booked for the weekend (we have a room until Friday) so we needed to start looking. Our friend Christina had told us that a beach farther north called Zorritos was beautiful and peaceful so we started looking into places there. It was just a pain to call all these places and not get a hold of anyone. Keri and Ben had walked down through half of Máncora looking for a decent place for the weekend and all but one place was booked solid and the only one that wasn´t would be $35 per night per person. Which doesn´t seem much to you but here it is a lot!

Michelle and I then went for a walk down the other side of the beach and found 2 rooms at the very far north end of the beach for $20 a night per person. We decided to stay there until Monday and then Michelle has to go meet her brother in Lima and Ben, Keri and I are going to head north to Ecuador!! Ben has been to the beaches in Ecuador and say they are much better than the ones here so off we are going. I think we will most likely just be beaching it there, but we shall see.

Anyway, we showered and went to this amazing Thai/Chinese restaurant, had a few drinks at a bar across the street and then went to one of the beach bars near our hotel. We had our own dance party for a couple hours there before going back to our hostel and joining in the going away party for the man who had been manager for the past 2 years. He was hysterical. He is this really tall and skinny British guy named Jake, who for some reason was wearing a girl´s dress. It barely covered his butt. He was up on the bar dancing and Keri and I were dancing right up there with him! We had a blast. Then Keri and I walked on the beach to try to sober up a bit before bed.

It was pouring down rain last night and all this morning so we had a lazy morning. We secured the rooms down at the end of the beach, went for a mid-afternoon swim and then decided to use the internet. There is a big bbq at the hostel tonight so that should be fun. It is really starting to get packed here for the holiday week. Both foreign tourists and Peruvian tourists.

The beach itself reminds me a lot of Thailand. It is pretty and the surf is okay. There is no wind so kite surfing/boarding is out of the question, but you are constantly bombarded on the beach by men and women trying to sell you stuff. We are looking forward to moving to a secluded area on the beach so we won´t be bothered. Today, there were two men not even trying to hide the fact that they were either taking photos or a video of us swimming and hanging out on the beach. It was pretty disgusting. I have visions of photos of us appearing on the internet.

But this is still just a developing beach town as it is dirty and some of the places look quite run down. However, we just enjoy our view of the beach and the ocean and try to ignore the trash and the building and things going on around us. The hostel we are in is really fun and so there is always something to do.