Sun, Surf and Sand - Mancora

Has been a while since the last report I filed on my findings of the environment and inhabitants of the Southern American continent. After a night or two more of excessive indulgence in Cusco we crammed ourselves into a less than luxury bus to Lima. After 20 hours of nearly freezing to death (despite wrapping myself in my hammock) we arrived with no idea how long we would be waiting for our new credit cards to arrive (had been mailed to family friends). Fortunately after three tiring nights out (come on it was the weekend!) and one night of deep sleep, the cards arrived. Within hours of their arrival we had booked ourselves on the next bus to Mancora and caught a taxi to the outer suburbs of Lima and back again to collect the cards. The taxi ride is deserving of its own seperate post, but I need to go to the bathroom so I'll leave it at a single paragraph....

The Taxi Ride.

If I were to make a highlight reel of this trip with sections of it being in a Quentin Tarantino directed theme, I would include this ride. The scene: Rush hour in Lima with just over an hour to get to and from La Molina (outer suburb of Lima). Leaving Lucas on guard with the bags at the bus station I leapt into the smallest and dodgiest looking cab I could hail (usually cheaper the worse they are). Upon giving my instructions that cab driver crossed himself and did a hail Mary (I thought maybe I might need to as well, but resisted) and then rocketed the vehicle into the throngs of traffic surging along the main arterial route of Lima. It is hard to describe the noise and adrenalin of driving at 120kmph through what appeared to be a traffic jam - some cars were stationary while others including ourselves were weaving across all 5 lanes (plus additional merging lanes) at maximum speed. The death defying stunts continued at full throttle until we screeched to a halt at the desired destination. All of a sudden I was surrounded by the tranquil sounds of a little waterfall and quietly twittering birds. After a collecting the cards and having a chat with the family friends (a incredibly lovely British couple) I was again transported back into the world of speed and noise as we lurched off again into the ever thickening traffic. Needless to say we arrived back at the bus terminal in one piece and just in time to throw my bags on the bus for the 18 hour ride up to Mancora.

Have been resting and relaxing here for two nights so far with a few more ahead(depending on whether the surf picks up or not). The days involve eating fruit, exercising, swimming, playing classic catches, writing and playing our guitars in our hammocks. Haven't taken many photos yet, but will get onto that. We're still pondering the logisitics of how we'll get to Iquitos for the amazon leg, most likely via the amazon, just a matter of catching a bus to the nearest river faring town. We'll see.