Welcome to Photo Essay Week! While we have had many adventures, none can really be summed up as much as the pictures speak. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
After everything that I had read and all the recommendations for Mancora Peru, I had somehow built up this stunning resort town that I was going to find on the northern coast of Peru. I was planning on sipping cocktails with small umbrellas in them while enjoying the surfer vibe.
And while it did have the surfer vibe, I found Mancora to be surprisingly… well, a normal South American city.
Unless you stay in the few pricey hostels/hotels off of the boardwalk, the rest of Mancora is a little dusty old town with mud houses and no trees. It is a surfer paradise right underneath the strong sun in a very arid desert.
Where were the palm trees I was imagining?
Overall I did prefer the more down to earth, “quiet”, local side to Mancora over the Disneyland like tourist boardwalk, complete with shirtless hippies, barefoot surfers, and rowdy partygoers -but- there is one thing that Mancora will make in the Over Yonderlust record book: The most stunning sunset of my life.
It is good to see what the town really looks like. Spectacular Sunset. The motorbike tuk tuk thingie (love that word) looks like an old fashioned carriage.
Hey Erica! Your photos are awesome! Hope you guys have really been enjoying your South American adventure. Any idea what your plans are moving forward? Is Southeast Asia in your future??
I’m so glad you got to experience the real Manorca, Peru. The tourists sights are nice, but as the world becomes quickly interconnected, the “real” of any city gets lost in a sea of tourism. Going off the beaten trail is certainly a way to reconnect with the real culture and traditional lifestyle of a country’s citizens.
I learned this while train hopping in Germany. The only times I felt real culture shock were when I would stop off in the tiny villages, or “dorfs”, far away from the major cities and tourist destinations.
That cat shot is definitely a little gory, but it’s exactly what any of our pampered housecats back home would do if they had the opportunity!
What all is in the tree? Reminds me of the decorated trees I saw on the Nullarbor Plain of Australia 🙂
I loved Mancora so much! Thanks for taking me back there. We were only supposed to stay for two days, and ended up staying a week!
@Jan: I literally had a tear down my cheek with this sunset. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
@Laurie: HEY LADY! We have been LOVING our time in South America. I think we’re looking at possibly working in either Australia or Japan to save up some money and get some expat experience. 😛
@Kae Lani: At first I was a bit sad that we couldn’t afford the better hostels and hotels when we were there but man, after this experience, I was so glad we were on the “normal” side of Mancora.
@John: I guess I should have had a bit of a disclaimer but I thought it was so awesome!
@Heather: Shirts, paper, streamers, everything really. It was for Carnaval. 😛
@Susan: Oh wow! I could have easily stayed a week but I think our new crazy sunburns made us move on a bit faster. 😛
I stayed there for a month in 2007, then taught Yoga there for 3 months in 2009 and again in 2010. Looking forward to returning there April 2013!
I wish we had more time when we were there but were starting to run out of both money and time!