Needing a Break

It was strange taking a weekend break from Huanchaco, like we needed one… but after volunteering for over a month, 9 of us volunteers decided to go up to Mancora in northern Peru. As great as our Huanchaco days were, volunteering can be frustrating so it was good to get away.

The idea to head north came because my fellow volunteer Foreste needed to renew her visa. The easiest way to do this is by doing a “border run”. Basically going to Ecuador for the day and getting a new visa when coming back into Peru. But nifty Foreste found an easier way, she just scribbled “180” over the “60” in her passport that indicated how many days she was allowed in the country. Sorted. But we were set on going away for the weekend, so we went to Mancora instead.

Mancora is known to travellers as a party town, referred to in Lonely Planet as “Peru’s worst kept secret”. So I went with the intention of testing my partying skills, but I feel like I tested my relaxation skills instead. Which are top notch by the way.

Mancora was smaller than Huanchaco, hotter (I have a million mosquito bites to prove it) the sand was cleaner and the water rock free. This is an idea of how it went:

9am breakfast, 10am hammock, 11am cocktails in the pools. and it carried on something like: lunch on the beach, pool, ping-pong, cocktails, food, cocktails, party, beach. And that pattern for the 3 days we were there.

One of the highlights for me, I have to say was the ping-pong. I never realised how much I liked it. And thanks to Cornelia and Foreste, I discovered a whole new way to play. “off the table ping-pong” as it’s known, pretty self explanatory, and hours of fun.