Ecuador/Peru Border and Mancora

After Cuenca we had a several hours long bus ride to the border of Ecuador and Peru on a public bus. Was a bit of a circus like affair. Couple more stamps in the passport but a hopelessly inefficient process with most officials just staring from the sidelines as we have become accustomed to. Interestingly, the border seems to be about 10km wide and the area in between is neither Peru nor Ecuador so it is filled with a huge number of people selling an absolutely ridiculous range and amount of pure junk. Its a very bright and loud place, but not one you would want to experience hungover in the heat of the desert as we were, really a shock to the senses. We thought we had got through all the border crap and were on our way to Mancora in Peru but we were stopped by the customs office of Peru about an hour down the road into Peru. Not really sure what that is accomplishing, if you had managed to smuggle something into Peru through the border you would be long gone by the time you met the customs office. Another mickey mouse affair and basically held us up for 45 mins before letting us through without searching anything. Guess you can only laugh and crack jokes. The drive to Mancora was quite nice, good smooth road and some interesting enough desert scenery. We were also on the coast so had a pretty sweet view of the ocean and it wasnt too long to Mancora. We arrived in the mid afternoon. Amazing accomodation, had a bungalow with an outside shower and a swimming pool for all the guests. We dominated the swimming pool and spent most of the afternoon performing a series of dives to impress the ladies. None seemed suitably impressed, despite Aussie Tim´s stunning effort to look like a salmon. Got amongst a few Peruvian cervezas by the pool too and was glorius weather. Got to dinner time and we went out to a local restaurant, not sure what Corry ate but I had a Chicharon de pescado (deep fried fish) - excellent. Everyone was pretty ruined so hit the hay back at the hostel after a bit of a walk around the town and down to the beach. Next morning was spent mostly by the pool in the sun again, a few ppl went into town for brekky but the hostel food was pretty decent. At around noon, Aussie Tim, Corry and I went surfing. First time for me and Corry but Tim was a bit of a pro and helped us out. I got up a few times and really enjoyed it but Corry looked like a retarded fish out of water and spent most of his time trying not to drown - despite the water being armpit high at the deepest point where waves were breaking. Had another Chicharon for lunch before looking around the local markets and hitting the banks to obtain some Sole (Peruvian currency pronounced ´solly´- as in bro). I ran into my kiwi friend I had met in Banjos which was cool. Again spent the rest of the arvo by the pool impressing the ladies, my superman dive attracted some attention whilst Corry lurked around the deep end looking like an absolute creep. More cerveza in the sun before heading out for dinner at Mancora´s finest. Much banter between the kiwis (me and Corry) and the aussies (about half the tour) about who were bigger drinkers (most ppl were a few down at this stage) and a few bets made which may or may not come to fruition as the tour progresses. I had an excellent Chicharon again - this time it was calamari though, whilst Corry went with a Chicharon de pollo (chicken). Ecuadorian and Peruvian food to this point had mostly been excellent and very cheap. Could get an entree and a main and a couple of beers for about 15 NZ. Superb value. Definitely like Peruvian beer more than Ecuadorian too. Headed down to the beach after dinner for a big drinking session. Plenty of cerveza, pisco sour, shots and many more I have forgotten. Drunken stumble back to the hostel and collapsed into the bungalow. Woke up covered in bed bug bites which was pretty average but they didnt itch too bad and I got some stuff from a pharmacy which got rid of them pretty quickly. Spent the morning chilling by the pool before packing up and jumping on another public bus to Trujillo. Pretty decent ride and we are all getting used to being on buses. After a few 10 hour bus rides, our 5 or so hour ride was an absolute piece of piss. More on Trujillo and Huanchaco in the next entry (and maybe Lima too). Currently in Nazca (doing Nazca lines flight tomorrow) after staying in Pisco overnight - went on a boat ride out to an island this morning to see pelicans, sea lions, penguins etc and then been in the desert this afternoon on a dune buggy and sand boarding. Very sunburnt...