Adios Ecuador, Hello Peru

Mancora Mancora Mancora! A man yells. Startled, we awake into a fog of confusion. It’s 4:52 AM. We left Ecuador at 9:30 PM and caught our first (last?) overnight bus into Peru.

We had booked an airbnb for $27 in a town called Pocitas, a short distance from the Northern Peru beach town of Mancora.

When we arrived, Mr. Pancho was waiting for us.

“Mr. Ethan?”

“Mr. Pancho?”

“Si. Mucho gusto. Vamanos!”

Like zombies, we hopped into Pancho’s tuk tuk and took the ten minute ride to our airbnb.

“Estamos aqui.”

He opens the gate and we walk up a big hill in the dark bags in tow using the light from his phone to guide us. When we get to the top, Giovanna, our airbnb host is waiting for us.

Our abode for the next three days is a supremely tiny, sparsely appointed house with cement floors. Giovanna hands us keys, which I’m 100% certain we won’t be using and tells us the internet is not working right now.

No problem.

We flop down on the bed and crash hard. We wake up at 10:30 AM and open the French doors from our tiny room.

Holy smokes! Our room opens up to the ocean like an infinity pool of the gods.

We make ourselves some breakfast. Yogurt, granola, strawberries, and kiwi and sit on the patio in the kind of white plastic patio furniture that you’d expect at your grandma’s house.

We can’t get over how pretty it is.

The Internet doesn’t work, we’re completely isolated, living in the tiniest of prison cells on a desert hill filled with half finished construction projects and rebar that sticks out of the ground like weeds. But the view. Oh that view. It’s perfect.

After lunch I head back to our cell. I read a chapter in a crappy book and then fall asleep again. A few hours later, Brittany wakes me up. It’s now 3 PM.

In the mean time she does what she does best — take picture of me sleeping.

We are completely isolated here and have no idea how we are going to catch a cab back to town. Whatever. Now’s not the time to think about logistics.

We cut up some apples and cheese and sit on the patio, enjoying the view. A trio of kite surfers ride the winds in the sparkling blue ocean. Tiny birds, the size of a finger flit around the trees. A black and white cat appears from around the corner and cozies up by our feet.

We had just spent the past ten days relaxing in a beautiful airbnb in the country just outside Cuenca. It didn’t seem like it could get more relaxing but I think we managed to top it. Our tiny, tranquil casita by the sea is like a vacation from our vacation. What a way to start off our Peru journey. Happy times.