Surfing Mancora
Surfing Mancora
It’s January in Germany. Every time I look outside the window, I only see raindrops falling from the sky and grey clouds. I have decided to take a break from work, catch some sun, learn how to surf, get to know a new country and improve my Spanish. My bestie at work is from Lima, Peru, and we are already doing a Spanish-German Tandem for the last half year. I love his accent, and everything he tells me about his home country.
Three weeks later, I arrive in Lima. My friend told me to go north directly to catch waves and some sun on the northern beaches, so I take another flight to Talara, in the Piura region. From the airplane, I can already see the beaches and a desert surrounding the small beach towns. It is surreal to think that I have just arrived at a completely different continent.
Arriving in Talara airport
Talara airport is the tiniest one I have ever seen in my life. Our airplane is the only one arriving at the small manoeuvring area at this time of the day, and the terminal is just a small house with a single tiny baggage claim.
Once I’ve caught my baggage I talk to Axel over Whatsapp – he’s the owner of La Maison, the hotel where I will be staying at and he’s tells me to take taxi. I’m tired from the journey, a little bit nervous, because I have never been travelling on my own before, but the very moment my taxidriver greets me with a smile, my nervousness disappears.
La Maison – Mancora
Then, I finally arrive in La Maison in Mancora. It’s a small, beautiful guest house hushed away from the daily hussle of Mancora centre, in a local district. “La Maison” is French for house or home, and the moment I step into this beautiful place, I feel at home.
Axel welcomes me warmly – right from the first moment I arrived, the atmosphere of this place catches me. It’s as if I have known this place and it’s people for a long time already. The house was built by a French architect as a family home, and the way it is designed makes it easy to interact with the other guests. They come from everywhere around the world and we speak a mix of Spanish, French, German and English over pasta and wine on the first evening.
The next morning I wake up with the sun shining in my beautiful little room, birds are singing, and I already hear Chelita and Juan, the two Peruvian employees at La Maison, happily chatting to each other while preparing breakfast.
Tanja, the friendly receptionist – also known as “Tati’s cakes” and most famous baker in town (her pastry is incredible, you have to try if you come to Mancora!) greets me with a smile as I walk down the stairs. She’s a kite surfer and world traveller. We chat a little and off she goes – delivering her cakes at the beach.
Mancora – City
After breakfast, it’s time to explore. There is a small main road in town which is part of the Pan-American highway, a network of roads stretching from Usguaia in southern Chile to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. On the road, there are several touristic shops, restaurants, pharmacies, tour agencies, mini-mercados, banks & the police station. The road is crowded with colorful tuk-tuks, that get you for as little as 3 Soles everywhere in town.
On my way back I walk on the beach and watch the surfers in the water for little while. It’s a perfect left point-break over rocks in the water. I see little kids doing airs on the waves and I am impressed. I sit down on the rocks to watch them a little more and directly meet some friendly locals.
Getting food poisoned in Peru (and how to get better soon ☺)
On my second night I suddenly wake up with heavy stomach cramps and nausea. It’s 4 in the morning when I start vomiting and I only stop when Chelita arrives for preparing breakfast. She orders me to go rest and makes me a lime tea. After a few hours she comes by to check on me – no, I don’t feel better yet. Chelita comes back with an egg and a glass of water in her hand. I look at her confused, and also a little scared – I simply hope I don’t have to eat this raw egg now. But instead she takes the egg and pats my whole body with it, stopping sometimes to catch the air around the egg and pushing it aside. She says I have negative thoughts and energy surrounding me and we need to get rid of it. In the end, she cracks the egg into the glass of water, says that she’s taking my bad energy with her now and silently leaves the room.
Later I tell the story to my friend from Lima. He’s laughing on the phone – “Te pasar un huevo” – it’s an old tradition from the northern region in Peru. I am not sure if it was her ritual or the activated charcoal Axel gave to me later that day, but the next day I already felt so much better.
Exploring Mancora
I planned to stay two weeks in Mancora, but stayed a whole month in the end (which is not uncommon, I met several people during my stay who extended their stay or returned to Mancora). It looks like a small town with little to do, but there is so much to tell you about this place, it’s people and all the amazing things to do. But let’s start with the most obvious:
1. Surfing in Mancora
My surf instructor is Pilar, she has a surf school right at the beach front and already lives in Mancora for 30 years, but she is originally from Lima. Later some locals tell me, she’s one of the first surfers who arrived in Mancora, making it to the famous surfer town Manorca is today. Pilar went to a German school in Lima and we speak a mix between, English, German and Spanish in the water, while she swims next to me with her flippers and pushes me in one wave after another.
Waves are not big on my first day, but Pilar says they can get as high as 2-3 meters and for her those huge waves are the most fun. I completely believe her, she looks like she enjoys the adrenaline.
In the water she introduces me to the people surfing next to us – Gianmarco and Kerly, he’s a local surf teacher and one of the best surfers in town. Kerly owns the little coffee shop that overlooks the ocean – Pilar lets me take the board a little longer, takes her flippers and off she goes – the three of us stay, chat and catch some waves together.
After a few times in the water, Pilar and her surf instructors show me how to walk on my longboard – something I always wanted to learn – and in my next sessions I am walking on my board – well, one, two steps and then I fall. Jorge, who’s my surf coach now, laughs, but says I will get there soon. Right before he catches a wave himself, he calls, “Hey, I want to show you something!” – I can’t believe what I see, he’s doing a yoga headstand on the surfboard! That’s next level!
Conditions are amazing here, almost every morning waves look glassy to me. One of those glassy mornings – I had just surfed one of the best waves in my life (thanks to a little push by my instructor, of cause ;)) – I saw two turtles swimming just a few meters away from me.
2. Yoga in Mancora
My second favourite thing to do in Mancora is Yoga. Patty, a soulful yoga instructor, teaches powerful Vinyasa classes almost every day in the morning and afternoon. The classes take place in a beautiful scenery, a bamboo shack just in front of the ocean, you watch the sunset while there is subtle music in the background and the sounds of waves guide you through the practice.
But there is more amazing Yoga here. One time I went with another guest of La Maison to the beautiful hotel Kichic approximately 15 Minutes by moto taxi from Mancora to practice in their huge yoga barn, placed in the middle of green trees. Frank, the yoga teacher, is from Austria and teaches a gentle Vinyasa class every morning at 9am (except Wednesdays). While in meditation I open my eyes and witness some squirrels chasing each other high up in the trees, birds flying around and a leguan climbing from one branch to the other – magical.
3. Food in Mancora
I think what made me stay so much longer in this beautiful town was also the food. For me, it’s funny to think that this is possible. I am not much of a foodie myself, but Mancora just has the most amazing restaurants I have been to in a long while. Tanja, who definitely is a foodie, showed me and all the other guests at La Maison the best restaurants in town.
Here just a little example of what I ate. Now, looking back, I am still craving those Acai bowls, Tuna steaks and Ceviche a lot:
4. Beaches in and around Mancora
Many hours during my time here I also simply spend chilling at Mancora’s beaches. The best spot to watch the surfers in the water is right in front of the main surf point and the Wawa hotel/bar. Here you can also get the best cocktails or enjoy the view from the little café on top of the hotel overlooking the ocean.
North from Mancora center is “Playa amor”. This romantic spot is perfect for watching the beautiful sunsets, or a morning walk in solitude. You will encounter little crabs that run away from you with their sideways tripping steps as you walk along the beach, people who take their dogs for a walk or swim and happy children playing in the waves.
South from Mancora there are probably the most beautiful beaches in the region – Vichayito & Las Pocitas. Almost white sand, palm trees and one boutique hotel after another. One evening I took a motor taxi all by myself to Las Pocitas and simply walked back as the sun was setting.
5. Party in Mancora
Most nights started with sunset beers at the beach and ended with a happy filled stomach after an amazing dinner. But that’s not all this place has to offer.
On some nights though, when we didn’t feel like sleeping early, we went out dancing. Wow, and the Peruvians know how to dance! My favourite place was called “Psygon”, on Thursdays, they always have local Salsa bands playing live. At first, I was intimated, some local girls were incredible dancers! But after a drink and some encouragement (the girls were so nice to show me all the basic salsa steps) I was on the dance floor until the music stopped at 3 or 4 am – I don’t remember any more.
I went to Mancora in the carnival season (February). During my time I met a girl from Mancora, Brenda (she owns this beautiful little jewellery shop: La Petit Coffret and handcrafts all the jewellery she sells herself!). One day, when we were having ice-cream, she told me that there was a carnival parade about to happen on the main street. Every year, three girls are chosen as “reinas” and paraded on colourful decorated trucks. This year, she said, her cousin is one of them. I went to watch the parade at night with her – there were so many people! And all of them with colour on their faces and clothes – before I had the chance to wonder why, someone threw water at me, coloured water, which coloured my body in pink.
After that parade, we followed the people to another part of town. The town gathered in what seemed like a school yard, there was a big stage, and a band – a Cumbia band! Playing the whole night! I went to sleep at 2am already this night, but when Chelita came to prepare breakfast the next morning, she said she had been dancing until 4am! I was impressed!
Conclusion
The Peruvian North shore is probably one of the most beautiful places I have been to in my life – it was the perfect place to escape German winter, chasing waves and sun, making memorable friendships and eating the most delicious food.
This little article is a very personal description of what Mancora feels like, from my perspective. Come find out for yourself! But be careful, it might trap you here for a little while! 😉
Author
Carlotta Terhorst, is a German freelance journalist and traveller. She’s been chasing waves and sun since her first big travels to South East Asia in 2013/2014 and lived in many different places in Europe, including Barcelona & Lisbon. This trip to Mancora on the Peruvian Northshore was her first solo trip to Latin America.
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