After leaving the Galapagos by plane last Friday we caught a night bus out of Guayaquil to cross the border into Peru. At 12.40am we were woken up at immigration and had to stand in a two hour queue to get our passports stamped (😴) before continuing our bus journey to Mancora. We were dropped off at 4.45am on the very much still sleeping main street and went in search of a hostel that might let us in to sit around for the day. After some begging and pleading with the night staff of Loki we were turned away but then called back and allowed to sit in reception until 7am when they would give us guest wristbands and let us use the facilities. 

I spent a very enjoyable day dozing by the pool and got out in the evening for a run along the beach before it was time to load up again and head for the next bus to Huanchaco. 

Sunday morning we arrived at Richy’s hostel, Casa Fresh, and met up with Eadaoin who’d been there since Wednesday. She’ll be taking over from Peter as my travel buddy for the next few days! Huanchaco is a super chilled town with really good, cheap places to eat. I’ve spent the last few days eating and sleeping and running and making very poor attempts to surf. On Tuesday I broke two fins off two different boards by ending up at the wrong end of the beach (twice) getting smashed by waves that were far too heavy for me. I tend to make the same mistakes a few times before learning my lesson. 

On Tuesday night Peter left us to go to Lima!

Casa Fresh is without doubt the friendliest place I’ve ever stayed. Everybody chats and makes plans to do stuff together – the vibe is amazing there. Richy markets it as a place to recharge while you’re on the road and he’s not wrong! I felt amazing leaving yesterday and was buzzing about getting to Huaraz this morning, so much so that I didn’t manage to pull off my usual party trick of being unconscious before the bus driver even gets his key in the ignition. The bus journey wasn’t awful though and Eadaoin and I arrived at 5am, luckily getting into our hostel as some people were leaving. We’ve spent the last few hours napping on the couches in the common area and will get up shortly to get organised to go trekking tomorrow.