Party Poopers

by Gem | Peru | Máncora

We arrived in Máncora having had the best night’s sleep on a bus ever. Good old Cruz del Sur! It felt a little bit like we’d ended up back in a South-East Asian beach town. Lots of wooden shacks and our old friend, the trusty tuk-tuk! Plus, it was boiling. Even at 9 in the morning! I was pleased!

We were staying at Loki, a hostel with a pool and a reputation for partying. There are a few Loki’s dotted around South America, mostly in Peru and Bolivia and all of them have the party reputation – which is why we’d avoided them previously. But we thought we should probably try one out and what better place than by the sea in a sleepy beach town?! We got a tuk tuk to the hostel and checked in. Our room wasn’t available until 1 so we spent the morning dipping in and out of the pool and snoozing on sun loungers. The Loki complex looked to have been a hotel in another life so there was a really good pool area, a restaurant/bar zone and a few hammocks dotted about for afternoon naps.

Once we got our room we dumped our backpacks (which are looking decidedly worse for wear now, particularly mine which is more or less held together with duct tape!) and went to have a look round town. Not much to see really, a few bars and restaurants, lots of beach shops selling sarongs, hats and the odd bucket and spade! There’s a sweet little church but that’s about it in terms of sights! The big draw is, of course, the beach. And it’s a nice one, white sand, lovely little promenade and some beach shacks looking out to the Pacific and the odd surfer riding the waves.

We decided to hit the party scene on our first night there. We started off well, enjoying a couple of cocktails and making the most of the 2 for 1 offers. We were surrounded by fun young things, most of them on a gap year between A Levels and Uni. After a few hours we began to feel our age – we were struggling to keep up with the drinking game, something called Power Hour which involved drinking a shot of beer every minute for an hour. Dan lamented how he’d played the same game at Uni and beaten everybody – not these days apparently! We’d escaped to our room before the hour was up. Maybe we’re not so young and fun anymore?!

The next day we were slightly hungover so spent the day relaxing by the beach and then, for a change of scene, by the pool. We went out for a couple of drinks and a very tasty steak dinner before calling it a night. The next day would mostly be spent on a bus to Guayaquil in Ecuador so there would definitely be no further partying that night!