Oh, the People You'll Meet!

After a sad goodbye to my host-stay family last Saturday, I departed from Ecuador and set out on my own. Traveling on your own can be extremely daunting at times, but I've found that it also comes with a number of benefits, provided you have the right attitude. One of those benefits is the number of awesomely interesting people that you meet throughout your travels. While there is always a fine line between meeting new people and staying safe, I always err on the side of the former and that made for a very interesting past week.

Saying goodbye to my host-mom at the bus station

My first destination after Ecuador was Mancora, Peru, a small but very popular beach town on the northern coast of Peru. To get to Mancora from Guayaquil, I took a 9 hour bus ride that cost $11.00, ohh how I love South America. Apart from a few issues at the Ecuador/Peru border (evidently I was supposed to keep that slip of paper they gave me when I got into Ecuador, who knew?) the bus ride went very smoothly.

Mancora, Peru

To see all my photos from Mancora Click Here!

I finally arrived in Mancora at about 10:30pm that Saturday night. Usually when I arrive at a place, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to stay, which can make for some interesting situations. Not only was that the case in Mancora, but additionally it was a busy Saturday night so I knew that finding a room at a hostel would be near impossible. Due to this, when I saw three lovely young ladies who seemed to know what they were doing getting off my bus, I thought maybe I should introduce myself and see if we could join forces to find a hostel. Now you have appreciate the slight awkwardness of this situation, they have absolutely no idea who I am and I'm trying to break the ice in a foreign language. Seeing as I had nothing to lose though, I decided what the heck, let's give it a shot. Thankfully we hit it off and before I knew it the four of us were searching for hostels! It turned out the the girls were from Santiago, Chile and were on vacation (two were teachers and one a nutritionist) doing a similar trip as I.

My three new Chilean friends (from left: Daniela, Karmela, and Maca) and I!

We ultimately found a hostel and next thing I know I'm being invited out to do a little dancing. It definitely beat sitting in the hostel by myself so off we went! Now I've been known to cut some rug in my day, but I don't hold a candle to the dancing abilities of 99.9% of the population of South America, alas I think the ability to salsa dance will forever elude me. For that reason, I was a little apprehensive as we walked along the beach to the bars (all of the bars are located right on the beach, not to shabby of a location). Thankfully, though I managed to hold my own and it turned out to be a great night; I even got some, delicately stated, dancing pointers.

The next day the girls decided to go shopping, obviously not quite my thing, so I decided to head to the beach. While enjoying the gorgeous water, and failing miserably at body surfing, I managed to meet some more amigos. This time two Argentinians on vacation, Mariano and Tomas. Over some beers on the beach the three of us talked about everything ranging from the US-Argentinian politics to which country has the cutest girls (they of course said Argentina). Also, I was told to tell everyone that if they're even in Buenos Aires they should go to Tomas's Pizza Place, Facio's Pizza!

Mariano, Tomas, and I

I then thought it would be fun to get everyone together, a nice little mixture of Chileans, Argentinians, and one lone american. We had an absolute blast and it was a great way to wind down my time in Mancora.

Later on, after promises that I visit everyone in Santiago and Buenos Aires when I ultimately make my way there, I packed up and headed out. So the next day after watching my final sunset in Mancora, I departed for my next destination: Trujillo, Peru.

Final Sunset in Mancora

More to come soon!