Mancora
First place in Peru after a night bus from Cuenca in Ecuador. Our first land border crossing was an interesting experience… well no…that’s a lie, we thought it would be but finally it was long, and boring… and the fact that it was at 2am made it even less enjoyable.
It was really hot in Mancora, and it was good to be by the sea and able to swim again, as we thought it would not happen again during this trip when we left Asia. Mancora is more of a party town than the quiet beach town we expected. This is not what we wanted, so we just enjoyed the sea and some very, very good food. Nicolas also went for 2 dives.
Kuelap
The fortress of Kuelap is an important archaeological site in Peru. We enjoyed it and were happy to have a guide because it’s typically the kind of place you can’t understand without. It was quite impressive to see how the Chacha people managed to make the ground level and flat at the top of a mountain more than a thousand years ago.
It will probably become really popular in the near future as they are building a big cable car which will put the travel time down to 30 min, instead of the current 2h (on a very winding mountain road). It’s clearly meant to become the second cultural tourist attraction of Peru after Machu Picchu.
Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve
Never enough Amazon! After Ecuador, we wanted a more rustic experience, so we “boarded” in Lagunas a non-motorised traditional dugout with everything we needed for the next 5 days. We slept in very basic “huts”, and saw plenty of animals. We actually saw more animals in Ecuador (which confirm what we heard/read a few times: Ecuador is the best place for wildlife in the Amazon region) but this time it felt different. The fact that there wasn’t an engine constantly roaring behind us, and that we were alone with our 2 guides made it really special. Pacaya-Samiria is also the place where we encountered the worst mosquitoes of the whole trip! They didn’t give a damn about clothes or mosquito repellent, they literally devoured us. At the end of the first day, we were quite dirty thanks to a nice mix of sweat, mosquito spray, and sun cream (as it was seriously hot and humid)… no need to describe our condition after 5 days. We had a tough guide! One evening we went to look for caymans and at one point, without saying anything, he stopped the boat in a flooded area, went off, disappeared behind the trees… and came back 10 minutes later with a baby cayman in his hands! These 5 days were excellent. It was good to experience the Amazon in both Ecuador and Peru.
Wiola and Nico on the road ! 