Beach bums

We’ve enjoyed South American springtime this week on Peru’s northern coast, close to the Ecuadorian border, just outside of Máncora. Our hotel is about 40 minutes away from Máncora proper if we walk up the beach, or 10 minutes by mototaxi on a sandy road that is begging to be graded. 


It has been divine to be here. We are right on the ocean, with the attendant sounds of waves crashing into the beach. It has been a wonderful backdrop to everything – every meal, every conversation, every falling asleep and waking up.

The weather has been ideal, probably mid-70s as the high every day, with sunny skies and less humidity than Lima. This is the low season, so we haven’t seen many people around our hotel or on the beach. Apparently high season will start around December, when summer begins. I think that is also when the prices skyrocket, so I’m doubly glad for our beach time now.


While it’s been quiet, there’s been a lot of activity that we’ve witnessed, if not participated in. Two dogs trade off security duties here; we see them on their rounds… or during their naps. Horses trot down the beach. Vendedores walk down the beach in pairs or threes, selling hats, sunglasses, cover-ups, magazines, newspapers. Pelicans ride the air currents just above the waves. Crabs scurry to and from sand holes. Sam pointed out a whale jumping several days ago. Fishing boats are plentiful. An occasional sighting of a lizard has me excited, a reminder that we’re in the desert.

Pelicans riding the air currents

We’ve spent the week being very low-key. We haven’t needed to do much, so there is a luxury in opting to do nothing. We eat, we play on the beach or in the water, we sleep. Repeat. Sam has been especially diligent in reviewing his Spanish notes. The other night we saw a sky full of stars – a new sky view for us, southern hemisphere constellations – and the Milky Way was even visible!


Our food is mostly fish and seafood, so fresh and delicious. We even get to have multiple cups of coffee in the morning, a luxury we’ve missed, and the coffee as strong as we’d like it, which is super strong. I was confused the first morning when we went to breakfast. Where was the coffee? I asked our waiter. He pointed to a tiny pitcher, the kind you’d put cream or milk in. I hadn’t even looked in that, not having considered that coffee would come in such a small container. There was a larger container of hot water. You mix it to taste. That tiny pitcher is enough for Sam and I to each have a cup of very strong coffee – again, divine. It seems so logical that everyone can mix it to their own strength preferences.

Tiny pitchers of condensed milk and coffee

We’ve consolidated the need to go into town for groceries, diapers, bus tickets as much as possible. It’s been nice to limit the town exposure, since I’m not sure I would enjoy being there more than we have been. 

Main street Mancora, full of mototaxis

Mancora is apparently a year-round surfing hotspot, and we saw a fair number of surfer types on our town days. Sam decided to take a surfing lesson, so below are a couple of pictures of him in his surfing glory (he’s the one riding a wave in the background)!

Simon loves funny things right now, things I’m thankful that he’s enjoying, like putting on sunscreen... and rubbing it in on others. 

This morning I read a quote I’d scribbled in my notebook earlier this year when I was reading Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams: On a day like today when the air is dry and smells of salt, I have found my open space, my solitude, and sky. So fitting!