Vaction Within A Vaction

So as you can all imagine...we spent a little more time in Mancora than anticipated. After checking into Las Olas (the waves) we kind of fell in love with this small town in the north of peru. Although we probably could have spent everyday lounging on the beach, we decided that a few activities were in order.

After spending countless hours laying on the sun and gorging ourselves with delcious food, we splurged slightly and signed up for a $50 soles mudbath experience. We arrived at Iguanas (a bar) and 9 PM and Ursula (aka. the coolest woman we have ever met!! More to come) took us away in her truck. We drove over rivers and through woods, as our guide told us all about her amazing life (Class 5 River Guide, Dolphin Trainer, Surfer, mother of two, world traveler, spoke great english, fed us wine and cheese, and had a hairless dog named Pellagro). We arrived at the hotspring/mudbath approx 30 mins later...which was a 20 x 8 mud pool with natural minerals that bubbled up from one side. Not sure how deep it was we all jumped in and found ourselves up to our chest in muddy water. It was the perfect temperature!! And muddy of course. As you can see in the picture below....we had fun rubbing mud all over our entire body and of course downing wine during the whole experience. After washing of the mud our skin felt smooth and silky, but we were all ready for a hot shower!

That´s the story of the mudbath. The End.

But Mancora continues...the next day at breakfast as we overlooked the point break in front of our hostal, Mike, Kara and I decided it was time for some surf lessons. Emily was the designated photographer (due to the damn shoulder), so there will be many pictures of me flailing on my board to come! The three of us each took a one hour lesson from some locals...wiping out multiple times. My guide Christian invited us for some dancing that night (which we were stood up for! How rude! Hahahah...never trust the locals!).

But we did meet a couple cool people during our time in Mancora (Link - a native of utah and Inigo - an english speaking local). We went out later that night for the most amazing dinner ever!! Emily and I split seared ahi and scallop tortellini...it might rank as one of my top-10 dinners EVER!!! The meals were all plated beautifully...and probably would have cost at least $50 bucks a person in the states...we walked away paying about $10 bucks a plate...a pricey dinner in peru!

A 16 hour overnight bus ride later...we are now back in the big city of Lima, awaiting the arrival of Tanya and Michelle (woo hooo!!). More updates to come when we are in Cusco and visiting the first world wonder of our list!!!

Miss you all! And don´t forget to comment!!! It keeps us connected to the real world!

Bible