Musi is out in the ocean swimming right now and I am determined to get this blog posted. I haven't done one entry yet and I am so ready. I brought a lot of computer work with me to do here in Peru and I have been occupied with that instead of this up until now.

Ok, so about this Mancora that I have been referring to. It is a beach town in the North of Peru. I would say, the north coast--but Peru only has one coast, unlike the united states that has an east coast and a west coast.

Well, I guess this is the same as Calif., only one coast. The other thing that's similar to Calif. it that we share the Pacific Ocean. If you are out there swimming in Santa Cruz or Shelter Cove, you are in the same waters as we are, here in Peru--even though, longitudily speaking, we are in line with the East Coast and thus, 3 hours ahead of California, same as New York. However, one big difference, the water is warm!

The top picture on the right, is the view from our seat on the bus to Mancora. Our original reservation was for the front panoramic seat on the top level but we lost that when the trip was delayed. We left Lima around 3pm in the afternoon and drove and drove and drove--through the night and thru some of the morning arriving in Mancora at about 10:00am.

As on the airplane, they showed dvd's to pass the time. Unlike the plane, they served better food--at least the dinner of chicken and rice. We brought along our mango for breakfast and a mango can always make me happy.

Once again it was a relief to see our bags come out of the belly of the bus in tact. I guess things have a way of "going missing" while you are traveling.

Musi has been spendng time in Mancora for about 8 years. There is a place she usually stays called Las Olas translating to The Waves. A moto taxi driver approached us and Musi decided that he looked trustworthy enough to deliver us and our bags safely to our destination. He helped us load up and we took off for the hotel.

They showed us to a room with 2 single beds and we started to make it home. This was one of their older rooms and had open spaces between the walls and the roof. Quaint, rustic, but wait...

That night was a nightmare full of thirsty mosquitos knowing no mercy. Any skin that was uncovered was fair game. I went to sleep, or tried to before Musi. When she stopped reading I heard her go into the bathroom and smelled her come out of there like a citronella candle.

I pulled the sheet over my head and left just a little hole to breathe. After a while, I was desperate to try for some defense against the attack. I headed to the bathroom for the repellent in my bag. I took a look in the mirror and freaked. There, in front of me, was a big bump on my lip and 2 swollen eyelids staring back at me. I sprayed on my Backyard Bliss bug repellent and prayed. I got back in bed and tried to fall asleep but I tell you, I didn't get much that night.

In the morning we asked to move. The next night we shared a room with a double bed and waited for another room to open. The following day there was a vacancy and I was able to finally settle into my room. Here is a picture of our rooms. Mine is the one on bottom and Musi's is on the second floor above me.

Each day I am getting more enticed by mama ocean. Today on two occasions she certainly rocked and rolled me in her waves in sets of two. I was getting into the hang of diving into the wave if it was about to break on me. But today, before I knew it, a very large wave was headed my way, and I was too far away to dive into it. Instead as I dove towards it's overwhelming white water, I was tossed to and fro. Luckily Musi had warned me to stay in water that I could stand in so I was able to regain my balance and fortify for the next one that was rolling my way. That was enough to get my adrenalin pumping and make me head to shore.

Around 5:00 Musi and I met up with Luz, our Salsa teacher. We went to her place for our second lesson. Tomorrow we go for our third. We are hopeful that we will learn a few moves. It is challenging but fun. Luz is a very nice woman and patient with us.

Today is Saturday, Jan. 24 and we will be here till next Wednesday. At that time we will get back on the bus at 5:30 pm and arrive in Lima at about 11am the next morning.

I can't stop taking pictures of the sunsets here. When I look through them to pick which ones to post, I see beauty in so many of them that I don't want to edit the series. On that note click here to go to a full set of sunset pictures from the beach at Mancora.