Backpacking in the North of Peru - Part 1
SOLEQMASTER
Elisabeth was an intern at the office in Ecuador. Before starting her internship, she traveled with her cousin to the northern part of Peru for about 10 days in. Read about her experiences and adventures below:
Backpacking in Peru sounded dangerous and a bit reckless to me at first. I didn’t know the language very well so far and I hadn’t had any experience with the culture yet.
All concerns about my trip were unfounded and I was able to get to know the beautiful, diverse country of Peru, the Peruvian culture and many Peruvians. It was a great trip, with wonderful experiences and adventures that we will probably never forget.
If you have similar concerns or simply don’t have the time to plan a trip on your own, please get in touch with my colleagues. We create customized individual trips to Peru and Ecuador, according to your interests and budget.
The first days in Peru – the arrival
Going from the south of Ecuador to Peru by bus, that was the goal of my cousin and me. More precisely, the destination was the Peruvian coastal town of Mancora.
Entering Peru by foot or bus is not without danger, because the route is also a route for human trafficking. So we had to be extremely careful. In advance, of course, we got tips from Ecuadorians who had already crossed this border several times. Nevertheless, we still had an uneasy feeling that something could happen. We were constantly afraid that we might be kidnapped and hijacked, because we were young and obvious tourists with our backpacks and our European appearance and therefore probably easy victims.
Fortunately, everything worked fine and we arrived at the border safely and after showing our documents, we were able to cross the border without any problems. From there we took a cab again which brought us to Tumbes, the next bigger city in Peru. Since there was still the danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, we only got into the official Peruvian cabs, but still took safety precautions such as taking photos of the license plate and sharing and tracking the ride via Google Maps.
Arrival to Mancora
The ride cost a total of about 15 dollars and took 30 minutes. The trip to Tumbes was impressive, because we immediately noticed that the Peruvian landscape was different from the Ecuadorian one. In Ecuador, we were surrounded by lush vegetation, countless plants and banana plantations. In Peru we were surrounded by desert. What in Ecuador were plants, here was sand. Impressed by the landscape and the diversity of each country, we arrived in Tumbes. There we changed money, ordered a sim card and bought some food. Then we drove with a van for about 2 hours and 10 Soles (=2,50€) per person to Mancora.
It was already dark when we arrived in Mancora and we started looking for accommodation. After some time, we found a hostel, which was located directly on the sea and was equipped with a large room and a pool. In Mancora we had directly the feeling as if we were on vacation. Beach bars, Spanish music swallowed by the waves and many people sitting on the beach of Mancora even during the evening hours. We celebrated our first evening in Peru in one of the beach bars and had a good time dancing.
Activities from Mancora
The next day we booked a canoe tour, which included swimming with turtles. We drove along the harbor between the boats and caught some glimpses of turtles. However, since these are especially in the early morning hours near the port and our tour started only at about 10:30 clock, most turtles had already disappeared into the vastness of the Pacific. The tour lasted about 2 hours, in the afternoon we rented surfboards and tried to ride the waves, which was a bit more difficult than expected. In the evening then exhausted from all the activities, we booked another whale watching tour for the next day and then went to sleep early.
At 6:00 am we were picked up by the tour guides and driven to the neighboring town of Organos. The tour was supposed to contain the visit of sea seals/walruses, but we couldn’t see them because they had already been scared away and were not in their usual place. Furthermore, the tour included whale watching. Here we saw a mother whale and her child, but the two whales were not as active as we had hoped. So, we didn’t see the whales jumping or swimming above the water surface, we only saw their fins. After some time, we went with our small group of 6 people back towards the harbor to swim and dive with turtles. This morning there were especially many turtles there, so we could stroke and touch them. It was impressive, indescribable and unforgettable for me to be so close to these animals and to dive with them in the Pacific Ocean. At the end of the tour we received photos that our tour guide had taken of us both on the boat and in the water.
Looking back, diving with the turtles was probably my biggest highlight of our trip and worth every single Peruvian sol.
A trip to Peru is also on your wish list, but you need information and expertise from us? Contact us, and we look forward to exploring Peru with you and providing you with a safe trip! If you would also like to travel to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, we will also be happy to assist you with the planning and give you all the important details about the trip!
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