Well well well, the border from Ecuador to Peru opened after COVID, I took very little convincing, and I ditched my flight to Colombia on the last day of February to instead cross into Peru by land. It was a long journey, but a considerably cheaper journey and imma be honest, in this particular week your resident broke backpacker was pretty darn broke. First, it was quite the experience finding the bus that would take me into Peru, since the service just started 3 days prior. Instead of a direct convenient Montanita to Mancora bus, I had to spend the night in a hostel in Guayaquil, travel during the day through the Peruvian border to land at the first city, Tumbes. From there, I followed the masses to the chaotic colectivo spot and hopped on another 2 hour, full van to Mancora, Peru’s main surf and party town.
Máncora in sum.
On paper, Mancora sounds like the Peruvian Montanita. Party and surf. In theory, I really did not enjoy it, felt pretty unsafe, not surfy, and just a bit gross in my opinion. I’ve been planning this Peru trip for several years, so was so surprised how poorly I experienced Mancora. The first night, I stayed in the Wild Rover which is the cheapest place in town ($6 hostel) but is far from the city center/shops, far from the surf point, and has no kitchen. Up to that point, it was one of the least comfortable nights of sleep in my travels, full of heat, mosquitoes, and partiers going in and out all night. I was still kinda trying to get my bearings in Peru and work a bit before my next destination, so I booked a single for $12 a night in Hotel Pachamama for the next two nights, which put me in front of the surf point and next to the city center. My first attempt at surfing in Peru was one of my all time kookiest moments— I rented a pretty 8 foot hardtop longboard because the waves were minuscule for sunset. After 30 minutes, I proceeded to bonk myself right next to my eye, giving myself my gnarliest black eye to date. The rest of the week I was looking real funky but had a funny story to tell!
Although I woke up with a swollen eye socket, I still wanted to properly try surfing Mancora on a swell so I woke up early the following morning, finally got a shortboard, and tried to surf the left point for a few hours. This reminded me of the point breaks in Puerto Escondido, full of people, beginners, impossible to get your own wave or if you do expect to get dropped in on…. Not to say its not a beautiful, hollow, wave but because there’s really just one point for this whole city, surfing even at 7 am was beyond painful. Dedicated surfers, or soul surfers, I would leave surfing Mancora completely out of your itinerary if you come to Peru… you’ve been warned.
In terms of what the rest of Mancora held for me: a good launching place for seeing the rest of Peru, and just lots of Peruvians coming for vacation, it was full of people and tuk tuks bustling around… I saw a few cute cafes on the main road but didn’t really explore many food options, nor did I party here and this place is famous for its parties! If you really wanna see it for yourself, go for it, but Mancora was not my place!
Now a place I did resonate with much more was my next surf town, Lobitos! From Mancora, I took a two hour bus south to Talara, and another overly packed colectivo for 6 soles ($1.50) that went along a dirt road for 30 minutes to arrive in Lobitos. This place is small. You probably would never end up here if you aren’t a surfer or a local. But I came here just for that, to surf the day away. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was coming during the absolute hottest month of the year— March— and my body took it really hard. AC is not a thing in this town, and in my big, weird hostel, fans didn’t exist either. It was basically the hardest nights of sleep of my life. The mosquito net that I had to use made it even more suffocating and hot, and even with the net I could still hear the cursed bugs buzzing around my ears… there was no airflow in my room and on my last night, I got so dehydrated I got heat stroke and was throwing up. I know that was a lot of details but just wanna emphasize that travel is uncomfortable! And this week particularly.
But that doesn’t mean I didn’t score beautiful waves … :) I arrived at the perfect time, as I watched the ocean fill up with lines. Right in front of my hostel, La Casona, is a break called Generales that seems to only activate at night. I was able to score some pretty 4-6 foot waves at sunset on my first day, with a gorgeous Al Merrick board that I rented $40/ week. This spot can be a little complex to get in because there are waves coming from two directions that slosh you around, but everything beneath you is sand so its pretty harmless. I definitely took some shore breakers but came out alive in one piece.
mind surfed the waves allllll day with this view, yum
The other break I surfed for the glassy mornings was the main point of Lobitos, a peeling left hander with an outside and inside section. This wave can definitely get barrely depending on the size, but it can also get funky and form, break, and reform, so it technically gives multiple surfers the chance to score the same wave. It got pretty crowded here, so I quickly took up surfing it at first light when I could really improve my lefthand waves— my backside— without other people. It was such a fun week of surfing, because I got so much better at going left! (California is the land of right point breaks, so that’s basically all I know!) It got even better when I traded out my original board rental for a thicker, 5’11 shortboard that was absolute MAGIC and gave me some dreamy, dreamy lefts. There was an awesome surf community (read: every person in this town is in the water) that included locals, travelers, and some expats from Europe and the States. These waves accommodated boards of all sizes and surfers of all backgrounds, considered the wave at the point was pretty soft even on big days! There are even lots more left point breaks in town (Piscinas, Baterias, Las Cruces) but because of the summer heat I didn’t have the energy to walk there, though I’ve heard good things about them all, just don't go alone on a big day!
Lobitos was perfect for the waves, which stayed pretty consistent for the 7 whole days I was there…. But can’t say it was the best match for me in other ways. My hostel, like I mentioned, was not well equipped for sleeping, and on top of that I wasn’t supposed to use the kitchen?! So I more or less starved this week, because there are like 5 restaurants in town, most of them close half the time, and its expensive and veggie options are limited. If you come to Lobitos, I strongly recommend you book an Airbnb in town, and make sure it has a wifi, kitchen, and fan! Thats the only way you are gonna survive in this town, take it from someone who got pretty chronic dehydration and heat stroke :( that being said, my fave restaurant/ best deal was La Esquinita, where I went every morning for a veggie sandwich, smoothie, and coffee for 12 soles ($3) the other bougie place with good food but pricey small serving sizes is Bajo Fondo. In this town though, don’t plan on anything being open because the restaurants will be closed just about half the time. Buena suerte <3
my quirky af hostel was not entirely livable, but it was very vibey... its a 100+ year old home!
All in all, my week in Lobitos ended up being filled of pretty sunsets and sunrises on the water, some more online work, a lot of bug bites, fun conversations with interesting strangers, and just escaping from the world in this little oil town 30 minutes down a dirt road… if you ever choose to go, talk to me first, I’ll be your local guide
