Lost in Mancora

Hola! Buenos Dias! Que tal? Todo esta bien aqui :) (Hello! Good morning! What's up? Everything is good here.) We're still working at Samana Chakra and really enjoying our time here. These last two weeks have flown by! The first five days or so Andrew and I were the only ones helping out the kitchen and were working A LOT-- almost all day, 7am - 9pm. We did have separate shifts but wanted to help each other so we would stick around. Now another girl, Kathy, is also working with the kitchen and shifts are split up so we have more time off. We've only had one day off! But most of the time, when it's slow, it doesn't feel like work-- like right now I'm technically working :) hehe. If it's slow we're able to lounge by the pool, take a dip in the ocean or go for a surf (in Andrew's case). The guests here are all really easy to get along with and, also, the staff is a lot of fun! We're becoming friends quickly, which is going to make it hard to say goodbye to this place! But we don't have to do that until the end of January, possibly mid-Feburary. When we're not working we're either reading on the beach, going out for meals, body surfing, napping, walking into town, or cooking! In fact, I'm watching Andrew out body surfing as I type this. We still really want to try out kite surfing, which looks like it wouldn't be too difficult if you know how to wakeboard. Mancora is a perfect spot because of how windy it gets in the afternoon-- similar to Maui's west coast. We haven't been practicing Yoga as much as we'd like. Our first few days here, we did participate but there was an Arco Yoga (Acrobatic Yoga) Retreat here for about ten days and had reserved the Yoga room. One night, they did invite us to 'fly' and it was incredible. There is another retreat going on until the 21st, so we will have more time for Yoga before we leave! :) Again, we've taken the initiative and made a minor change in plans! After our stay here, we plan on making our way back towards southern Peru, but go through the highlands, not the coast. We should be heading towards Huaraz for some camping and hiking! The weather will be a big change as the mountains there have snow caps. We'll gradually make our way to Ica, Arequipa, and Puno, which is in southern Peru. Then go through Bolivia to get to Argentina, taking our time. By the end of March we'll head back up to Cuzco and Macchu Picchu to (hopefully) meet Andrew's parents. Then up north to Ecuador and Colombia, and on up to Central America and into Mexico and back to the States... that's pretty far from now, but it's hard to resist some sort of planning!!

Remember to check out our photos. I added more to the Mancora, Peru album:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3195456009/a=34282164_34282164/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/