All of a Sudden, the Streets Turned to Sand.. Mancora, Peru

As I started walking, the taxi drivers followed me telling me about hotels (they get commission from) and asking to give me a ride.. I try to not be too rude but tell them I just want to walk around and find one… they tell me I’m walking the wrong direction. I’m thinking.. that’s fine, to get a point across that I will not be following their orders.. I keep walking, thinking I’d just take the next street and walk around the block… HA… ha HA.

Well, I found the next street.. if I were to ‘walk around the block’.. I would have started to walk on a dirt road.. so, I walked a couple of blocks straight towards the beach, thinking I’m bound to find a place.. and OH! All of these roads all around me, including the one I'm walking on, are all of a sudden dirt-sandy roads, with rows of connected houses on each side of me…

I’m thinking…
WHERE THE HECK AM I?! Isn’t Mancora a super popular, touristy, surf beach?! Am I really in Mancora? I’m so confused!

I finally found a couple of hostels, one offered a great price for a bungalow sort of thing for about $7US. ALL TO MY OWN… just what I needed, there were no bars or clubs around to keep me up at night… no roommates… my own room, I can be lazy on the beach all day and be a hermit at night (I had arrived on a Friday night to Mancora… it’s known for it’s parties… I just couldn’t be bothered… I needed relaxation!)

I suited up, and went to catch up on my beauty rest on the beach… there weren’t very many people around at all… but I noticed that down on the other part of the beach there were a ton of people, and lots of kite surfing, and even farther down were a hundred fishing boats! I was in a daze-y state the entire Friday… I walked down the beach to the boats and then walked back.. basked in the sun again on the quiet part.. and then went and found lunch and later dinner.

I made it my entire first day without entering the typical tourist area of the town.

Utterly confused about how Mancora could be mainly dirt roads, and where the heck are the ‘tourist’ hostels like HI and Loki, and [insert surf name here] hostel… I decided to go on a search… surely, I’m missing a part of this town.

Well, it was easy to find! I found the hoard of stalls at the market, walked a bit farther, and VOILA, a newly made road out of red bricks led to brand new buildings filled with restaurants, shops and hostels.. a boardwalk, resorts…

Welp, I found it.. then I left.. being thankful for my lack of a sense of direction (not a fan of a million tourists/tourist rip-offs/surfers.. ALTHOUGH I do enjoy looking at the latter)!

Trujillo here I come… night bus number 2 in 2 days.