Mancora is a beach resort and it feels much more like Thailand or Bali rather than Peru. It has one dusty street lined by bars, restaurants and souvenir shops; most of the buildings are made from wood with palm roofs. I was staying in a little wooden bungalow with an outdoor bathroom. The hostel even had a lot of Balinese paraphenalia - batik art, carved wooden masks, stone statues of Buddha and Ganesha.

I had a five hour bus ride from Cuenca to the border between Ecuador and Peru. The border crossings were very straightforward though the Ecuadorian and Peruvian immigration offices were very far apart which was strange. Here we said goodbye to Diego and met our Peruvian trip leader, Sebastian.

On the bus on the way down the coast towards Mancora I could see oil rigs in the distance. We arrived in Mancora in late evening and went for a big dinner - everyone was sick of eating rubbish on the bus.

The next morning we went for a long walk along the beach, the weather was hot and sunny and the water was warm - we all got sunburnt despite being plastered with cream

Part of the beach is very popular with surfers - it is lined with bars and restaurants and crawling with people selling sunglasses or jewellery and kids offering horse rides. However, the part we walked along was relatively unspoilt with few people and lots of fishing boats near the shore.

We then went for lunch and had a Peruvian speciality, ceviche, which is raw fish marinated in lemon juice and chilli - it sounds strange but tastes delicious! The best meal I've had so far on the trip. After a siesta I spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool at our hostel.

In the evening when we headed out for drinks it was spitting rain - they're not well-equipped for rain there as water was seeping through the ceiling of the bar all over the place. By the time we were ready to move on to dinner it was bucketing down - the street had turned into one huge puddle and all the restaurants were raining inside through their ceilings. We got drenched and covered in mud as we ran around trying to find somewhere to eat. By that point no-one felt much like going out so we bought some drinks and took them back to the hostel where we sat around chatting til late. After I went to bed some of the guys carried on and a couple of the boys even went surfing at 3am!

The next day was quite overcast so we just spent it chilling out - a nice breakfast at a restaurant on the beach then a trip to internet cafe before hopping on another bus.