Yet again, we weren't treated to a good bus journey from Trujillo to Mancora as I was first hoping. In fact, this was to be the worst ever bus journey that I have ever been on in my life and I'll begin to explain why. I'm was fecked with whatever bug/infection I got on the Santa Cruz trek, so my energy levels were still at an all time low, shivering and falling asleep at every slightly comfortable moment. I slept on the chair in the bus station as we waited to board this bus for the very cheap price of 25 soles, the equilavent of €6 and due to my slumber, I must have missed what was actaully going on. Our seats were upstairs and there wasn't and ounce of leg room, so that was the first stumbling block we encountered but I was beyond caring at that stage, wanting only to sleep. There was two other gringo's on the bus and from what we learnt was this wasnt exactly the most reputable company to travel with, each one of us on the bus having been charged a different price. That was the second one, albeit a very minor thing, so I continued to doze. The bus departs and we're about 25 mins gone from the station at this stage when the bus stops abruptly. The was an awful noise coming from the bus and these two girls went to investigate. They were actually histerical after seeing what was happening, screaming and roaring that they wanted off the bus, nothing more would do, as they screamed a demand for their bags to be removed from the luggage compartment. Now at this stage, I was fast asleep, I couldnt keep my eyes open but I eventually found out two days later whilst in Mancora and at the same hostel, I bumped into these girls again to see what all the shouting and screaming was about. As I said, I was unconscious the whole time and there was a loud noise coming from below deck, so when the bus stopped, off got the girls to find the driver of the bus who was only, wait for this, eh, tying a steel cable from the connection that holds the clutch, brake and excelarator pedals together to the underside of the co-driver seat so that the whole pedal make-up wouldnt fall out underneath the bus's chassis whilst in transit. They screamed and roared until their bags were removed and until they got a refund. To be honest, I couldnt believe the words that were coming from their mouths but then again I did believe it as there was something definately wrong with the bus. There's some things in life worth sleeping through and thank god that this was one of them! And then to finish off the journey, the pain of this journey wasn't over yet, about two hours away from Mancora, day light was breaking through the windows and dirty curtains, so what does everyone want at about 5:30 in the morning is only some David Guetta muck, like Titanium, being blasted from the p****in front of me off his little phone with the very big speakers. I dont do it much, but this was one of times I prayed to God to give me strength so that I wouldn't give him a clip around the ears and tell him that no body likes him!

Arriving in Mancora around 7:30, the heat of the day was already upon us and for the first time in ages, the sun was out. The 'Garua' had finally left the coast of Peru and we were ready to get the t*** out, pronto! Rather than walk, we said feck it and got a tuk tuk the short distance up the main drag to where our hostel was located. Loki was its name, a chain of hostels based in South America, some of which I have already stayed in, but this place is a better than the norm, complete with pool and only a few metres from the beach. The rooms were big, clean and cool in the afternoon sun, ideal for relaxing. The place for the price we paid was a dream, a great place to lie out and do absolutely nothing and that was certainly my aim for the next few days. I was still reeling a small bit from my illness so I decided enough was enough and dosed up on some drugs to get me back fighting middling fit.

There wasnt much standout things I would say from Mancora other than I slept, relaxed, ate good food and met some really cool people, some albeit a tad bit younger than yours truly but good folks all the same. Going pure ape s***e each and every night wasnt exactly for me day in, day out, but I was glad that I was in an environment where I could do so at any such moment. The beach along the town of Mancora has become very popular in recent years but they dont know how long its going to last as theres been so much building along the shoreline and with the proceeding tides over the past few years, the waters are treathening the towns social existance. But if that happens, the only thing that they can do, is move to higher ground and start afresh. By the looks of it anyways, those little shacks that were selling me copious amounts of white russians on one or two given nights I was there, there doesn't seem like theres much in the area of foundations, so a sledge and axe should sort out the demolition in about 7 mins or so.

There was a few good places to eat, namely the Mexican joint which I cant remember the name and my personal favourite, a little known jem of a haunt just off the beach where no one seems to go but yet is highly recommended on tripadvisor, called Green Eggs and Ham. The food was yum but what made this place special and stand apart from the rest were their beverages. Even on my first day of my course of antibiotics, I couldnt bypass the chance to have one of their imperial drinks, which was basically a white russian, topped with vanilla icecream served with a moustache straw. Holy Mary, Mother of God, it was delicious. The type of drink that you'd see Nigella Lawson getting up during the middle of the night in her nightie to take a sip out of it from the fridge!

At this stage, I was feeling a bit better so I decided I earned myself a little beer or fourteen as I havent had one in weeks and had eaten nothing either. So, one thing led to the another at the hostel bar, where I had bumped in the Irish lads that I had met a few weeks ago down in Huachachina. Dont ask me how it happened, but the six or seven of us Paddies managed to get up on this one strong wooden table roaring Ole Ole Ole and shouting random abuse at whoever would look at us and the Peruvians who worked there were no better, all lined up along the bar were hurling back abuse in Spanish. This went on for a few minutes until we were then told to stop by management, so that was that! Oiled to the gills at this stage, we said we'd all go the the shacks along the beach for yet more white russians. We, and when I say we, I mean me, stumbled upon a shack playing some house tracks and in my inebriation, I mumbled over the decks if he had such and such a tune? Even better, all he was using was youtube, so he said I could have a go. Perfecto! I was in that bad a shape that it took we good few minutes of fiddling with all the nobs on the mixer to find out that he wasn't using it and was just mixing from one youtube tab to the other. Ah, I said to said to myself as I knock the mixer on the ground, dangling from its cables. Thankfully, no one saw me and I continued to look out over the sea in the darkness of night thinking of a song, just one song, any song to play, a bit like the priest from Father Ted playing the Specials - Ghost town. All that I could come up with was Meeker - Save Me which I rocked out to my own enjoyment and no one else's. Slowly but surely my dreams of being a DJ were disappearing as quick as my short sight vision that night, so I decided to put into play one of my special disappearing acts as I vanished in plume of smoke to the comfort of my own bed without telling a soul.

As I said, Mancora was a place for sleeping, sleeping, sunning myself and the occasional drink, so I wont bore you with the other minimal things I did such as showering, brushing my teeth etc, but this was the my last port of call in Peru before we left for our next country, Ecuador. To sum up the country for the month that I spent there, here is a list of my favourite things to do, my best experiences and things I want to come back to do some day before I die.

1. Trekking from the lost city of Choquequirao to Machu Picchu with my now good friend Danny Schminke over a fantastic, gruelling 7 - day expidition.

2. Meeting Karly, Sally and Danny in Cusco and going bonkers.

3. Visiting Colca Canyon outside of Arequipa and relaxing in the nearby thermal baths

4. Enjoying the Peruvian cooking experience with Karly in Arequipa and whipping up some great Pisco Sours.

5. Dune buggying and sand boarding in the Oasis of Huachachina. Muy Bueno!

6. The water fountain park in Lima and enjoying such great food there.

7. The 4 - day Santa Cruz trek in Huaraz

8. Beautiful scenery wherever you go from waterfalls to desert, from snow to beaches, from valleys to sunken lost cities, these are the reason that Peru is rated as one of the best places to go in Latin America.

9. Coming back one day to trek the Huayhuash, a 10 - day expedition through the cordillera's outside of Huaraz, supposedly the best trek at high altitude in the world after a small little place called the Himalaya's.

Peru, you've been amazing to me. Lets get it on Ecuador!