We arrived about 9pm after a full day of buses, having left our Huanchaco hotel at 8am.

All knackered we headed for dinner in town at a steak place (great food) and had a couple of mojitos that blew my socks off!  Bed afterward (although I'd slept most of the day on the bus), don't think I was capable of doing much more because of the mojitos!

Woke up and stepped out of our Pousada to see a beautiful white beach at our backdoor!

Skipped breakfast at the hotel and headed out solo to follow the Lonely Planet recommendation of Angelas Cafe and was very very excited to find soy milk and wheat free sweet potato bread on their menu!

Had a great breakfast and ended up chatting to fellow traveller Mia from Finland.  By the end of breakfast I'd gotten some great travel trips aswell as all the dirt on Mia's lovelife!  

It's amazing how quick you bond & open up with some people ... Most likely as she knew she'd never see me again!  

The exchange has made me look forward to heading out solo again soon - which is good as I leave the group in only two weeks time!

I headed to the beach for the morning, finding the others in my group and sunning myself alongside them.

Back to Angelas with one of them for lunch - a felafel & raw food style salad with lentils.  It was oh so nice to be eating something beside chicken & rice which is precisely what the sign on the door of Angelas says, 'Tired of eating chicken & rice?'.

A quick look round the shops after lunch, another lie in the sun, then a shower in preparation for happy hour!

It was only 2 doors up from the hotel so joined the others there for a few bevvies before dinner.  That's when I spotted the yoga sign & promised myself to be in good condition to return 8.30am the next morning ...

Dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant and more 2-4-1 cocktails (mojitos were like $5-6 AUD for 2!).

Then onto the Vino bar where we had a free shot, then ran off back to the hotel before we had to kiss the bartender (the condition of recieving the free shot!).

I was awake early the next morning, ready & excited about my first yoga class in 3 months!

There was only one other attending the class with me, a Canadian lady (i think her name was Julie?), who is on a year sabattical from her government job, spending the first 6 months in Europe and the second 6 months split between Peru, Argentina and Costa Rica. 

Krista was the name of the lady who was taking the class, and she was an American who'd given up a corporate life and now lives with her Peruvian partner in Mancora. In addition to the corporate world, she was telling us how she's also given up all the mod cons & luxuries we take for granted ... Earning money in Mancora isn't like home and she's now living solely on solar power, goes without buying makeup & instead makes her own skin care products out of local produce... How's that for a sea change!

Krista & the Canadian got chatting about the yoga & surf camps available in Costa Rica and I'm now very keen on doing something like that after my tour!!! Krista attributes learning to surf with her split from the corporate world - so watch out work ... I may not come back!

The yoga class was magnificent!  It was held on a balcony overlooking the ocean and a lovely breeze was blowing, helping me stay a little cooler as I sweated it out through countless crocodile poses (viranasas?), and was impressed that I still had some of my flexibility but very little strength!

It made me realise how much I love & miss my yoga though! I felt so good after! Also looked up the surf & yoga camps as soon as I returned to the hotel!

I first had breakfast next door at another Lonely Planet recommendation 'Green Eggs & Ham' (as in Dr Seuss), changed my remaining Peruvian Soles for USD at the bank (counting out the money this time!), then back to the hotel to meet the group for our 11.40am departure to Cuenca, which requires us to now cross over into Ecuador!

Waiting at the side of the road bus station, all together with our bags around us, one of the girls returned from a nearby shop to find her daypack missing!  Ten minutes later our bus arrives and the bag is still nowhere to be found! 

The group had to board anyway and we left our guide and the girl who lost the bag & her 2 friends in Mancora to file a police report ...