Ridiculously Good Times and Good Food in Mancora, Peru

I finally made it to Peru.

And then the heavens opened up, the sun shined brightly, and the travel gods blessed me with the best hostel and the most amazing food of my trip.

Mancora is another one of those party beach destinations you hear so much about. I wasn’t completely sold on it, but it was close to the border and I was ready for some travel downtime… preferably in the sun by a beach and/or pool.

And well, I was reallly ready for one more thing:  PERUVIAN FOOD.

After all of the mediocre meals I’d had in Ecuador, I could not wait to get to the capital of ceviche, fresh seafood, and the Chinese-Peruvian food fusion known as chifa. I will admit I was skeptical about whether or not Peru would live up to all the culinary hype that it gets, but Mancora answered that for me with a resounding ¡SÍ!

This little town is a super touristy beach destination, complete with trashy neon tank tops and shell magnets, so I figured the food could be hit or miss. God knows Montañita’s food wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. But I don’t think I had a single bad meal while I was in Mancora! There was ceviche on the regular (including the best meal of my trip), Thai food, fresh baked bread with delicious sandwiches, and so much seafood. I can see why some travelers settle in here for weeks or months at a time.

But it might also have something to do with the amazing, resort-turned-hostel that is Loki del Mar. It is an incredible complex dedicated to the needs of a backpacker, most notably, fun. It’s like a blissful oasis for travelers in the middle of the coastal Peruvian desert. Have I built it up enough for you yet?

I definitely downplayed all of the comments I received from other travelers prior to arriving at Loki (and even during check-in).

Folks who said, “Yeah, you’re staying for three nights? Sure you are. I booked three nights and ended up staying there for three weeks. That place is insane!”

Or the “Dude, I’ve been here for two months! This place will suck you in!”

Me: *rolls eyes* … “You don’t know me. Bye.”

I just assumed these types of people fell in love with Loki and got stuck because of the crazy partying. You know, like the silly, obnoxious “arranged fun” that hostels try to pull. Themed nights, pub crawls, beer pong, karaoke, etc…

But then I arrived and actually saw the place. And it is nuts. But in a good way.

Yes, there is a bar (where you can just add things to your tab with your wristband, which is both awesome and terrifying); yes, there is a beer pong tournament and these evil end-of-the-night things called “blood bombs” which involve vodka, Redbull, and grenadine; and yes, there are some terrible people there just trying to rage and holler all day and all night.

I still loved it.

Mainly because, among many other things on this trip, I have learned that partying is optional.

Turns out, you can partake in the activities of your choosing on some nights, and then on others you can put in your damn earplugs, hydrate, read a book, and go to bed early.

But I just happen to be really good at beer pong.

So not only did the “arranged fun” turn out to be a great time, but the company was even better. I made two friends – an Australian girl and a British girl – that I hung out with most of the time. They too enjoyed not acting like complete fools and seeking out delicious restaurants.

We quickly fell into a very enjoyable routine of food-pool-food-hammock-food-bar-repeat.

Which brings me to the food.

We hit up the beautiful and trendy Sirena Cafe multiple times for their 35 soles set menu ($10 USD), where I had this tuna ceviche with maracuya followed by seared tuna with Thai style fried rice. BEST MEAL OF THE TRIP!

They also have pasta and (real!) brownies with ice cream if you’re interested… Not that I would know anything about that (Totally kidding, I would, we went here a lot).

We also frequented Tao for Thai curries, pad thai, tiraditos of tuna, and cocktails.

At one particularly solid lunch, we had some delicious traditional Peruvian ceviche on the beach at Cevicheria Los Delfines. We ate in the open air, sharing a Cusqueña on the top deck to enjoy the view. I threw in a sizable order of chicken fried rice too because I’d truly missed Asian food and was really pumped about having so many options!

So good. So full. So happy.

I can only hope that every one of you has a chance to eat fresh ceviche with a view of the ocean, because man, it was fabulous.

But that’s not all! We also had great sandwiches, milkshakes, and fresh blended juices at Green Eggs and Ham and Papa Mo’s Milk Bar, both housed in the same little beach cottage.

Not a bad view from this joint either…

Oh, and every morning, I had breakfast sandwiches on fresh baked bread and a personal French press of coffee at Cafe del Mundo, the tiniest, cutest little morning spot. I tried so many: bacon, egg, chicken, cheese, avocado. Yes, I went three days in a row. (If it ain’t broke…)

When it came time to leave Mancora, I wasn’t really ready. (I guess all those partying fools were right.) I think I liked it so much because for one of the first times on this trip, I felt like I was truly on vacation.

There was no planning or logistics to handle. There were no must-do touristy things I had to get to, no sites to see, no pressure to get up from the hammock or out of the pool chair at all. And it was glorious.

Is this your speed of travel? And can you believe that a hostel like this actually exists?!