24th January 2010

Last night at dinner we met a young woman from Germany. She was actually born in the United States as her father was working there, but they soon moved back to Germany where she was raised. She is an architect living in New York. With the depressed economy, there wasn't much work for her and she decided to travel throughout Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. This was her last night in Mancora before moving on. She was robbed her first day in Mancora. She was walking back to her hotel from a restaurant in town when a mototaxi came by with three men. They grabbed her purse. The purse ended up giving way and her things spilled all over the ground. They grabbed her cash and took off. Fortunately, she was able to recover most of her belongings; including her blackberry and a ring with sentimental value.
Unfortunately, this kind of crime does happen around Mancora. It's tourist town and with this being the "high season" there are many strangers in town looking for opportunities. The police take it very seriously; they recognize that the economy of the town depends entirely on tourists.
We went out to the property this morning with our friends Jim and Daniella. They are from Dawson in the Yukon territory. Jim works in the gold mines and Daniella runs heavy equipment. They're in the process of building their home here in Vichayito. Neither are retired, so they can only spend 4 months a year here.
Jim and Daniella have heard us talk about our property, but hadn't seen it until today. I think they both really enjoyed the site and enjoyed looking at the architects rendering of the finished home. They were also with us when Jay spotted a pod of dolphins traveling north just beyond the breakers. We counted at least ten in the group. So smooth as they move through the water.
We also went to lunch in Los Organos at a restaurant call Bambu. It sits right on the beach at Los Organos with a great view of the fishing pier there and the goings on on the beach. Daniella and I both had lobster in a buttery garlic sauce. Jim had the parihuela; a milk based soup with all varieties of shellfish and seafood. Doug ate a chicaron; typical Peruvian battered and fried fish. It was a great relaxing lunch with good friends.
Today, being Sunday, the workers were not working. This gave us a chance to get closer to the actual construction. Doug was inspecting the work, while I was looking at what they built and putting it into context of the finished house.
One thing we lack here is a mirror. Doug has been unable to shave and I haven't seen myself except in photos for almost a month. However, while Doug was out for a walk, he found a large mirror fragment that he brought home. He uses it to shave, I still don't look at myself.