20th December

After another night trying to decide which protruding spring was the most comfortable, the one digging in my kidneys or the one trying to prise apart my ribs, we made a quick call to Jorge the friendly taxi driver and were off to the mangroves in Tumbes.
Jorge picked us up from the airport the other day, he is in his fifties and has never left Tumbes, he says he went to Chiclayo once.
Jorge is now our official driver and confidante for the duration of our stay.
His first question of the morning could not have been worse chosen though ‘have you had all the food you want at the hotel?’ This came after a no-show breakfast this morning and a kitchen empty of ingredients to make Salvador a lunchbox to take.
Esther told him about all the lies we were told by the owner of the hotel before we came and from then on it was silence all the way to Tumbes.
We had decided that I would go on the boat trip through the mangroves on my own and Esther would wait for me with Salvador.
The people here are certainly persuasive and after showing Esther the canopied boat we would be going in she agreed to come too.
We duly left from the port where Franscisco Pizarro, conqueror of the Incas and first foreigner to walk the Cuntisuyo, (how appropriate) first landed in South America.
Salvador loved going past all the fishing boats and watching the pelicans guzzle any scraps that were going.
The mangroves are impressive and warranted more time than we were able to give them.
We saw a variety of birds and Salvador soon became a dab hand at dismantling my telescope whilst I was using it.
We made one stop on our trip, at a project where they are attempting to re-introduce crocodiles to the Tumbes area.
Due to the state of the tide the boat dropped us off and arranged to meet us when we were finished.
The guide met us at the gate and immediately asked ‘where’s your boat? Was it a big guy with a moustache?’ ‘Why?’ we asked, not really wishing to hear the answer, ‘well he’s always leaving visitors here and doesn’t come back for them’, the blood was draining from Esther’s face, ‘what about my baby’s food that’s in the boat?’ ‘Oh he’ll throw that overboard’ came the reply followed by a huge guffaw, ‘just kidding, come and see the crocodiles’.
There are very few left in the wild and this croc farm has been in operation for nine years, trying to redress the balance.
We saw crocodiles aged from 11 months to 17 years being prepared for release into the mangroves.
The point was made though, that until the Peruvian government acts to protect the area properly none will be set free otherwise they might as well set up their own shoe and handbag shop.
When we finished our tour of the mangroves we went into the centre of Tumbes in search of sustenance.
There must be some food in our hotel judging by the size of the cockroach we saw scraping across the dining room floor this morning, but we have yet to encounter it. So, we thought it best to try to get ourselves sorted out elsewhere.
The Hotel Costa Del Sol was one I looked at and rejected because it was right in the centre of the city, so it might be but they had some lovely food and the service was great.
Jorge waited for us outside and then brought us back to the hotel in Zorritos.
Tomorrow he is collecting us at 9am for a trip to the medicinal mud baths, which should be nice and messy.