Northern Peru Adventure - Part 8 - The (not so) old man and the sea!

The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, was one of our set books at school, and, unlike most of the others we had to study, I absolutely loved it. Being a loner myself I could really empathise with the main character, Santiago, and his lone struggle against the elements and his beautiful giant Marlin, though I would never have been brave enough to venture out to sea like that alone! Ernest Hemingway had spent time at Cabo Blanco, not far down the coast from Mancora, and some say it was the inspiration for the novel, which was set in Cuba (and written while he lived there!) - in any case some of the film version starring Spencer Tracy (who always reminded me of my grandfather as there were visual similarities!) was shot on location at Cabo Blanco, so it was a must visit place for me.
Heading South from Mancora there are other places of interest and the first was El Nuro, where they do turtle watching excursions. Just before the turning to El Nuro I stopped to take a photo of one of the several places along the Panamerican Highway where floodwaters from the Andes, rushing across the arid coastal desert, had washed away the road. The diversion round the breach caused by the flooding has become a permanent part of the highway, and now several loops form part of the road!

Panamerican Highway near El Nuro

One of the "loops" originally created by Andean floodwaters washing the road away

El Nuro

Cormorant drying wings

New development at El Nuro

A lot of turtles inhabit the coastline here and have become a tourist attraction - with trips organised so you can swim with the turtles. This is something I strongly object to - any close human interaction with pelagic creatures is, in my opinion, dangerous to them. If they associate humans with food (the tour organisers "chum" the waters to attract them close to the pier) and so lose their fear of humans this puts them at risk from those wishing to harm them. There were also two men fishing at the end of the pier, very close to where the turtles were swimming, so there is also the risk they go for the bait and get hooked.

Here, too, the pelicans roost on the fishing boats

Blue-footed Booby by the pier

More Blue-footed Boobies

Centre shot one of the turtles surfacing 

Despite the warnings this swimmer was very close trying to get a selfie

Warning sign "Prohibited to touch the turtles"

This boat was cleaning their catch and tossing scraps overboard attracting a flotilla of Pelicans

Brown Pelican

Turkey Vulture on the beach

Heading back to the Panamerican Highway to continue Southwards I spotted a sign to Cabo Blanco, and though it led to a dirt road I decided it would be more interesting than the tarmac highway, and my bike is supposed to be off-road, so I took the turning and pressed on. The road was in reasonable condition for the most part, but there were a few places where the sand had blown across making progress trickier, but no great problem for my knobbly tyres. 

Beautiful deserted beaches along the way

This "pier" is where the gas from the rigs comes ashore

... and becomes a perfect roost for seabirds

Cabo Blanco in the distance

Cliffs above the coast road

Some interest shapes formed by wind and water

Approaching Cabo Blanco

One of the multitude of gas rigs along the coastline here

"Best friends" these two seemed unconcerned by my presence, lying in the seawall in front of some fishermen's houses

Boats at anchor

I have always had a fascination for fishing ports, so checked if it was OK to go onto the jetty to see the catch being unloaded 

Heading out onto the jetty I saw this large group of Pelicans - waiting patiently for the scraps the woman above was throwing to them as she cleaned the fish

The jetty was quite busy

... with boxes full of beautiful fish

... being tallied up by the person on the right

On the opposite side at the far end more Pelicans being fed the cleaning scraps - they did fight a lot over them

These Boobies were much closer to the action, and away from the bullying of the Pelicans

I tried to keep out of everyone's way as it was very busy, with more boats arriving all the time, and ferrying the catch by tender to the jetty - it looked like this cost them a few fish each time!

Another load arriving at the jetty

Most had the fish already sorted, but some arrived with the catch mixed, and were made to turn away to sort and box the catch before pulling alongside again

Red Snapper, I think

Another tender arriving - behind is the coastline I had ridden along from El Nuro

Bonito in the orange basket

... and more Bonito

.. and yet more 

More boats sailing in - Cabo Blanco is unusual in that most of the fishing fleet are sailboats

One of the ones turned away to go and sort the catch!

More expectant Pelicans

Eventually I decided that watching all these fish being landed had made me hungry, so I headed off for a Ceviche lunch at a restaurant opposite the jetty, knowing it would be fresh, and it was wonderful. Ceviche is a traditional Peruvian dish of raw fish, that is marinated in lemon juice, which "cooks" the fish surprisingly quickly. Raw onions and chillis complete the dish, and it is usually served with choclo (large white sweetcorn), and slices of potato or Camote (sweet potato) - a small plateful is often served as a starter, but I had it as my main course. Another place I definitely will return to one day, and somewhere I would like to spend more time than a day trip.
Heading up from Cabo Blanco to El Alto I stopped to take a photo of the view from the top

Looking back from near El Alto - Cabo Blanco is hidden below the cliffs, but some of the fishing fleet is visible

Bleak lunar-like landscape a short distance from the coast

One of the gas "pumps"

 before heading back up the coast to Mancora. An amazing day all in all.

From a high vantage point on the Panamerica you can see one of the "loops" where the road has been washed away, and the detour eventually became permanent!