Piura ...a small town in Peru

We travelled by bus today from Cuenca, Ecuador to Piura, Peru. I really didn't want to another another overnight bus trip, arriving to our destination in the wee hours of the morning with feeling grumpy and tired. We found a day time option, which has turned out to be quite ok, despite the early departure of 7:15 AM and the sometimes leaps of faith in transferring buses and border crossings. We have read quite a few stories of other peoples adventures in taking a bus across the border to Peru, most of them a little on the scary side. However, I think some things have improved over the past year or two and we seemed to manage it quite fine.

The trip started at the bus station in Cuenca. We were out of the hostel early and couldn't find a taxi, so we jumped on the first bus and for 0.50 we were at the bus station in 10 minutes. Now to buy some breakfast. A couple of stale donuts and a sandwich for Jens and we were set to go. We picked up people along the way and were finally out of the city and into the highlands with beautiful pastures and vistas as far as the eye could see. We made our way down towards the coast where we passed miles and miles of banana plantations.

We reached the border town of Huaqullas around noon and although we knew we had to switch buses we thought it would be after we cleared out of Ecuador. So leap of faith, we jump into the bus we were told was going to Piura and sure enough, we get to the border office where we officially stamp out of Ecuador and clear into Peru.

A VERY DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE
The scene around us has changed dramatically. We are now on the coast where there is very little rain. It is reminiscent of the terrain in the Fujairah area of the UAE with dry rocky mountains on the one side and the sea on the other. We decided to continue our journey as far down as Piura, which is as far as this particular bus goes. There are other towns along the coast as the surf here is said to be excellent and has resulted in some laid back beach resorts and surfer hang-outs. This is not really our scene. Our destination is Chiclayo where there are some interesting sites and ruins. Yup, hate to admit it. We're not in our 20's anymore.

We arrived around 7PM to find Piura to be a very dusty city. But, we found a very modern shopping mall and we had our first Starbuck's coffee (yes, you read that correctly, a Starbuck's coffee!!) in about three or four months! What a nice treat after being on buses for 12+ hours.

BACK TO CUENCA
I haven't yet told you about our excursion in Cuenca. The reason for the trip there was to visit the Inca ruins which are about two hours outside of Cuenca. As well, Cuenca is a well preserved Colonial town and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It really is a lovely town and it is easy to see why so many expats are making this their home away from home.

It was a nice visit to the Ingapirca site where we saw the eliptical shaped temple of the sun, and the area where the tombs of the high priests had been excavated not so long ago, all explained to us by a local Canari guide with a lot of expression and enthusiasm. This is the largest Inca site in Ecuador and was said to be the second capital of the Inca empire. Overall, a good precursor to our trip to Machu Pichu.