Vilcabamba to Trujillo (Peru)

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Vilcabamba
Sunday 30 May - caught the bus from Vilcabamba to Loja which took about 1 hour.

Loja

Hadn't booked a hostel in Loja so spent about an hour trying to find something I liked.

Stayed just one afternoon and night in Loja so I could catch the 0700 bus to Piura, Peru.
One night was enough - there´s not much to see in Loja. It's convenient as a place to change buses if you´ve come from Vilcabamba or some other place but time would probably be best spent elsewhere.

I caught the 0700 bus the next morning for Piura, Peru and arrived at around 5pm.

Didn't like the look of Piura so made a quick decision to move on to Trujillo travelling on the overnight bus. Used ITTSA for the bus who I found very good. The semi cama seats were comfortable and the food provided just about ok. The bus stations have adopted high security policies. They are built behind massive metal gates/enclosures and have armed guards at the entrances. You also have to walk through a metal detector when boarding the bus.

Arrived in Trujillo on time at 0510.

As I hadn´t booked anywhere to stay, I waited until it was light before venturing into the city to check out a hotel.
I decided upon the hotel Colonial which was not far from the central square of the city. The room was clean with it's own bathroom but didn't include breakfast. They do have a restaurant at the hotel for paying and non-paying guests but there didn't seem to be many people using it. There's a travel agent attached to the hotel and they obviously push for excursions. After checking out a few other places for equivalent trips, I managed to negotiate a small reduction in the price.

The city isn´t really that big so is easy to explore. The main square is nice and looks even nicer after dark with the lights on.

On my last day, Thursday 3 June, it was Corpus Christi and there was a big celebration in the central square of the city which started at 5pm. Children from local Roman Catholic schools had decorated the outside perimeter of the square with colourful drawings. At the end of the celebration, the procession representing the Blessed Sacrement was led around the outside of the square passed all the children and their murals. The crowds wanted to follow the procession around and it became pretty frenzied as people pushed for the best viewing point.

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