The first Spanish city in Peru

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It would have been possible to get from Cajamarca into southern Ecuador in 24 hours of bus journeys, but at my age such things have even less appeal than they did, say, 2 years ago, so I broke up the trip in Piura. The standout feature of the city was that it was actually hot (upwards of 25C) and sunny, a combination I hadn't encountered for 6 months. It reminded me just how much I love the cold, and also hinted at how miserable I'm going to be when I finally run out of Andes to hide in. I'm firmly expecting to simply melt into a pool of John when I reach the Amazon.

Piura did provide the best value for money hostal I've stayed in in Peru, but setting new personal records for such things is not the reason I left my job, so I only had the benefit of it for one night.

Speaking of jobs, I've been an interested observer of the recent financial markets meltdown, which I feel justifies my pre-emptive strike of resigning 3 years ago. I'm hoping that the bizarre mystique of the movers and shakers in Wall Street is well and truly shattered by these events, revealing to all that they're not the smartest people in the world, just the greediest.

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