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Published: September 29th 2012
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The past days were just busrides followed by more busrides... I made about 1200km in 4 days... After Baños I decided to visit the third largest town in Ecuador, having said "third largest" -it doesn't mean a lot in Ecuador with an overall population of only about 13 million, so I ended up in a lovely city called Cuenca, which has a flair of a small town, given through the many brick-layered, small, one-way streets. I enjoyed most that in this city the people still know the meaning of a quiet Sunday -during other days of the week the city is unrecognisable.
Cuenca is rather small and everything is in walking distance, especially the various markets that can be found on every corner; selling fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish, juices or lunches. Other markets offer artisanal handcrafts and individuals sell bread rolls, tamales or other specialties out of a small basket on the streets. The city has a lot of charm.
However I only stayed shortly and moved on to Loja, where I only stopped to take a direct bus to Piura in Peru. The city itself is small, busy and for me of no interest. I
stayed the night at the "hostal londres" -a very basic place, cheap, safe but not very inviting... Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I knew what was to come the following night...
So the next day I took a bus during the day to make the 9 hour journey to Piura, on the bus I met another lonely traveller so we sticked together until the next day.
Crossing the border took in total three offices that had to be visited. The last one -on the Peruvian side- was a really cool guy with an almost too easy going personality, chatting and joking... I'm sure he barely sees people.
When I came to Peru at night it felt of a different continent. It's mostly desert-like... And arriving in Piura only made this first thought stronger. I felt lost as its a chaos on the streets, cabs everywhere, honking, squeezing and rushing everywhere. And I was quite disappointed to come across the fact that the first two cab drivers tried to rip us off already. After a struggle we finally found a hostel, with cockroaches, no hot water, dirty and dodgy... Still it had the best reviews
from other travellers... That's Hostal California, well, good enough for one night. Considering that all the hostels looked similar and barely any having hot water the choice wasn't too difficult.
The next morning I left straight away to another town, called Chiclayo, it's supposed to be an important town but coming across more rip off and uninviting accommodation I sat down, had a delicious lunch and went on to Trujillo, where I am at the moment.
It was night again, when I got to Casa de Clara, a lovely family business, where I finally found some clean, comfortable beds, nice rooms, a lovely honest owner and... HOT water!! Finally.
Trujillo is packed with little cabs with not-closing doors and an aggressive driving style, every crossroad is like a battle field, drivers just pushing forward, forcing their way through... And walking through a crossroad as a pedestrian, one can only wait, there is no chance to cross if that would mean that a cab driver has to slow down...
In the morning the city is peaceful and rather quiet, but towards midday only the honking of the cars can be heard over ones own thoughts... And in
the late afternoon the city reminds a street festival, with vendors selling everything possible, mostly local delicacies, speaking through microphones and music played everywhere... A bit overwhelming but I decided to buy some pop corn and get lost in the crowd enjoying the "festival"...
........
The next day we, that's two Germans and I, we're taken on a rather different -but by far more adventurous and interesting- tour to Chan Chan by the owner of the hostel, Clara. Clara is an elderly lady, with a huge passion for the pre-Inca time with many stories, interesting information and... An over 30 year old Volkswagen Beatle, that went through some rough times 😊 impossible to put into words what this car looks and feels like... It definitely caught the attention on the streets and we were guessing that it must have fallen into a river or similar and as it turned out we weren't that wrong...
I stayed now for a total of three nights in this place, as I didnt get a spot on the bus last night, therefore I will leave today. I'm starting to like Peru, no wonder though... Being around a rather "different" individual who
was like 50 years old... With a huge humor, rather shallow tolerance and definitely completely insane 😊 ... Just cool.
Besitos, Dianita
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