Well it was a bit of a marathon journey from Chachapoyas. An overnight bus got us to Chiclayo at about 4.40am where we got a taxi to another bus company and boarded a 5am bus to Piura. In Piura we stopped for breakfast whilst we aited to board the bus all the way to Guayaquil.

Arriving in Guayaquil was a real shock. It was the most ridiculously posh bus terminal we've ever seen. And we've been to alot. None of the usual noise and dingyness, this place was pure luxury. Three airconditioned (guayaquil is pretty hot and humid) floors, the buses depart from upstairs, the ground floor is like a mall. And this place was completely in keeping with our guayaquil experience. It didn't seem at all like the dodgy dirty run down city i'd read about.

We got a cab to our hostel, Iguanazú, which turned out to be in a gated community in the suburbs. It was amazing. It had a gorgeous pool on a terrace with city views. There were hammocks and a lovely garden and a free breakfast with scrabled eggs, croissant type things and fresh juice. We had alittle walk round the local area, went to the supermarket (also v posh) and stuff but basically just stayed in the hostel and chilled for a day and a half before heading back to the bus terminal.

According to our original plans we were supposed to be heading inland to ride the Nariz del Diablo (devil's nose) train. You can sit on the roof as it travels along a load of scary switchbacks through beautiul scenery. However, we'd heard various romours it might not be running so we decided to change our plans and head to the coast for some fun in the sun. We passed by some places on the peruvian coast on the bus and we were feeling jealous so we headed to the surf town of Montañita.