We were woken from our sleep at 4am and instructed to get off the bus. We'd reached the Ecuadorian border and we needed our exit stamp. There was only one guy working in the office and he had a really annoying habit of actually taking the paperwork from the locals who were pushing to the front of the queue. Eventually, we got our stamp and started the long walk across no mans land - the bus waits only for a little while before moving on to the next border post. On the Peruvian side, it wasn't much better, the locals were still trying to push into the front of the queue. With arms held wide, we fended them off as best we could because there is no guarantee the bus will wait. Getting our entry stamp was straight forward, there was no request to prove funds or onward travel. The only delay was for the official to work out how many days we wanted in the country despite telling him we would leave on 20th of September and 45 days would be fine. Eventually his mate told him just to give us 3 months.

Back on the bus, we quickly fell asleep and awoke shortly after sunrise. The Peruvian side of the border was vastly different to the mountainous terrain we left behind in Ecuador. We were now driving across a flat, dry desert. The bus inched it's way through Piura's rush hour traffic and pulled into the bus station precisely on schedule at 8am.

The four of us quickly got our bearings and headed across town to Ittsa's terminal but it was a slow progress. The town was really busy with tuctucs, taxis, cars and buses all over the place. By the time we reached the bus station, all the early buses to Trujillo were full so we booked on the 2pm departure.

We were able to check our bags in, just like at airport, for the 2pm bus so we didn't have to lug our big bags around all morning. We headed across town to Plaza de Armas where we found a nice colonial style cafe for breakfast. The food was good and with free WiFi we managed to sit around until lunchtime. We felt it was only right to spend some more money so we tried our first Peruvian beer, it too was good.

We had been told that Peru's buses were much better than anything we had encountered previously between Mexico and Ecuador. It was true, the Ittsa bus' 'Semicama' seats were akin to Premium Economy seat on a plane. Big, wide, comfortable seats that reclined 160 degrees (nearly flat) with a proper foot rest. Food and drinks, only soft, were served throughout the 6 hour journey to Trujillo.

The ride was so smooth, it was hard to tell if we were moving or not unless you looked out the window. There wasn't much to look at out the window though. It was just flat desert, much like Egypt. Even when there were some hills rising inland, they too reminded us of the Red Mountains in Egypt. There was a really nice sunset and the moon rose magnificaly above the hills.

We arrived in Trujillo shorty after 8pm and it was hard giving up the comfy seat to leave the bus. We took a taxi with Andy and Carlee to Munay Wasi hostel and checked in. There was only two rooms left and we got a big twin with shared bathroom although nobody really shared our bathroom. We were suddenly feeling tired, it had been a long day so it was a quick shower and bed.