Rather sadly, we landed back in Guayquil from the Galápagos and headed to our hostel (a different one from last time which was, fortunately, quieter) in a taxi complete with panic button which went straight to the police and started video and sound recording in the cab if pressed. I'm not sure if this made me feel safer or not! We headed out to the local mall, hoping for some internet time, but it was too fancy to have internet cafes. Instead we just had a wander and had a healthy dinner at KFC (mine even had some lettuce in).

We left early in the morning to catch a bus over the border to Peru, our 10th country. The bus was fine and we went through the most "tranquilo" border crossing yet. Situated in the middle of nowhere, we seamlessly left Ecuador with a woman at the counter and entered Peru with the man sat next to her. We got offered a taxi once but other than that, no money changers, no tuk tuk drivers, no 'helpers'. A bit odd really! We got some takeaway lunch from a cafe there and were surprised by how much tastier it was than Ecuadorian traditional food- we were already excited!

Unfortunately the border crossing didn't go so well for an Argentinian traveller who was sat behind us on the bus. He seemed quite annoying but maybe didn't deserve to be left behind at the border as our bus took off without him, due to some paperwork issue. He managed to catch up with the bus at the next town, by taxi, where lots of shouting at the bus helper ensued and then several rants to other passengers over the course of the journey!

Very quickly after entering Peru, the landscape changed from lush banana plantations to arid desert. We also saw a lot more rubbish, almost comparable to some countries in Central America, and more poverty than we saw in Ecuador.

We arrived in the town of Piura in Peru in the evening, where for the first time, we didn't have any local currency. After a quick stop at a cash point, the taxi dropped us off at a basic hotel which was fine for one night. Unfortunately the man at the hotel was most unhelpful regarding buses out of there the next day and sent us to a street, in the dark, where the bus company we wanted was not to be found. We decided to chance it and just turn up early the next day. After some pizza and pasta we retired to bed.

The next day, we got a taxi to the bus company suggested by the man in the hotel. They did not have buses going to our destination, Trujillo, almost as expected. Luckily the company across the road (about 10 lanes of crazy traffic!) did and we were fortunate to get the last two seats together. We paid about $10 for this trip and were impressed when we found this also included some breakfast and lunch - a bargain! Eight hours later, we arrived, and got a taxi with two German girls, to the beach town of Huanchaco. Fortunately the hostel we wanted to stay in had rooms so we checked in then went for a much needed walk along the seafront after three days sat on boats, planes, taxis and buses.

Huanchaco was not as warm as we thought it would be, getting quite chilly in the evenings but warm enough in the day. Also, it wasn't quite the beach paradise that we have become accustomed to, but has been fine for a couple of days. The hostel is nice with views of the sea, and we found some great food places where we have been filling up on tasty salads, veg and fruit after struggling to eat these foods since we stepped off the cruise. We will save the trying of traditional Peruvian food to the next place. There were countless restaurants offering a ceviche starter (raw seafood marinated in lime juice with a few other things), a main and a drink for about $4. A great deal but we weren't willing for our stomachs to risk raw seafood at that price. The town has been full of local tourists, particularly as it was the weekend and also lots of surfers who share the sea with locals in traditional straw-type canoes, fishing.

One of the main reasons we came to Huanchaco was to visit some ruins. On one day, we visited Chan Chan, a city made of adobe, a kind of sand/ mud material which was quite impressive with lots of animal motifs carved into it. It was home to the Chimu people who lived there approximately AD 850 until AD 1470 when it was taken over by the Incans. They had become experts in irrigation, diverting rivers to fulfil their water needs in the dry landscape. We also visited the museum and saw some hairless dogs, a special breed who have a higher core body temperature to make it easier for them to live in the heat.

On our second day, we visited the Temple of the Sun and the Moon (Huacas del Sol y de la Luna) which was a bit harder to get to on the local buses but was worth the trip. These temples were built by the Moche people (a civilisation before the Chimus) and were ornately decorated with painted motifs which have been uncovered by archeologists. Over the course of them living there, they covered over the old temple with loads of bricks and painted new designs. They did this five times, creating bigger temples each time they did this. This is how the art has been preserved as it has been hidden under bricks for so long. In addition, the archeologists were able to dig up burial sites and decipher the role of the person in society by what they were buried with and how they were buried. In the museum, we also read about how young warriors would fight and the losers would be sacrificied in rather gruesome ways as offerings to the Gods.

Whilst getting to both the sites, we took small local buses where we felt we had gone back to our Central American beginnings with buses that sounded like they weren't going to make it to their destination, music blaring and lots of people. We quite enjoyed it after the increasingly organised and professional bus companies we've been coming across.

Our time in Huanchaco was to end with our first night bus of the trip, something we've tried to avoid up until now. Unfortunately, getting onto it turned out to be one of our most stressful travel experiences, partly our fault. We left the hostel a bit later than planned after getting chatting to an American man and went out of the hostel to find a taxi. After seeing thousands of taxis all day long, all beeping at us in the hope we wanted a ride, there were none to be found in the evening. We walked along the sea front, getting more and more desperate before eventually finding one and telling the driver the name of the bus company and please could we go "muy rapido" (not usually a problem!). With the time getting closer and closer to the bus departing, the driver seemed to be going a funny way through Trujillo, before eventually arriving at the wrong bus terminal. Argh!! Sensing our complete dispair, he proceeded to ask someone else where we needed to be (he told us he knew!) then drove like an absolute maniac, beeping his horn for most of the journey. By this point, we knew we had missed the bus and we both felt stupid for leaving too late. But we got lucky- we arrived at the correct terminal after the bus was supposed to have left and have never been so glad that Latin American buses never leave on time! The bus had actually started to move but waited for us to get on, after we jumped in front of it. What a relief! Unfortunately the journey wasn't so great, inside the bus was sweltering and I didn't really sleep but at least we had made the bus!

Katy