After travelling back from the Cuyebeno reserve, we made our way to Peru on a night bus from Quito. The bus was virtually empty when we left at 5.15pm allowing us to sprawl comfortably over two seats. There were numerous stops where we picked up more passengers. Driving along I spotted jugglers performing with their fire sticks in front of cars stopped at traffic lights! On one stop an old Ecuadorian lady came out talking too loudly in Spanish trying to sell tacky key rings and stickers. As per usual me and Si said no thank you and tried to ignore her despite the fact she right in our faces and grabbing onto Simon's shoulder. Our Spanish speaking friend informed us that her daughter had cancer and she was trying to get money. Around midnight I woke desperate for the toilet. Despite there being a loo on board - it was locked. I had to bang loudly to get let into the drivers cabin who then told me to wake the other drivers. I woke one driver who told me to wake the other driver. He was in deep sleep so I had to physically shake him to get the toilet key! Really not a nice experience!! We finally arrived at the border town around 7am and we told we'd have to back track 3km to get stamped out of Ecuador. As there was four of us they offer to store our bags for free in their back room so we'd have room in the taxi. We each used their poo stained toilet and brushed our teeth before we were driven to immigration. Unlike most places around the world, leaving and entering countries in South America has so far been pretty simple. In and out. Reunited with our bags the bloke told us that storage cost $2! Although its not much money we refused to pay out of principle! Another man offered to taxi us to the Peru immigration so we could get our entry stamps. The four of us followed him and jumped into another car with two men. Three people were crushed upfront in a five seater car. We filled in our entry formed and were stamped into Peru. To get further south we had to get to Tombes, a small town, so the man began to drive us there. On the way he told us that we needed to show the immigration police that we had money when entering the country and we weren't going to get jobs. We passed forward some of our dollars but not all, wary of his words. The money was passed to the driver and after passing the police, who didn't stop us, we were handed back $100 of fake American dollars! Simon thankfully paid attention and noticed this so complained so we got our real money back! We then asked how much the taxi would cost and they quoted us the same price of a flight!! We immediately knew we were travelling with scammers! Luckily Steve spoke really good Spanish and told them that we weren't paying $160 for a 26km taxi ride. Despite being told it was $40, we ended up paying $20 total as we had no smaller change. Steve also added in some Spanish insults!! Its sad how much people try and scam gringos! In Tombes we said goodbye to the couple who were on a shorter trip so had to head south sooner. We hopped on a bus to Mancora, a northern beach town. They refused to put our back packs underneath so we had to carry them to the back of the bus near some seats. It was mental! People stood in the isles not moving! They tried to scam us again on the bus and told us to pay even though we paid before we got on. Luckily they just accepted that fact and left us alone. After a long interesting journey we were glad to get some rest. Mancora is a small beach resort in the north of Peru. We'd heard it was a great party/surf town yet found it to be empty. The place reminded us a little of Thailand, and there were more westerners than we had seen in a long while! We stayed only a few days and checked out the beach, local bars and restaurants. Scaggy stray dogs were roaming the sandy roads and tuk tuks were constantly beeping us. There was a full moon party but the place was dead! It was nice to relax and see the sea again. After two or three days we caught another long bus south! On the bus we were sat behind two Peruvian women who were determined to put their seat back into full recline despite it being daytime. Neither me or Si had any room as leg room on the cheaper buses accommodates little Peruvian legs only. Despite asking them nicely they ignored us. The chair in front of me was one notch off full recline and my knees were already digging into the ladies back. Despite this both women stood up and tried to push the chair in front of me into full recline back so me and Si pushed against her. She began using the few English swear words she knew. Luckily the rest of the Spanish speaking bus were on our side, telling her off and smiling sympathetically at us. They were being so stubborn. When they began to have a go at us in Spanish I offered to swap seats in sign-language but they refused! We were so glad to get off that bus!!