Pirua, Crossing into Peru
March 30th, 2009
View the trip so farI left Loja at 7 am. Getting up wasn’t too bad. The bus ride was pretty comfortable, even though it was an older bus and it took over 8 hours to get to Piura. It took a little over 4 to get to the border. The bus had been packed all the way up to the last town right before the border. Then there were only 6 people left on the bus, two drivers, one money collector, and three gringos. Me and an Australian had lunch with the drivers and then we got back on the bus to get to the border crossing.
The bus left us at the Ecuadorian Migrations Office and drove up ahead into Peru to wait for us. At the Migrations Office I signed out of Ecuador, about five minutes and then walked across the bridge into Peru. That was pretty cool. I had never walked across a border before, only crawled through a tunnel, but that is another story.
Once in Peru, I went right to the migrations office where I obtained a 60 day visa, I had asked for 30, but he said, “I’ll give you 60, just in case”. He was very nice. I then crossed the street and registered with the national police. Easy peasy. Not as nice as the migration officer, but not un-nice. 
I then got back on the bus and road to Pirua.
Piura was okay. I didn’t really do much there but walk around, hang out at the square, and eat. I decided to high tail it to Lima the next day so I bought a ticket for the next night. The next day was freaking hot, I couldn’t stop sweating. I took a colllectivo, a taxi full with four passaengers to a small village outside of Piura. The name escapes me now. I was the only gringo in town for sure. Hung out there a for a couple of hours and then headed back to Piura where I just hung around and waited for my bus to leave.
The bus was high end. Two levels. The first level was VIP and the top level was for us normal travlers. The seats were very comfortable. Watched a movie, ate dinner, and then played bingo where the prize was a free trip. I was one number away. Damn! They put on another movie, which I fell asleep to and woke up in Lima.
