Hello Peru, We've Had A Rough Start, Haven't We?

From time to time, I'm reminded that I voluntarily quit a well-paying, cushy job for a life with reduced creature comforts. Sleeping overnight on a dirty bus station floor was one of those moments.

Exploring Piura, Peru and stumbled upon a presidential parade at 10 at night.

Thanks for the heads up Piura. It was rough shelling out $10 for this place. Definitely not in a touristy town tonight. 

I'm taking this as a sign that I should have stayed in Baños. Long story short, I had to take a later bus out of Baños to Guayaquil, thus missing the overnight bus to Peru, thus forcing me to stay in the terminal overnight and thus forcing me to spend the entire day on a bus. The entire night was spent being woken up every 20 minutes either by cleaning crews moving benches or security guards poking me awake for not sitting straight up in the seats. That, and 20 hours of buses has led me to Piura Peru. Probably my least favorite city thus far (the money exchange place and the cabbie definitely ripped me off big time), but it means I'm on my way to Huaraz which I'm very much excited for. I think border crossings just tend to have a little extra stress added to them. I'm just glad I didn't have anything stolen like I've heard a few times happening to people on trips like that. Time to enjoy sleeping in a bed again.