Just over a week ago, Friday 11th, Jake and I arrived in Canoa to celebrate his birthday in a suitably debauched manner. This was certainly achieved on Friday night, when amongst other things, we were served disco shots. I've always thought that drinking blue drinks is wrong, however when there's a gorgeous Swedish guy making them and encouraging you to drink them, it's sort of hard to say no. Getting up on the bar to dance straight after two of these shots may not have been my best ever idea, but luckily I didn't fall!
The other main activity of the night was watching people getting tattoos - The Surf Shak now has an amazing Lithuanian tattoo artist working there. Most of the tattoos were incredibly beautiful, however one, was much less so. A design of a pig around an 'outie' belly button, the 'outie' providing the pig with his snout. Of course on Friday night whilst drunk this seemed like an awesome idea, not so sure the wearer of the pig was so convinced on Saturday morning - although he quickly had to accept it as he has no other choice.
Saturday was fairly uneventful and luckily not hungover!
On Sunday we went over to Pete and Maija's where I cooked curry for everyone. Really enjoyed cooking, but unfortunately whilst cooking I lost sight of my clipper - serves me right for being smug about having such a good lighter all the way from home. I hoped it would come back to me before I left Canoa, but sadly no. However I do now have a particularly ugly brown lighter which belongs to the main suspect! (I know the traumas I have in my life - hahaha!)
Jake left on Monday which was horrible from my point of view, but he has promised to come and see me in Vietnam.
Tuesday and Wednesday were good days, spent a lot of time with Pete, Maija and the Swedes (the guys who bought Frans' share of The Surf Shak). One of said Swedes is particularly gorgeous, but no luck there unfortunately! Nice to have some decent eye candy though - haha! I'm hoping to catch up with all of the Surf Shak posse in Sweden for midsummer.
On Thursday morning I left Canoa and headed to Guayaquil to begin my journey south to Peru. I was really sad to leave Canoa after yet another awesome time there. Particularly hard knowing I may not get back to Ecuador, felt like I was leaving home all over again. Luckily I had company en route which made it a little easier.
Guayaquil was hot, sticky and not exactly overwhelming. I have never had the urge to visit it and probably wouldn't again. We saw a shopping mall, where I managed to get some cream for my poor feet that have been dinner for a lot of mosquitoes in Canoa, but that was about it.
I left Guayaquil early on Friday morning on a bus heading to Piura in Peru. I had been feeling nervous about crossing the border into Peru for quite a while and was pleased that it all seemed to go smoothly, yet became somewhat baffled when the bus with my main rucksack in drove away. Thankfully the guy who was sitting next to me on the bus started chatting to me and reassured me and after some time the bus returned - still don't understand why it didn't wait though. He pretty much took me under his wing and made sure I was okay at the Peruvian border too. With hindsight I'm glad I did the crossing in the day time, as I think I would have been more freaked out at night.
I finally arrived in Piura about 12 hours after I left Guayaquil. Bluntly the place smelt of shit, due to burst sewers, and I really didn't want to stay. Two Chilean lads were very sweet and tried to help me get a bus to Chiclayo, unfortunately, by the time I got there I was too late and my only option was to spend a night in Piura. My taxi driver took me to a hotel he knew and I was too tired to argue. The room was small and stuffy, but at least clean and had wifi.
At 5am this morning, I got on yet another bus to Chiclayo. Again I was in the hands of a taxi driver to find somewhere to stay. We tried a few places in my guidebook, but they were full or seemed expensive. He brought me to the Tumi de Oro - it looks nice from the outside and is cheap, but honestly, the room I'm in is grim. I will be testing my silk sleeping bag liner tonight as I'm not sure how clean the sheets are.
When I got shown the room this morning, I was on the verge of tears. I know this was partly because of tiredness and a need for food. I also know it's due to feeling homesick and lonely having left Ecuador. Luckily Adri and Lou were online to talk to.
Chiclayo is a busy town, but I didn't see any other backpacking type folks till this evening. I have also been on a bit of a bungee rope to the hotel, as I've not been entirely convinced that my goods and chattels would still be here when I returned. On a brighter note though, I have organised a tour to see Sipán and the pyramids of Túcume tomorrow. This will keep me busy all day and then afterwards I'm going to get a bus to Chachapoyas where hopefully there will be nicer hostels and some people to meet!
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