Some more Ecuador, a bit of Peru, and a lot of drama!

After spending about a week in Cuenca brushing up on our Spanish by getting lessons etc, we finally decided to make a break for the border.

We first got on a bus and headed for Machala, and after a bit of aimless wandering around the streets trying to find the bus we were after, there was a wait of about an hour before our next bus got on its way.

We had heard all sorts of nightmare stories about Gringo´s being ripped off and things like that, so we specifically wanted a bus which would get us over the border from Ecuador into Peru.

Luckily there wasn´t too much drama, and we got our passports stamped in Tumbes and then made our way onto Mancora, which was a popular surfers destination, so it was nice to trade in the cold weather gear for a bit more beach action for a day or two.

We had decided that we´d had a lot more fun in Fiji and we weren´t exactly craving lots of beaches just yet, so after two nights we decided to organise a night bus to head to Trujillo.

Our first night bus experience did not get off to a good start, with the first seats we got in were probably a tight squeeze for a midget, let alone someone who is 6 foot 9.

Needless to say the old woman sitting in front of me wasn´t too happy that I had now rammed her reclining seat into the fully upright position just by sitting behind her.

We decided a move was our best option, and the back seats were free (mainly because they didn´t recline), so we made our way back there.

The tv was blasting a martial arts movie dubbed in Spanish, so it took a good while to get settled.

At about 1am I think I finally nodded off, and our bus arrived in Trujillo at about 7:30 the next morning.

We collected all our belongings and hopped off the bus.

It wasn´t until after we´d gotten to our hostel, had a bit of a kip and then woken up again that I finally started unpacking my small day pack, and to my horror I only then realised that not only had my camera been stolen, but I then realised that my money belt had also "vanished" too.

I was now royally screwed, no camera, no passport, no travellers cheques, missing bank cards, no air ticket from Iguazu to Rio, and I was stuck in the middle of South America! Not a good start to Peru!

Needless to say, the rest of the day was filled in with visits to the tourist police to file reports, and then many phone calls were made to Insurance companies, banks, embassies and the like.

Our travel plans had now taken a different course due to the recent events, and our next destination was Lima, and not Huaraz like we had planned.

We did spent the two nights in Trujillo first however, and we did a trip out to see the ancient ruins of Chan Chan.

A day bus was on order for our trip to Lima, and we had only wished we had taken the same company from Mancora to Trujillo, as not only did we got through metal detectors, they had our passport info, we had to give fingerprints, and our bags were ticketed which we had receipts for, and they also took photos of everyone on board the bus to keep tabs on everyone.

Oh well, as the saying goes, a lesson lived is a lesson learned.

We arrived in Lima on the Thursday evening, and the Friday was spent visiting the Australian Embassy and arranging an emergency passport (which luckily was ready on the same day). We took a visit to a local ancient monastery, which had some big catacombs underneath where they had the bones of about 25,000 people from the last 500 years or so... pretty crazy stuff.

I also managed to replace my camera on the Saturday, and we also paid a visit to the Museo De La Nación however they had most of their exhibits closed so it was only a brief look around.

A few more days in Lima before we make a move for the famous Nazca Lines.