15/07/2019 – Travel day Huanchaco to Chachapoyas, Peru

We got up, had some breakfast and packed our bags. We checked out and our host kindly said we could leave our bags and use the lounge until we needed to leave to catch our bus later in the day. We went to the travel agency on the seafront and booked our bus tickets to travel later in the day, with the Movilbus company. The ladies there sorted our tickets, which took a little while as I think they were getting in a bit of a muddle. They gave us reed canoe keyrings because it had taken a long time! We then walked up to the restaurant Ali Mama (where our money had been torn) and paid our bill. The owner seemed pleasantly surprised to see us and happily offered a discounted bill for all the unnecessary trouble, peace was made! Then we walked back along the seafront. There were lots of kayak surfers out practising as it is the world championships here at the end of the week. We popped into the shop to buy some supplies for our journey (bananas, rolls, apples) and then to the vegetarian restaurant ‘Otra Cosa’ for a big lunch. We ate huge burritos and rice, and drank a big coffee. We went back to Bamboo lodge to have a quick change and freshen up, collect our bags, and got in a taxi to the Movilbus terminal in Trujillo. We got to the bus terminal, it was so big it really felt like an airport, we even had a little trolley to push our luggage on! We got our luggage tagged and taken from us and then waited in the departure lounge to board our bus. At around 16:00 our tickets and passports got checked and we went up onto the top floor, at the back of the bus to our allocated seats. The seats were comfy and reclined to 160°, and had a fold down foot rest. We got nestled in and set up the ipad to watch back to back episodes of Stranger Things. After about 5 hours on the road we stopped in the Chiclayo terminal, where we disembarqued for a quick toilet stop. Then we reloaded and started the long drive through the mountains to Chachapoyas. The cabin crew man served us a hot dinner of rice and chicken with a glass of coca cola, kind of plane food style. We continued to watch the ipad until about midnight when Josh switched to podcasts. Some people were snoring so loudly! It is a shame it was dark as I think the mountain scenery is meant to be beautiful, but on the other hand maybe it was also a blessing that we couldn’t see as I think the roads are a bit hairy! You can only get here by night bus though as it is such a long drive from most places. Eventually we ended up putting earplugs in and eyemasks on and dozed until we arrived in Chachapoyas at around 07:30.