After a very early 5.30am departure from Vilcabamba we took a taxi 45 minutes back to Loja before taking an 8 hour bus trip to Piura in Peru. At the border we quickly went through customs on both sides as well as a brief visit with the Peruvian Police who also took our details.
We had rapidly descended the Andes from 2500m to 200m ASL and the difference in temperature was huge. When we stopped at a dusty border town for an hour at noon it was 38 degrees!
After a couple more hours driving through the desert in northern Peru we came to the town of Piura where we stayed the night. Not a lot to say about it but we found a nice bar next to the town square and had pizza for dinner near our hostel. Short 2.5 hour bus trip south tomorrow to Chiclayo.