Piura

 Piura is the capital city of the region of Piura in northern Peru. It's a bit bustly and not overly beautiful, yet still has an attractive air, and is a great place to gobble down some tasty Peruvian cuisine.

By bus
National buses run along the Panamerican Highway from Lima to Piura (17 hours) & some to the border with Ecuador.

ITTSA has luxury buses to:
 * Trujillo 7 hours (S/30 in Semi-cama, S/40 in Sofa-Cama)
 * Lima 17 hours (S/90 in Semi-cama, S/120 in Sofa-Cama)

Other transport enterprises are Transportes Linea, Oltursa and Transportes Flores, which have frequent buses to Chiclayo, Trujillo and to Lima.

Bus lines that run to the north include EPPO and El Dorado.

There are buses to both Loja and Cuenca directly, the latter via the coastal highway. In Dec 2019 both services leave only once daily at 9pm and arrive around 5-6am at their respective destination. For Loja it is about 48 Soles and they can keep your bag until departure in their office, which is a bit hidden behind another company called Ronca Peru, just southeast of Avenida Bolognesi and Loreta.

See
Some wonderful colonial architecture, gorgeous plazas and parks, a large market, and a museum are found in Piura.

Eat
The city of Piura is among the best places to eat in Perú. Try ceviche; fish and other types of seafood are always fresh. Another options are leche de tigre (tiger's milk, obviously is not made of a tiger), seco de chabelo, jalea, etc. Food is not particularly spicy in the Mexican sense, though there is a good deal of hot onion and citrus juice in ceviche. In Piura city you can visit El Caracol Azul restaurant, La Santitos or Cafe Capuchino.

If you want to eat traditional food, you can visit Catacaos city or Sullana city (have a care in Sullana); both have great restaurants, particularly those of Don Carlos in Sullana. In the mountains around Ayabaca it is possible to find restaurants where they serve cuy (Guinea Pig), as well as food with more ají.



Sleep
In all Piura are options to sleep. See Street View for more hotels.

Other hotels and hostels exist, including ritzier places where you can pay American prices if you want. For example:



Stay safe
Be very careful if you decide to change money with the street changers. They are known to rip off tourists, for example by tampering with their calculators to display a wrong amount, or by exchanging one of your bills with a fake one and giving it back to you, claiming it is torn. Better use an established money exchange (Spanish: casa de cambio) or even banks. Or, if you are on your way south through Peru, wait for Arequipa, which has plenty of money exchanges with great rates.

Go next
If you enjoy beaches, you have to visit Mancora, Colán, Yacila, Punta Sal (Tumbes) and Los Órganos. There is an hourly bus, between 7AM and 8PM, from Piura to Los Órganos.

The city of Colán hosts the oldest church in South America, but has no priest and therefore is only used on Sundays for mass. The beach by this quiet town is much more relaxed than in Mancora. There are bungalows maintained by a retired Belgian man who also runs a restaurant for his guests. Rooms are very cheap at S/20 per night, but food is about the same price. To access Colán, one must get off at where the main highway intersects the road into the city and catch a moto or colectivo into town.

In Ayabaca is the famous statue of Sr. Cautivo, one of the most powerful saints in Peru. Every October thousands of pilgrims walk from as far as Lima and Ecuador to adore this miraculously created image of Jesus, which allegedly was carved by artisans who disappeared from a sealed room after completing the figure, accepting no payment. Ayabaca is also close to Bosque de Cuyas, one of the most accessible remnants of cloud forest on the western slopes of the Andes. To see the forest, which hosts over 140 species of birds in a mere 600 hectares, it is best to employ a guide for S/12 per day from the village of Yacupampa, about 5 minutes from Ayabaca in mototaxi. Lodging can be had in several hotels (S/15-30 per night) around the main plaza in Ayabaca.