If you look on a map of South America, you will realize that the continent is quite big. Brazil, Argentina and Chile are definitely the three countries with the longest distances and they make countries like Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador look tiny. That is not the case though. These three countries are way bigger than they seem, if you also think about how bad the roads are it shouldn't come as a surprise how long it takes to get from one place to another. But I'm still taken by surprise almost every time. I remember when I was talking to my grandparents after taking the bus from Santa Cruz to Sucre in Bolivia. My grandma said "how can it be 15 hours, it's just 2 cm on the map". That is usually how it works.

We still got surprised about how hard it was to get from Huaraz, in northern Perh, to Cuenca, in southern Ecuador. We started our journey on an 8 hour night bus to Trujillo. We chose Cama and it was definitely worth it! In Trujillo, we met Anna and Annbel, two German girls who were heading the same direction. Together we took a taxi to another bus terminal and bought a ticket for Piura. After about 7-8 more hours on a bus, we arrived in Piura were we booked yet another bus that would take us over the border and further to Cuenca. It was another night bus and this time there wasn't even an option to have Cama.

After about three hours, we got waked up to do the border control. We went to get our stamps and then I headed back to the bus were some guys from the border control went through some of the bags in the bus. In one they seemed to find something that amused them. I walked closer and saw one of the men holding a cucumber in one hand and two dildos in the other... Well, vegetables and sex toys are all you need, right?

After a few more hours, we finally arrived in Cuenca. We found a cheap and nice hostel and checked in. A good thing here, in South America, is that you can usually check in right away even if you arrive really early. We all had a nap before going out to explore the city.

Cuenca is a nice place, the feeling is much like Sucre in Bolivia or Cusco in Peru. There's some nice cafés, beautiful houses and a very calm atmosphere. It's also the home of the Panama hats. We went to the Panama hat museum were you could see how they are made, it was quite cool. We also went to a couple of markets, during our short stay, and of course we found our favorite Cuenca-café.