A city in Peru coastal semi-desert town - hot, dusty and dirty. Except for area around main square not worth spending time in. Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region[1] and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.

It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532. Like most of northern Peru, the territory of Piura has been inhabited by their autochthonous group of natives called tallanes and yungas. These lived without an organization or single leader to rule until the Muchik culture eventually took control, and the mixture of these evolved into the Vicús culture. Centuries later, Piura came under the rule of Tupac Inca Yupanqui for at least 40 years, and before the Spanish arrived. ot With the arrival of the Spanish in 1532, the current mestizo and creole cultures of Piura were born. This mestizo culture includes influences from Spanish Extremadura and Andalucia, African influence due to the arrival of slaves from Madagascar (Malgache slaves), the Chinese coolies that migrated from Canton to work the rice fields and replace the slaves; and also Roma Gypsies who came as pirates looking for pearls or incognito as Spanish horsemen.

The Spanish named the city from the Quechuan word, pirhua, meaning abundance. Nowadays, Piura is known as the “Ciudad del eterno calor” meaning “The city of the eternal heat” because it is hot all year round. Piura

Check out Piura on Wikipedia

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I have learned to avoid vans because they tend to stuff too many people in. However El Dorado Bus Line could not change a 50 Soles bill for me (??) and so I went one block over to Sertour Vans. I got stuffed in the middle in the last row of the van between two overweight people. With my 210 pounds we travelled in hot weather for four hours with elbows in ribs. Unless you scream the do not stop for bathrooms.

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This morning early AM I was thinking of a little boy. He is either Norwegian or Swedish and the main in character in a movie whose name I don't remember. It was long ago at a time when the Russian space program had placed in orbit a cute little dog secured in a tiny capsule. Well the little boy had a habit. Whenever he thought things were not going well for him he would lie down on the grass look up at the sky and wonder about that cute little dog, all alone in the silence of space; and then he would reason his own problems were not that significant after all. I had good reason to identify with the little boy. As I prepared all my documents to head to the Ecuadorian consulate to get the extension to my visa I looked at the date and realized it was Saturday and after checking a bit had to accept the fact the consulate would be closed. No going back to Ecuador today. Took time to check out of my hotel. Went around the corner down a block to the Diplomatic Hotel suggested by my friend Mario; half the price, no A/C (don't need it now - it's got a fan), much better wifi. Took a cab to the bus depot and changed my ticket for Monday 1:00PM. Then walked back to my new hotel. By then I knew that, like most little town in this part of the world, in a couple of days you realize you can walk to anywhere you need to go with little problem. Then of course in the glorious warmth of a sunny day everything looks more beautiful around here and any worries disappear. I realize that since I left behind the German lady and two Israeli boy who travelled out of Cuenca with me I have not seen one person I could clearly say was Caucasian or European. The original ethnic groups of these parts are sometimes referred to as Amerindians. They pretty much make up the population around here. Not enough Spanish blood arrived here to change the looks of the people. There are mestizos of differing grades I am sure. But the Spaniard left his language, culture and religion. The weather here has been perfect; sunny and warm - because we are still in winter time. I can tell the place will be an oven come December through May because every room has a ceiling fan and window A/C units are visible in every building. And I have learned it also goes by the name “the hot city”.