Nigel: We left HK and headed to our next destination, Lima the capital of Peru. To get there we had to take two 13 hour flights which included an overnight stop in Amsterdam. We arrived in Lima late at night and as we had heard some stories of taxi scams at the airport, we arranged a pick up by the hostel. We also heard that it was common for the drivers to work with thieves and plan bag snatches as you wait at traffic lights. Paranoid about this and very jet lagged we were watching every person and vehicle that went past. All was ok and we arrived at the hostel after about 45 minutes and doing speeds far beyond the limit. To our surprise the person who answered the door was a guy from England who had a very broad London accent. He was working there and he was very helpful if not a bit dodgy. To our disappointment though, it is fair to say that our room was one of, if not the worse room we had ever stayed in. We asked for a room with a court yard view. What we got was a room that was previously the outside toilet and was very damp and cold inside. Also, where the window was situated, we could hear everyone who was in the kitchen and in the court yard. The noise and the jet lag meant we didn't get much sleep whilst we were there. We booked the hostel based on its reviews it received. To this day we are still not sure how it go such high reviews!

The area in which we stayed in was called Miraflores which is close to the centre. We choose this area based on it being one of the safer areas and also the nice part of town. Lima is situated on the west coast of Peru and our hostel was a 10 minute walk from the sea front. One of the first things we noticed when we went for a walk on the first full day, was the amount of security and tourist police which were present. The city had realised that they would attract more people if they felt safe. During our time in Lima we didn't do much due to our nervousness of South America and us suffering severe jet lag. It was only 2 days ago that we were 12 hours ahead. We were struggling. Our time in Lima consisted of walking up and down the same street on several occasions, going to the cinema, walking around the shops, visiting some Inca ruins (which were closed so we could only see them from the outside), and more walking up and down the same street.

Alison: As Nigel said, we were very nervous arriving in Peru. We had wanted to visit South America for such a long time whilst at the same time being petrified of visiting! We had heard so many stories about muggings and scams that we were geared up security wise.....padlocks, bike locks, money pouches, concealed bum bags, and fake purses containing worthless money/cards! I even stopped carrying a bag in case it attracted attention (how do you manage without a bag Emily Stevens!?). In retrospect it was probably a little OTT especially because we only stuck to the secure main tourist area but it was good practice for other places that might not be so policed. After a few days we began to relax a little and realise that you just need to be sensible, avoid the parts of town tourists are not recommended to go to, and not flash your valuables. Nobody deserves to be robbed but walking around with an expensive camera on display, a Rolex (even if it is fake - you know who you are Mike!!!!), or a wallet hanging out of your pocket does give a little invite!

As with most of South America, the main language in Peru is Spanish. Unfortunately we speak very little Spanish! I had heard that not many South Americans speak English but I don't think I was really prepared for how few there were. Not speaking Spanish should not really have phased us because we didn't after all speak Russian, Mongolian, Tibetan or Chinese either but this felt different. It was really embarrassing to not know at least a little bit. I think with the other languages, it's almost as though it doesn't matter you don't speak them because they are such far away foreign languages that you aren't expected to know any but Spain is right on (well, used to be on) our doorstep so we should know some Spanish! We were looking at people blankly and saying 'erm' a lot. We couldn't even count past 5 so if anything cost more than 5 soles (currency of Peru) we were in trouble. On a couple of occasions we had to just hold some coins out in our hands whilst the waiter took the money for the bill! There was no point in wearing bum bags and being so security conscious whilst trusting any old Jose, Pablo, or Pedro to take the correct money so we vowed to learn more Spanish! Now we can count to 10.....just about!!!!!