Alison: Today we started our Peru Hop adventure. The tour started with a quick spin around Lima to pick everyone up and then we were given a run down on the bus rules......you were pretty much allowed to do whatever you want but it was forbidden to do a number 2 in the bus toilet! This point was really hammered home so there must have been some unpleasant bus journeys in the past that made this rule so essential!

The first couple of stops were just on the outskirts of Lima. We saw a giant red Peru sign with a big curly 'p' which is the new branding for Peru. Apparently the curly 'p' represents the Nazca Lines which are famous in Peru (more on that in a later blog) and the sign is very important to Peruvians as it represents a new Peru. Next we drove up to the top of a huge hill which overlooks the city to see a couple of important statues. On the way up we drove through a shanty town. Although the houses looked very ramshackle, the views were amazing. These houses were built in the days when it was legal to build a house anywhere you fancied and now these houses are considered to be in one of the best spots for city views. Our guide told us that many people ask why these houses aren't cleared so that the land can be sold for large amounts of money and luxury houses can be built. Apparently at one stage this was going to happen but the people that live their obviously protested and the government promised the house owners more rights in a bid to secure their votes in the next elections....it worked!

The first statue was a war memorial for the war which occurred initially between Bolivia and Chile but then Peru joined in to help their neighbours Bolivia. The reason the war occurred was one of the most unusual I have heard....they were fighting over bird poo! I can't remember the specifics but apparently bird poo was considered a very good source of fuel and there was some sort of dispute over who owned a particularly pooey area! The other statue was a Christ the Redeemer (the big Christ statue in Rio) style monument. We were told many Peruvians don't like this statue as it was given to them by one of their old presidents who bankrupted the country and was believed to have fled the country with all Peru's money. It seems Peruvians are a forgiving bunch though as he later returned and they reelected him! Both statues were ok but the best part of visiting them was the views over the city.

After these few mini stops, we then headed off for some longer stretches of driving. We stopped for lunch at a beach and tried the dish that is famous in Peru - ceviche. This is a fish served raw so we weren't too keen to try it but it was actually quite nice. The fish is soaked in lemon juice which apparently cooks it. Not too sure of the mechanism involved but it seemed to disguise the rawness of the fish!

We eventually rolled into Paracas which is a fairly nondescript town, late that evening and went straight to bed ready for an early start the next day to get a boat to the nearby islands that put Paracas on the map.