When I was in Ecuador many of local people had told me that I would hate Lima, that it was dangerous and not a nice place, but my experience was completely to the contrary - I really enjoyed Lima and would have liked to have had an extra couple of days there.

I enjoyed a luxury bus for the journey down the Pan-American Highway to Lima - big, comfy reclining seats with air hostess-type staff who served food (a tasty lomo saltado - beef fried with onion, tomato and chips and served with rice).

I arrived late at night and went out for some snacks and drinks with a couple of the girls in the lively Miraflores district where we staying. However, when I woke up the next morning I was very sick and had to spend the whole day in bed while everyone else was sightseeing

That night I tried to go to some places in the Barranco district that had been recommended by my friend Will but they were packed (obviously good) and there were 15 of us so we couldn't get in and we had to go elsewhere. In any event, I was still feeling sick so couldn't eat or drink much and didn't stay out late. The few places I did go to were fun, Barranco seems to be a good spot for going out. Since I'd been sleeping all day I wasn't tired and was still up to laugh at everyone else when they staggered back at 3-4am - some of them even headed back out to a casino at that time!

The next morning I was feeling a bit better so I was able to catch up on sightseeing while the others were sleeping. In the central Plaza de Armas there was some sort of military event taking place with guys in old-style army and navy uniforms and a band playing - it was quite fun to watch and I had my picture taken with some of them while wearing one of their hats and holding a gun. There has been some sort of parade or event going on in virtually every town I've been so far in South America!

Around the main square in Lima is the Presidential Palace with riot police out front and the Cathedral which had a beautiful nativity scene with big statues of the characters surrounded by brightly coloured fabrics and running water.

After that I went to the San Francisco Monastery where I had a guided tour in Spanish, I managed to understand most of it. The highlight is the underground catacombs where tens of thousands of bodies were buried - the bones have been bizzarely arranged in shapes and boxes.

In Plaza San Martin I visited the swanky old Gran Hotel Bolivar, the first hotel in Lima. In the centre of the square is a statue and, the story goes, it was commisioned to have a woman with flames on her head but something got lost in translation so instead she has a little llama sitting on her head.

Lima is the most developed city I've been to in South America so far, with high rise buildings, lots of businesses, restaurants from around the world and a fabulous 24-hour supermarket (nicer than most supermarkets in London!). Though there are a lot of stray dogs, which I'm really not a fan of, and there is some terrifyingly bad driving. Throughout Peru I've seen a lot of big old-school cars, it's like stepping back in time. Among the modern cars, it seems to be popular to have husbands and wives' names stuck on the windscreen and all sorts of designs plastered on them. I haven't seen a single female driver the whole time though - strange!