The transition from Buenos Aires was not ideal - Jo had been ill for whatever reason and was lying down in bed until I really had to get up as the taxi was here. Then Aerolineas Argentineas was terrible: our flight was delayed and the plane was cold but they would not give me any blankets despite them being in surplus in first class (NOTE: do not use Aerolineas Argentineas!). Then we had our transfer as part of the deal for our jungle experience. The guy who picked us up whizzed through the streets and we got the feeling he didn't want to slow down in case someone tried to attack us. Not a good first impression! However, the next day things seemed much brighter - we were very close to the centre and we wondered through the plaza de Armas and watched the changing of the guard: not something we usually go for but it was impressive and very tuneful! Whilst watching the guards there was a guy in front of us trying to sell visor hats. He kept putting them away and we realized there were commercial police around trying to stop street selling. I feel sorry for anyone who bought one after that as they can't have been pleasant after he hid them down his trousers! We went onwards to the Convent of San Francisco and looked at the disturbingly neatly arranged skulls and femurs in the catacombs. Within San Francisco was an unusual depiction of the Last Supper where the food on offer was the Peruvian national dish: Guinea Pig and there were children serving the Apostles. All of this was thirsty work so we relaxed in a little cafe and sampled what was to be the first of many Inka Kolas while we were in Peru: We cannot improve on the description to be found in Lonely Planet of 'bubble gum in a drink'. It is worryingly toxic yellow but sweet and refreshing after a dusty day's sight-seeing in Peru. We then wondered into the circle of a street comedian and instead of fading into the background to try and understand and enjoy a sample of Peruvian humour we become the butt of the comedian's jokes - something with which I was not impressed! Jo stormed off hating all Peruvians but was soon to have my opinion changed again when Dave got talking to a Policeman who was a budding musician having to pay the bills with police work where it was hard to make it on the Peruvian music scene. He told us lots of tit bits such as 10 years ago the streets were so crowded with street vendors that you had to walk along the road (something you would not want to do the way Peruvians drive and with the pollution that is emitted). He won our hearts by his obvious struggle to improve his family's life and almost had us in tears when he started on about how we are all the same despite colour, race, language etc and started welling up himself. The next day we had booked on a trip to an archaeological site but due to little time in Lima we also dashed off to catch a glimpse of all the gold in the Museo d'Oro. Despite a scandal in 2001 when the accusation was made that most of the Gold in there was fake it was still an impressive display (although most of the articles described in the Audio guide were not there!). We then dashed back just in time for our trip to the strange site of Pachacamac where you could see the leftovers of the Inka culture where women were sacrificed in order to woo Mother Earth because women were objects of bounty and they thought this would make the earth more bountiful. It was eerie walking round a site where graves were dug inches under the surface and if you looked hard enough you could see bits of cloth and bone. It was also bizarre to know that on June 21st every year they would bring out all the mummies of their ancestors and place them in niches and on seats and have a celebration. Not sure if I'd want to sip my Inka Kola with my great uncle not staring at me with no eyes! Another oddity we encountered was the hairless Peruvian dogs who are rumoured to help cure arthritis apparently because of the warmth of their bodies.. Great, you may think, but you were supposed to sleep with the dog (in your bed) in order to reap the benefits! The site was in the middle of the desert and it was frightening to know that many of the poorest people lived in the tin shacks around the site had with no amenities and yet had to pay more than anyone with running water because they had to buy bottled water. Esta loco! We had dropped in on Barranco, the arty part of Lima and asked to be dropped back there for dinner as they had a local food festival,. We sampled the delights of Lomo Saltado for the first time and the popular Chicha drink (made from purple corn). We finished off with some pie made with Lucuma (local fruit) and went merrily on our way home, stopping to admire once more the beautiful centre lit up magically. The next day saw an early start in order to get to the airport so we could wait for 4 hours for our delayed plane. We did not let this quash our excitement however as we had our long awaited excursion next: The Amazon Jungle.