20th, 21st & 22nd September 2008: After a fairly hideous night bus we arrive into the hectic city of Lima and promtly collapse into bed for a quick nap! We´re staying in an area called Baranco which is near the sea and full of colonial buildings in various states of repair. We take a walk to Miraflores which is the main shopping district of Lima. The scenery along the coast is stunning, the beaches seem popular with local surfers and the parks along side the cliff are lovely. After supper at a local restaurant some of us head out t sample the lovcal nighlife, the best of which is conveniently located just down the road from our hotel. We decide to sample Pisco Sour, made with PIsco which is a kind of white brandy made in Pisco (unsuprisingly). I am a bit disturbed when I see egg whites going into the blender but once tasting it I have to admit it´s very good indeed!

This morning Naledi and I decide to try and get in some training for the upcoming Inca Trail and decide to take a long walk through the streets on Lima. We start of in Barranco and head through Parque Central and follow the strets down t the sea, passing through a lovely little cobbled neighbourhood. We walk along the beach until we get to the pier, which after a quick look round is clearly for posh tourists and not backpackers! We head up to Miraflores and then onto another park where we both buy paintings from an artist called Moises before relaxing in the park and watching some brazilian martial arts, the name of which as completely escaped me.

Today we decide to walk around the centre of Lima and visit some of the tourist hot spots. There is the Plaza des Armas, where we admire a statue of a lady, who looks very dignified were it not for the llama on her head. Apparently when the statue was commisioned something was lost in translation and rather than get a 'crown of flames' the poor lady ended up with a llama instead - as 'flames' also means llama in Spanish. The Catedral de Lima is very ornate and after a quick wander round we head to the Museo San Francisco which houses catacombs full of bones, as this used to be the cemetery for the whole of Lima. It´s a bit spooky but very impressive. We eat supper in a train carrisge from Hull andget reay to leave for Pisco the next day.