Lima is a bustling city with a population of around 10 million people, and about the same again in car horns. They never stop. It is a city on the coast of Peru but I haven't seen the sun in the two days here. Very overcast and out at Miraflores, there is alot of ocean fog.

We left Huanchaco for a long days drive to Lima. We stopped along the way at two different sites where ruins have been uncovered. The first, Sechin, has only been uncovered about 10% and not much study has been done at the site so not much to know. They have uncovered carved stones that have been cleaned up and put around the site. The second site was Paramonga, an old fortress that we climbed to the top of. Some beautiful views from the top.

Our hotel in Lima is right in the city centre so after checking in we were taken on a quick orientation tour and given a brief history of the city and the liberator San Martin. We had a quick and easy dinner of chicken, chips and salad which is found everywhere here before an early night.

Yesterday morning I had to go with a few others to the Brazil embassy to apply for my visa but the guy working there was obviously on a power trip or something and wouldn't promise that he would have our passports ready for us the next day. Said he needed 3 days so we couldn't risk it so will have to try again in another city. I spent most of the rest of the day wandering around the suburb of Miraflores by myself which is nice after being with a big group all the time. Miraflores is a well off suburb of Lima right on the coast. I visited some markets, managed to restrain myself and not buy anything and then walked along the bluff which was beautiful although as I said earlier, lots of ocean fog.

Spent some time at the LarcoMar shopping centre which is built into the cliffs on the ocean but quite expensive. Argued with 3 taxi drivers before getting a decent price to get me back to the centre of Lima. Wandered around the plazas in the arvo and then had another quiet evening in. It's good to have those to recharge the batteries.

Today we watched a bit of the Changing of the Guard at the Government Palace before hitting the San Francisco Monastery. Had a guided tour in English. They have a library with over 25,000 old texts and books and boy are they old. At the end of the tour we were taken down into the catacombs where thousands of people were buried in the past. Saw lots of bones and sculls but what we saw only touched the surface. Some of the plots apparently go down for 10m. That is alot of bones.

So a relative quiet afternoon I think for me. Need to pick up laundry and pack our bags for a 6.30am start tomorrow. We are going out for a group dinner tonight to meet our new people. We are off to Pisco tomorrow and then Nazca where I will get to do the flight over the Nazca lines. No brekky for me that morning and lots of motion sickness pills!!!!!