PISSED ON PISCO SOURS….ME ENCANTA

After having had some great insider tips on arrival in both Caracas and Bogota, we thought we were going to have to figure out Lima for ourselves. But as soon as we arrived at the Loki hostel in Miraflores (a Lima suburb), the girl behind the bar insisted that our first stop should be a local restaurant for ceviche, a Peruvian speciality. Ceviche is raw fish and seafood cooked only in lemon juice and served with red onions. The restaurant is so popular that even the locals queue up outside to wait for a table. While we were waiting, we were befriended by a lovely couple of locals, Guiliana and Rodrigo, who invited us to queue jump and join them for lunch - and the latest of our insider's guides began.

They helped us choose some delicious food which proved to be far too much for us to eat so, for the first time in our lives (other than when we've taken scraps home for Gizmo), we left carrying doggy bags of leftovers - shame we left them in the hostel kitchen and completely forget about them later. After lunch, Guiliana drove us around Miraflores for our first glimpse on this trip of the Pacific coast. Unfortunately the grey and overcast weather made it seem more like a dank day in Bournemouth than Springtime in South America. But that didn't dampen our enjoyment as we strolled along the cliffs watching paragliders soaring over the sea.

Later that evening we met up again with our new best friends who took us to a bar overlooking the ocean and discovered how strong the local brew, Pisco Sour, really is. We didn't realise how lethal brandy, lime and egg white mixed together could be until next morning when our plans of seeing the sights of central Lima were cast aside in favour of what will no doubt be the first of many guilty but much-needed trips to that cultural institution, McDonalds, after a six-year boycott. Yum…"un McCuarto y queso con papas fritas por favor" - me encanta! The rest of the day was pretty much a right-off but we did manage to drag ourselves around the city for a slightly half-hearted trip around some of the main cultural sights of the capital before it got dark. The highlights were getting a wave from a burly soldier in a little tank outside the Presidential palace, and visiting a big church which contained statues that wouldn't have looked out of place in a house of horrors.

Next morning we broke the Peruvian land-speed record as we hurtled to the airport in a bashed-up taxi. We were in no rush as we had left plenty of time to catch our flight to Cusco but Fernando Alonso clearly wanted to show off his skills at dodging potholes at high speed . This meant we got there even earlier than planned which enabled us to have our second McDonalds in 24 hours, a McTostada this time for those who are interested. We felt we could justify eating three day's worth of calories in one sitting given that we were about to embark on the Inca Trail, a 42km hike at altitude. Little did we know that it (the trek rather than the Big Mac) would take much more out of us than expected…