We made it back to Lima by around 12pm on Wednesday. The bus from Mancora had taken about 19 hours which was about an hour and a half quicker than travelling the other way - must have been downhill. We collected our bags and jumped in a taxi to our hostel. We told the driver the address and he nodded that he knew where it was and ushered us in. However, about 5 minutes into the journey, he asked to see the address again and as we stopped in traffic he wound his window down and proceeded to ask the taxi next to us where this address was. The other driver did not answer but the old woman in the back did and gave him directions to the street. Me and Beth just looked at each other in bemusement!! Another 5 minutes later, and as we were stuck in more traffic, he again asked for directions, this time from a traffic policemen. We were a bit anxious by this point as he obviously didn't have a clue where he was going. Luckily we weren't far this time and he seemed to understand the instructions and we made it to the hostel. We are staying in Lighthouse Hostel this time which is basically a house which has been converted into a hostel. It's quite a small hostel with only about 5 rooms but our first impressions were good.

We had a quick shower once we were in our room then headed out to the sea front. There are quite a few parks on the sea front a couple of minutes from our hostel so we had a walk through them then we went to the Lamarco shopping mall as I wanted to get a local football top. Once we had got this, we got some empanadas from the supermarket and headed back to the hostel.

On Wednesday night, we met up with Natasha, who we had travelled with for quite a bit in Argentina an Bolivia. We had tea and a couple of drinks but we were all a bit knackered after our bus from Mancora and Natasha's bus from Cusco. So we said goodbye and were back in the hostel for around 10pm.

On Thursday morning, we went to Parque Kennedy which is the central park in Miraflores. There are a couple of department stores around here so we had a good look around, particularly at the Christmas stuff, and went to Starbucks as Beth was desperate for a hot chocolate. We grabbed an empanada each and found a cinema which is showing a few film tonight about JFK's assassination so we think we will head there tonight. There seems to be some kind of affection for JFK here with a park being named after him and a bust of him in the park. Anyway, anything that is free is good in our book!!

Tomorrow, we are leaving Lima on a bus to a place called Ica. From here we will get a taxi to a place called Huacachina which is described as an oasis in the desert. The bus journey is only four and a half hours so should feel like nothing compared to our recent marathon trips!!