Hola..

We have been in Peru for 4 days now, most of which we have spent in Lima. Our expectations were kept expertly low by the Planet, and they have been handsomely beaten… at least when the sun came out. The richest part of Peru I expect, where we are staying in Miraflores district is very pleasant, full of 5 star hotels and casinos…

We also took a trip to Paracas and Pisco for a few days... 4 hours on a bus and we were there... little bit freaky to share the bus with a bunch of juvy prisoners in handcuffs, we didn't let bags out of sight (not a big problem for rich with back to back mad max movies on the video)… not much a view on the journey, pretty much a desert. On arrival we 1st planned on staying in Pisco, however our Peru lonely planet was written before they had an earthquake (7.3 in 2007) so the pretty town we expected was a wreck, a mass building site... literally all the streets and buildings were under construction... so plan B was stay in Paracas, which worked out perfectly.

In Paracas we went to the Islas Ballestas on a really cool boat trip, saw penguins, pelicans, seals and about 50,000 of various types of birds... and got to wear some rather sexy life jackets too. We then checked out a national park in a desert. Which was cool, well hot, but with cool views and some flamingos... We're off to Cusco early on Tuesday and start the Inca trek on Thursday-Sunday… something Mich is pretty concerned about!! Looking forward to getting to the top!

Some observations and factoids: drive through cash machines are a good idea; big cities are all the same; llamas and alpaca are v much like camels but have evolved differently, cos south America and Africa used to be connected, but south America is colder; guinea pigs are only called that in English, cos they used to cost a guinea… but they are way too cute to eat (unless v hungry on a mountain??); all the world's potatoes (2500 varieties) come from Peru (we were told); most people can't speak any English, so for us it's like the visually impaired leading the blind!

Hasta pronto

M&R xxxxx