Our first day in Lima we went to watch the changing of the guards in the central plaza (the brass band unexpectedly played Ai Se Eu Te Pego!) it was a good atmosphere in general as the 28th July is Independence day for Peru. After exploring central Lima we spent the afternoon by the beach watching paraglider's and enjoying the sun before heading back to the hotel to meet the group which we will be travelling Peru with for the next 13 days.

There's 16 of us in the group and everybody's travelling in pairs with age varying between 18 and 60, all British apart from two Canadian's.

We went out for dinner as a group and enjoyed pisco sours - the trademark cocktail of Peru made from pisco (Peruvian grape brandy), egg whites, lime juice and sugar.

Tomorrow we set off for Puerto Maldonado and then begin our trip to the rainforest!