Lima like most major cities in Latin America is full of colonial charm mixed with modern chaos. At one stage Lima was Lima was a relative back water until the Spanish took over the region that is Peru. The Spaniards decided not to use Cusco the traditional capital as their head quarters as it is located inland in the Andes and didn't offer a quick route of escape if the natives revolted. Hence Lima developed and thrived as the Spanish colonial capital of south America. The size and majesty of the remaining colonial structures really testifies to the fact that there was some serious wealth in this city. Lima also struck me as a very cosmopolitan town (in the upper class areas at least) with a fantastic selection of cafes and restaurants representing culture from all over the world.

One of the other neat things I was shown in Lima was on the outskirts of the city in one of the many shanty towns (when off to lunch to discuss a potential job in Lima). The shanty town itself was built on pretty much a big sand dune, it had the usual 'temporary' habitations made out of bits of brick and corrugated iron. What was different was that there is there are a number of big yellow stair cases that snake there way up between the habitations on the sand hill. The contrast between this stair case and the surrounding shabby structures is notable. These 'staircases' were a project of the government to uplift the poorest people of the city Adam informed me. My first reaction is that why would people without electricity, water or sanitation want a bloody staircase? The answer is simple. If you've every applied for a bank account, mobile phone or even video store membership you are always asked for an address, correct? The people in shanty towns not being part of a formal settlement with streets etc don't have addresses, thus many basic services were denied to them. Some bright spark in the government (I'm not being sarcastic here but genuinely in awe of this lateral thinking) thought of a way of solving this by putting in these big yellow staircases, giving them names and allowing the habitations along them to be numbered. The people now have addresses thus allowing them to further empower themselves by obtaining basic services that we take for granted. The project has been a huge success in lifting the standard of living of these people so much so delegates from developing countries around the world visit Lima each year to view this project in the hope of implementing something similar.

A final commentary on Lima which is that the Drivers here ARE the craziest the world. This is a big call but I think I'm quallified to make it as I have experienced other places I've seen crazy drivers including, Jakarta, Thailand, China, Jo'burg, Mexico City, Italy and Perth. On the cab ride from the bus station to were we were staying in Miraflores the cab driver cut at least six people off (two of these were buses), ran two red (not anywhere near orange) traffic lights, almost got T-boned on two occasions (one of which I actually thought we were in BIG trouble) and almost hit a pedestrian). This cab driver was the norm not an exception.......friend of mine Anetta and Robin were in a cab the net day that actually clipped the side of a bus, fortunately they were OK. The driving is aggressive and ultra-competitive, lane marking seem to be merely advisory as are red lights and policemen. Going out to lunch on Saturday I witnessed them installing one-way spikes on a freeway entry - a pretty extreme move in most places but here they must have a significant number of drivers try to get off the freeway via an on ramp. The good news is the government have recognized this and despite giving up on the existing driving populous they have commenced education in schools on road rules and etiquette.