We had one more day left in Huaraz and given the state of our feet we weren´t really up for more outdoor activities so we took a short collective ride to the nearby town of Chancos and the thermal baths. Actually they were caves which have thermal water running through turning them into natural steam rooms, it would have been even more pleasant but for the aroma of urine which suggested some people didn´t give much thought to their fellow steam cavers.

We took the overnight bus to Lima and arrived at about 5am to find nobody in at our plush hotel `Second Home Peru` after waiting about half an hour we managed to get in and had a nice breakfast before heading into Lima where we had a wander round the old town and visited a couple of museums including the Museo Largo which was really interesting as it explsined Peru´s rich history and highlighted the fact that Peru is one of only 6 cradles of civilisation where mankind began to live in structured communities which developed in isolation.

That evening and the following day we did not venture very far from our lovely hotel (we were spoiling ourselves as a celebratory present), we had a beautiful room, with a bath! Perhaps best of all was that the house was run by Lilian Delfin the daughter of Peru´s most famous artist Victor Delfin and the house was basically a gallery. We were given a guided tour, including a visit to the studio which he was using at the time, all very interesting. Having treated ourselves to a posh meal on the first night we went to an all you can eat buffet on the second day which was Peru´s independence day, we both joined in the festivities eating so much we were fit to burst.

Staying in the plush neighbourhood of Barranco in a really lovely hotel meant that we didn´t really experience Lima but it was really nice to have a couple of days of relative luxury.