Well we finally got going. The flight from Heathrow was great . We got upgraded from steerage to World traveller club class no less!!....maybe all the shinanigans on saturday was worth it. The nine hour flight was very comforatble; big seats, proper food, metal cutlery and wine.. Landing in Miami and I was surprised to see how disorganised the US system is, we waited a good hour to be process through border control..even though we were only going to another area of the airport... and the airport itself was very grotty...I thought the yanks were supposed to be good at everything!! Had a five and half hour flight down to Lima and we were completely shattered. We had organised a shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel but it didnt show. So we got a taxi and drove to Miraflores. En route we got our first look at the Pacific ocean, huge waves rolling in and loads of people surfing. Although very early the city was waking up. There was an enless stream of tatty, clapped out hippy buses racing up and down the streets with guys literally hanging out of the open doors by one hand shouting directions and touting for business, people shouting, horns going off, all dusty and bonkers. It was about 6am. When we arrived at hotel the staff were most apologetic and offered us free Pisco sours for the inconvenience caused by the no show of shuttle bus. We couldnt check in until 12 so we left our luggage and went for a walk. We ended up at Starbucks and fell asleep on their sofas. On wednesday we decided to explore Miraflores on foot so we headed for the ocean. On the way we had to get to grips with the traffic system. Basically you have the red man and green man but there is a counting down system that gives you 20 seconds to cross the road before the man goes red and the traffic starts to race towards you. Its really scary especially if you are a dozey brain like me and decide to dally about, legging it with only 2 seconds to spare !! No green cross code here just running the gauntlett... The pacific ocean is beautiful and its amazing to think that if you start swimming to the left you,ll eventually get to Australia!! We found a beautiful moziac garden and a little plaza with waterfront cafes. Walking back up to the town we found a supermarket which looked pristine. The staff were wearing hairnets, gloves and masks over their mouths. Ray convinced me to try some chinese chicken he chose something different (and salmonella free) from the deli counter...grrr!! We took our poisoned fayre to Kennedy park and ate our lunch there amongst the beautiful palm trees, fountains and... cats...there are hundreds of cats that have taken up residence in Kennedy park. There are a bunch of locals who look after them, bringing them food and getting them vetinary care; neutering, worming etc. These locals have nothing for themselves but everyday they bring food. They look really happy and in good condition (not the locals, they look rank!!) the cats, but Ray and I had declined the wise womans offer of a rabies shot a couple of months ago so we didnt encourage them although I desperately wanted to, they looked so pretty(again, not the locals!!) That evening, we came across a guy who had an electric guitar, amp and keyboard and was singing covers of all sorts of songs...Ray and I had to stiffle our giggles and get a grip when he began his rendition of Pink Floyds 'The Wall' ....."Wee done neebno ebulasion, wee done neeebo thawt cauntrol......no darkarbasim inna clarb room, teesher leeb dem kiss alowne"...sheer brilliance!!!..wish Si was here!.. hee hee. anyway it was around this time that the chinese chicken started to make its presence known...needless to say, the next two days were spent 'parking some very angry tigers...raaaah!!!' in the toilet and rolling around in bed holding my stomach, cursing Ray and groaning.....so apart from turning into Mrs Pukerton...its been brill so far!!