Now, we have read about many of the different scams that taxi drivers try on unaware tourist so we feel pretty confident that these shouldn`t happen to us. We know that we probably pay too much for them, but that is a hazard of being a gringo.

So arriving in Lima, knowing fair well that we were going to need a taxi, I asked the kind man that I sat next to on the bus if he could help us. He kindly phoned us a taxi with a reputable company. Feeling happy that we were going to be safe, we entered this said taxi, squashed a lot since there was no boot space so the three of us with our three bags, did not leave much room for anything else.

The scam that you need to be aware of is the one where they say the hostel has burnt down or doesn`t exist or is full. So to "home peru" please. No problem, where is it? Directions and address given, we were on our way. Driving along the round, counting the numbers and we see a derelict building covered in blue condemed signs. Joking I said that it was ours. This turned out not to be a joke. "Home Peru" doesn`t exist anymore, the taxi driver would not be trying to con you if you were trying to go there.

Lesson - reserve online, don`t be lazy like us and just randomly pick places out of the lonely planet.

In the end, we went with the taxi drivers recommendation, which we have always tried not to do, however worth it. Safe area, lockers in the rooms, free internet (although a tad slow), free breakfast and also free pisco sours. Downside - overly complicated showers, though hot when you can get them to work. BOULEVARD HOSTEL

Enough about the hostel, what did we do? So after arriving and having a relatively quiet night we took a sunday morning stroll along the coastline in Miraflores. We stopped at the many parks along the way, including the parque de amor, and we headed in the general direction of Barranco. We tired quickly of this and we headed back to the centre of Miraflores and checked out the two parks there, Kennedy and Central, along with the churches that are attached.

The problem with Lima is that it isn`t the safest city in the world for tourists, and due to recommendations we chose to stay in the up market Miraflores. Up market for accomodation didn`t mean a great influx in price, however for the food it did. The American style dinners with European prices makes it a struggle for the passing through backpacker like myself. We ate out for lunch, affording really only the drink, but getting the cheapest sandwich on the menu too we appreciated even more the nice hostel and the kitchen area that was abused after that.

Also in the Miraflores area is the Huaca Pucllana, a pyramid like preinca structure. Cheapish to enter, but free guides available make it a great way to pass the time in the area.

The second day in the capital, we headed into the centre. Stopping to buy bus tickets on the way, we soon found ourselves in a rather unattractive part of town. Finding our way out wasn`t the biggest hassle, but we knew that to catch our night bus we were going to have to return.

Spanish inquisition museum was our first stop after the dodgy area. My guide book said free multi lingual tours were available, apparently not for us. We got stuck going round in a Spanish one, which although could have been very interesting, much of the information was lost on us, even more so since the guide had the most boring monotone voice.

The changing of the guards, which we happily accidentally stubbled across filled a good 30 minutes of our lives. This should have been much shorter, and didn`t need to take so long, but we watched it until the bitter end all the same. Plaza de Armas, a beautiful square hosts a marvel of qualities and worth a quick stop at. Behind the church, we found a very cheap menu place, and ate until our hearts were content - a massive contrast from where we were staying.

Another guided tour, this time in the San Fransico Monestario was more than worth the 7 soles to enter, shame no photos as the library is like nothing I have seen, which massive ass books and ones that they can`t even date.

We decided to be brave and catch a local bus back to the where we were staying, and save ourselves the hassle of trying to haggle for the taxi. Slightly harder than we had anticapated, due to being on the wrong street, but we made it back in one piece. Hung out in the hostel (even though we had checkout) until we had to go to the bus station.

We had to go back to that horrible area, and we had to wait in the smelly station, we had to stand in almost the pitch black as they turned the lights off around us, we had to wait and wait until well past 10 o´clock with many a drunk person randomly hanging around. Don`t follow the lonely planet, there is a new place to book tickets for the buses, but since we had gone to this one orginally this is where we had to go back to. Ask at our hostel, no tourist should have to be there, especially not 3 girls waiting for a night bus.

Obviously all turned out fine, our bus turned up (late) we got our comfy seats that we paid only 40 soles for, and we slept the night safe and comfortable knowing that we were well away from that place.

Hasta luego