We arrived in Lima,Peru after getting glimpses of the snowcapped Andes on the flight from Panama. Our friends from Panama City, Martin and Heike decided to share our transport to our hostel. On the way the taxi ran out of petrol and Avan and Martin had to push it to a service station! Our accommodation was in a house (bed and breakfast style) and our host was a mine of information and suggestions for our time in Lima. Most importantly he frequently made us cocoa leaf tea in preparation for going to a high altitude. Cocoa Leaf has always been used by the locals to combat the sudden change in altitude. 

A couple of snippets of info our host passed on was that Peru invented the potato as we know it today and Peru has something like 3,000 varieties. Also a Peruvian invented the recipe for coca-cola and sold it for one dollar to an American!

Over the next three days the four of us explored the city, visiting museums, Catecombs, Churches, markets and restaurants serving authentic Peruvian food. Lima is much cleaner and neater than the Central American cities we have visited. It has nice gardens and parks and a general feeling of affluence in the city centre. 

A highlight was picking up our mail from Australia for the first time since being away. Unfortunately there was a speeding fine in the mail we incurred on the last day before we left! 

Our accommodation was a little out of the city which meant catching taxis which were very cheap however not always reliable. One day when returning from the city centre the taxi broke down and AGAIN. Avan and Martin had to push to try and jump start it and then when that failed to push it off the road with traffic going around. We worked out we were only about 2 km from our accommodation so we paid the driver and set off on foot! Later that night Martin and Heike left on the bus to Northern Peru and we left the next day on a flight to Cuzco, the centre of the Inca civilization. We plan to visit Martin and Heike when in UK.

Footnote: The Historic Centre of Lima is UNESCO World Heritage listed.
Postcript: We are friends to this day, catching up later that year then in 2011 and 2016. In 2017 they visited us in Oz.