Our LAN airways flight from Auckland to Santiago went pretty smoothly, despite consisting of 11 hours mainly over the Pacific Ocean! It was the final flight for the aircraft, which meant all the crew had carnival style accessories attached to their outfits and there was a very cheery atmosphere between them all...not sure you would get away with that on British Airways. Once in Santiago it was just a short wait before catching our second flight up to Lima, although seeing as we'd crossed a good few time zones by this point, and it was somehow the 16th April for the second time, we drifted in and out of consciousness for the majority of the flight! On arrival in Lima, our bags successfully turned up and we were met by the hostel taxi driver who took us through lots of dusty downtown areas that looked rather rundown, to the 'Barranco Backpackers Inn', thankfully locking the doors for the whole drive as we'd read all sorts of horror stories about muggings of tourists in taxis waiting at traffic lights! After checking in to our hostel in the Bohemian area of Lima, we headed out and bought some supplies, had our first taste of a few Peruvian dishes including mashed potato, avocado and yellow sauce 'Peruvian causa' in a restaurant, and slept like logs that night!

Next morning we rolled out of bed just in time for breakfast at 11am and chatted to the English hostel owner, who's parents it turned out lived just down the road from us in Westgate on Sea...small world! That afternoon we wandered along the cliff top to Mira-Flores, and tried another local dish for lunch; ceviche. This is a dish of raw fish marinated in lime, chilli and coconut milk, which we surprisingly both really liked. After lunch we went for a tour around 'Huaca Pucllana'; a pyramid and clay ruins of the Lima culture from AD400. Apparently it only rains 20mm a year in Lima so the clay is quite safe! Our tour guide, who was supposed to be explaining about the ruins, went into far more detail about coca leaves, a plant grown out here that aids in altitude sickness and has lots of natural vitamins and minerals in it, but that is also used in the manufacture of cocaine, and will make you fail a drugs test in North America if consumed, but is completely legal in Peru! He told us all about how many leaves you would need to produce cocaine, and then about other drugs available in spiritual experiences in the area...we wondered what kind of tour we had signed up to at this point! Sophie had to buy her third pair of flip flops of the trip that evening after hers broke...waiting to see how long Trevor's will last now! That night we weren't able to sleep until about 3am and realised that jet lag had set in!

After a catch up day on the 18th April, we decided to have a look around Lima city centre on the 19th. After going to the Metropolitan bus stop and staring blankly at the ticket machine for at least 30seconds, with our Spanish extremely rusty at this point, and not many people speaking English, a woman eventually helped us! On arrival in the city centre we headed to the main square which was full of people dressed up in traditional clothing, scary looking masks, and dancing around to live band music. We were unsure what the whole festivities were for but we would soon realise that there doesn't really need to be a particular reason for a party in South America! After admiring the colourful historical architecture of the buildings and welcoming seeing a bit of culture and history as it was sometimes lacking in New Zealand, we decided to head back to Barranco. This involved going onto the wrong bus platform, the attendant having to act out getting the bus to the next station, after which Sophie acted it out back to her to confirm, getting off then taking the next bus back in the opposite direction. We also managed to miss our stop on the way back due to practising our Spanish words so had to get another bus a stop backwards!

Next morning still suffering the after effects of jet-lag it was time to leave Lima and move on to Huacachina, a desert oasis town. A five hour journey on a very posh 'Cruz del Sur' bus, complete with a sandwich, orange, drink, and films in the back of the seats in front, took us to Huacachina where we checked into a bit of a skanky hostel called 'Desert Nights'. The tiny town is situated around a small oasis and surrounded by rolling sand dunes. Although pretty it is full of restaurants and hostels and continues to exist purely from tourism. Next day we went dune bugging and boarding, the typical thing to do whilst in town. Sat right at the front of our 9 seater dune buggy, along with the driver, we zoomed through the dunes, bouncing along, and often revving up one side of the dunes, not even being able to see what the drop was going to be like down the other, and whizzing down, air and sand right in our faces! We stopped a few times on the dunes to do some sand boarding, and although the scenery was amazing as the sun went down, the boards didn't go quite as fast as in NZ!

Struggling through with our tiny amount of Spanish phrases we were looking forward to moving on to Cusco on the 22nd for a couple of weeks Spanish school, although not so excited about the 17hour bus journey to get there! Indeed, although we were on the luxury Cruz del Sur bus again, the journey which wound its way around mountain roads for the majority of the time, and climbed from sea level to over 3000 metres, did not lie favourably with us, and we were a bit worried when they handed out sick bags with dinner! Nonetheless, after the bus attendant threatening (in Spanish) to charge Trevor 15soles for his bus pillow that had gone missing, until it miraculously turned up in her hands (we don't think Trevor ever got given one), we arrived in Cusco without being sick. We caught a taxi to the 'Amouta Spanish School', where we received a free Spanish taster lesson, and were then led to our host house where we would be staying for the two weeks of our lessons. We were met at the house by a very cheerful and friendly lady named Gloria, and after a slightly awkward greeting where we didn't know whether to do one of two kisses on the cheeks we were shown to our own bedroom and the shared toilet. Over a cup of coca tea we managed to share a few details with each other through broken Spanish and English, after which she went off to the dentist. It turned out the house was pretty cold with no heating, and no hot taps apart from in the shower. Luckily our beds were loaded up with blankets and duvets, which was pretty heavy when you got underneath them all! At over 3000m above sea level we could already feel the altitude affecting us, giving us a bit of a headache, making it harder for our bodies to digest food, and getting so out of breath when doing the smallest tasks, such as doing up our shoelaces! Nonetheless, after a brief look around Cusco that evening we realised it was full of historical character, from the architectural buildings to the small cobbled Incan streets, and all surrounded by picturesque hills, and we were looking forward to calling it home for a few weeks!