Peru

I arrived in Lima after 10.30pm and cleared customs pretty quickly. As you come out of the airport there are taxi hawkers... 150sol, 120 sol.... no gracias, es caro (is expensive) and so walked outside to taxi rank and got a cab for 55 sol... It was late and I crashed when I checked in.

Lima is in the desert and it never rains... that is why some old pyramids in the centre of town are in such good condition and being made of adobe, are being restored... it is constantly under cloud and the 2 days i have been here I have not seen the sun or sky at all. Maybe it is sea mist as near the coast in Miraflores, the posh end of town with antique shops, loads of craft markets, and Maccas, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Donut King, Starbucks and all the comforts of home...what a pity! The food is good here even with that lot to contend with.

Went for a quick tour of the old town and it has a mix of Spanish colonial architecture and Moorish influences and a real mix of styles. They are proud of their history and there are monuments and squares built in honour of their independence. The churches are beautiful and we went to St Francis of Assisi Church and went to the catacombes where there are bones of 25000 folk buried under the church, arranged in patterns after they were discovered, and metres deep. The foundations are so strong and built in a such a way that it is the safest place in Lima if there is an earthquake... they sure knew how to build em in those days.

Saw some amazing gold trinkets, ceremonial masks and lovely pottery pre Inca, at the central museum which used to be a bank. They had a lot of civilizations before the Incas, some lasting much longer and with amazing pyramid building skills and communication methods, but all information is lost and it is all a bit of a mystery for historians and archeologists.

Today I walked at least 6 hours in preparation for my big hike and after our meeting with the tour guide Bruno who scared us all by giving us the lowdown on how not to get mugged or kidnapped and how to keep our belongings safe on the trip especially in Bolivia where even he got his ipod stolen as he walked. Apparently there are several tricks to distracting tourists and making off with their stuff. Lucky I am the only non blond on this tour and many have commented I look like a local, even the locals... until I open my mouth that is... or look bewildered when someone speaks to me in Spanish.

After that heavy stuff, I got a cab into town for dinner to a big foody festival on for 4 days, "Mistura", and it was so yummy, lots of stalls with local produce and a huge variety of food sold by the plate, cakes, ice creams, juices, kebabs, tamales, empanadas, cerviches, breads, chips, cheeses, preserves, fruit and veg, etc... I tasted as many freebies i could get my hands on and then had some kebabs of which i do not know what meat it was... unlike anything i have had, and my first red meat of the trip. It was yummy tho, maybe it was guinea pig, alpaca or llama, who knows? Everything is served with potatoes and a hot or tasty sauce. Then i got my icecream fix, strawberry and mango gelati, and a free pkt of chips called Andinas, made from these potatoes with a white outside and red centre... hmmmmm. Chippies!

Now to bed to get ready to leave tomorrow at 7.20am for the jungle lodge with no electricity, no hot water and a mozzie net... we get to canoe along the Amazon River to get to it... cool hey? until next time, over and out.