Swissotel Lima

... nearby town in the morning, hike to the foot of a cluster of mountains, then pay a park entrance to keep going and hike through the mountains to a lake on the otherside, then hike back. Unfortunately, I got a bit of a late start and had trouble finding the spot from which the taxis to Llupa set off; eventually, however, I found it. Piling into the taxi with two French guys and one French chick, we rumbled off outside of town toward Llupa.
Llupa ...

... introduced to the fish and seafood in the area and told how to prepare, which fish was bony etc etc.  Then onto the fruit and vegetables where fruit was cut or torn apart for us to experience from apple bananas, large pods containing what tasted like vanilla cotton wool or candyfloss texture.  There are 3000 varieties of potatoes or every colour and shape and also corn – including the black version, which is used for colouring and is boiled and the water ...

... the jungle and as far as the people go the huge difference between rich and poor. In the large urban cities it is just like the US or Europe with the consumerism, while in the rural areas poverty is rife. Everywhere you are approached by people desparately tying to sell something, anything just to make a living.

... of bones! And arranged in such a way...Because of our morbid facination, we were loving it! The super old library upstairs was a highlight for us too, it looked like Belle's library in the castle in Beauty and the Beast. Again-we're geeks. We also had the experience of giving Angelica's English students moch-interviews in English. We were supposed to be meanies, but it wasn't in our nature. We encouraged them to keep at it though! On our third day, we were off ...

... of Latin American conquest. One particuarly nice method had you hanging up off the floor by your wrists which were tied behind your back. Perfect for dislocating your shoulders, and they still didnīt let you down. Imagine that! The centre really wasnīt that pretty apart from the main square which had some splendid Spanish Colonial style architecture like the Cathedral and government buildings ...

... Aisling from Longford - an english teacher, working in South Korea - in her mid 20s - lovely and jet lagged to the hilt much like myself. We are then joined by #3 and 4 of the group - a Florida couple in their mid 40s - later transpires they're older - so you'll get a kick out of reading this Lisa and Eric. Lisa also a school teacher.

The final two who turn out to be Paul and Gillian from Brisbane are running late.

We meet up with Cynthia our ...

... display in windowed silver boxes above a side altar. Then we had a long tour of the adjacent monastery where St Martin lived, given by a lovely English speaking guide who focused on Nancy while George took pictures. By the end of the tour and a giftshop purchase it was not only lunchtime, the monastery was closed and the doors were locked! The shopkeeper got a key and let us out. A few ...

So I'm taking off again... heading North towards Ecuador and Colombia, first stopping at Trujillo and Chiclayo, and probably a beach or two around Piura or Tumbes as well. I'm also editing the sound for my brother's short while I travel, so that should be interesting as well. I'm really excited to finally travel to Ecuador (which I guess I've been to already as a baby, but that doesn't count) and Colombia and what ...

... hard to recommend it to others - two stars from me, Margaret. Driving through the town of Juliaca and for 15 minutes we may as well have been in India. Absolute traffic chaos, with cows, donkeys, tuk tuks and moto taxis carving their way through reflections of themselves. Here the correct side of the road to drive on is the one where you can find space. Concentrating on not running over feral kids and avoiding foot deep potholes we are again brought to a rest by the shriek of a whistle ...

Friday 23rd January - Day 10 - Callao/Lima, Peru We docked in the port of Callao at 7am when the captain announced that the current temperature was 72˚F albeit somewhat misty. Having breakfasted this time up in the buffet, something we have not done since we first started cruising due to the problems of people handling food and then replacing it ready for others to pick up and consume. However with the new regime in place this was no longer a problem, and as we had been at ...