12°02′S, 77°01′W

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Lima, Peru

Lima

A big city, but we live in London, so not much to say:

Day 1
Inca ruins at Pachacamac- ‘he who animated the world’ -they say this complex was the site of an important ceremonial centre for 1000 years before the expansion of the Inca empire, named after the powerful Wari god, now it’s mostly rubble. As we stood in the fog at the top of the Temple of the Sun, we couldn’t help feeling Pachacamac had already left, and taken the Sun with him.
More ruins at Huaca Pucllana- we didn’t pay to get in
Walked and walked and walked around all of Miraflores

Day 2
Centro by public bus
Lots of Cathedrals and Churches
Saw changing of the guards at Presidential Palace
Felt drunk and ill after one Pisco Sour at the Gran Hotel Bolivar, where the poison was invented

Met up with group for next GAP Adventures tour- Hamel second oldest after Manny (group leader), but generally seem a nice bunch- 3 people were missing, due to arrive later- we were told one was a South African

A little note on Manny- Homer J Simpson once observed that only 2 types of people wear Hawaiian Shirts- Manny was not wearing a Hawaiian shirt when we met him, but due to both the reasons Homer cites, I bet Manny has a closet full of them!

Went to bed after dinner, and heard 2 new male guests arriving, one with a South African accent, the other Australian- they promptly dumped their bags, and made plans to go out on the town.
We were rudely awoken at 6am the next morning by returning male Australian voice, who proceeded to tell his friend loudly how despite a night spent trying to impress an ‘ugly girl’ with his ‘size 45’ feet and the ‘big wallet in his pocket’, she would not give up any more than a kiss, as she was a ‘modern Mormon’ (yeah right!- that’s what she tells you fella), leaving him utterly frustrated and testosteroney!
Spent the next 2 hours lying in bed praying these were not the missing people in our tour group…

Pisco

… our prayers were answered, we had alternative South Africans

Pisco was hit by earthquake 3yrs ago.
Overnight in one of the only hotels still standing.
Given Cocktail lesson on roof terrace – shown how to make Pisco Sour.
Played ‘Hand Game’, Fuzzy Duck, 21 and Chinese Whispers.

Ica

4 shots at the Pisco distillary at Ica before midday.

Huacachina

Desert Oasis
Sand dune buggies and sandboarding. Great fun.