Landed in Lima....

Shelley and I landed on Peruvian land late Monday night. We were expecting a transfer from the airport to our hostel and looked out for signs but surprise surprise no-one came to collect us. Back packed to the max we walked out of the airport greeted with the constant ´taxi? taxi?´ cries and chose a taxi man to take us to The Point hostel. We reached our hostel in Barranco (Lima) for a hefty price, and it didn´t take long to realise we had been ripped off. When we got chatting to some of the other people who were staying at the hostel we found they had paid between 45 and 70 sol to get there....we, on the other hand paid 105 sol - no wonder the taxi man seemed so friendly.
 

 
After a sleep we woke up to a ´continental breakfast´ which consisted of bread, jam and tea-coffee. We still aren´t quite sure what continent that breakfast comes from. Not only that but we had the pleasure of some insane italian man (who had apparently been up snorting Peru´s finest for 5 days) keeping us company. He was singing ´Mamma Mia´...shouting Ábra Kadabra´and pulling out all sorts of Karate moves....He sounded more like an animal than a man and despite being Italian kept speaking in French. We decided to go for a walk and on our return the Peruvian police were there trying to get him out. After some effort they carried him out of the hostel but it wasn´t quite the end of him. Still feeling jet lagged at around 5pm we went to try and have a little nap - but the sound of his voice and his growls came back into the hostel. Appearently the police in Peru don´t like arresting tourists because it is to much hassle - don´t quite no how much of that is true. It took about 10 men to get him out of the hostel again, and when we stepped out to go for dinner he was sprawled out at the entrance. By the time we left the following morning he was gone. Who know´s what happened to Miguel.

 
Besides being ripped off and being exposed to one of Barranco´s most insane tourists we did see some nice things in Lima. The architecture was as expected and everything was vibrant, with so many colours. Classic beetles drove round the streets and waves on the beach were huge. With limited time before needing to reach Cusco it was time to leave on an early flight. We boarded a Peruvian Airlines flight at 9.30am and as it picked up speed down the runway it suddenly came to a stop. Some technical fault had occurred which meant out 2 hour journey took 7 hours. Shelley was great and kicked up a fuss ensuring we got on the first flight out of there!

We are now is Cusco where there is less oxygen and the rain has been falling heavily...Inca Trail starts tomorrow!